Convicted!

 

Many times in my life I have felt the Spirit press conviction on me - “Jerry, you need to make a course correction in your life.”  He asks me to realign my life with the will of my Father. I can offer up a hundred excuses, rationalize my choices, or try to convince myself that it is not that much of an issue. The best response, I know, is to own my choices and to ask for His help to get my heart right. In surrender there is peace, joy, and the comfort of the Spirit. If you are alive to God, you have experienced the this too. It’s called ‘conviction.’  

Our loving Father desires the best for us, wants to keep us from wandering into quicksand of selfishness that will keep us from serving Him effectively. Is it pleasant or easy to fix an attitude, to forgive a hurt, to readjust our affections away from the things of this world? I think you know that answer! Paul urges us to ‘work out your salvation.’  This is not a call to detailed observance of religious rules. God, the Spirit, desires that we stir the Truth of His Word and obedience to His ways into every part of our lives. God’s plans replace our agendas. Our desire for the Spirit’s power takes the place of self-help and careful preservation of our image. Our life purpose shifts from Self to a whole-hearted pursuit of living in and for the Name of Christ Jesus.

God, the Spirit, reminds us that "the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." (1 Corinthians 4:20, NIV)  All the “God-talk” in the world is worthless without God-living. Christianity just as an idea, something for discussion groups alone, has nothing to do with genuine discipleship.  Jude says that people who claim to know Jesus but who fail to integrate the Gospel into their lives are "like clouds blowing over dry land without giving rain, promising much but producing nothing. They are like trees without fruit at harvest time.” (Jude 12-13, NLT)

I love the promise that God gives to those who truly desire Him.  Jesus said "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:6, NIV)  This is the kind of life that flows from knowing Jesus, a “new creation” through the Spirit. We cannot achieve it but we can receive it! In full faith we come to Him, our hearts completely open, our minds surrendered – and He creates new life by the Spirit in us so that from us there is a “flow of living water.”  (John 7)

In this word from the Word there is a promise of real blessing. Meditate in this, praying that the Spirit will make Himself known in you, through you.

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish." (Psalm 1, NIV)

_________

I Surrender All

All to Jesus I surrender

All to Him I freely give

I will ever love and trust Him

In His presence daily live

I surrender all

I surrender all

All to Thee my blessed Savior

I surrender all

All to Jesus I surrender

Make me Savior wholly Thine

Let me feel the Holy Spirit

Truly know that Thou art mine

All to Jesus I surrender

Lord I give myself to Thee

Fill me with Thy love and power

Let Thy blessing fall on me

Judson Wheeler Van DeVenter | Winfield Scott Weeden

© Words: Public Domain