Introduction |
Chapter 4 |
Chapter 3 |
Chapter 2 |
Chapter 1 |
Chapter 2 |
Chapter 3 |
Chapter 4 |
"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, "even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." John 14:16-17. The difference between conviction and condemnation in the mind of people may be hard to separate. But the by-product of the two is as far apart as the east is from the west. Conviction means being convinced, a firm belief, being persuasive or able to persuade and become aware. Conviction is the revealing of the Light of God in the soul of man I liken it to walking into a dark room filled with furniture. Naturally to walk in the dark room would only lead to falling over obstacles and creating danger. But if we turned the light on, instantly the room would be revealed, causing us to walk freely around obstacles. Friend, the mind or soul is like the battlefield or room. There are many areas of our mind that have been darkened and needs reliable conviction to reveal the enemies of our mind. As the Word of God comes into our mind or soul, the light will be turned on in the areas we need information, in turn we will begin to see the obstacles that effect our walk. Godly conviction takes us out of darkness and guides us into the light. It always leads to victory, shows us how to get around or through the enemy. It motivates us to climb higher into the mountain of life and will always show the good, acceptable and perfect will of God in the battlefield ahead. Let me note I'm not referring to convict. Convict means to prove or find one guilty. This was done by the Holy Spirit to lead us to Jesus. He never convicts us again once we become aware, but by the Word of God we are to have godly conviction, which is the ability to be persuad us by the Word established in our heart. Our Attitudes in Life Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]." Today we need new attitudes on what we are battling against. We can no longer be thinking in the old nature, but must change our mind to better ideals of the spirit so we can better cope with the battles to come. True conviction will help us to reveal the changes that need to be made. and cause to become righteous conscious, which is change of heart without condemnation. Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 which says, "For even though I did grieve you with my letter, I do not regret [it now], though I did regret it; for I see that the letter did pain you, though only for a little while; Yet I am glad now, not because you were pained, but because you were pained into repentance [that turned you to God]; for you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that in nothing you might suffer loss through us or harm for what we did. For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct, produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death]." Paul is saying that the grief of the world doesn't produce anything constructive, but only condemnation which produces death. However Godly grief, which means godly conviction, causes deliverance and a change of mind. But never regret. In other words, it will not produce self-condemnation, but freedom from condemnation. Condemnation; Weapon of Darkness On the other side of the coin condemnation is a weapon of darkness, a work of the fleshand the Law. And like a marksman with poisoned tipped arrows Satan is forever thrusting at the target of our heart. Why To make us quit, to convict of guilt, to convince us to give up, to knock us down and out of the race of life. Condemnation is the land mine the enemy hides and sets along the pathway of life. They are placed in strategic places to blow up and divert us from God's will, purpose and plan. Condemnation, like land mines, come in a variety of sizes. The intensity and destructive force varies in each circumstance or situation of life. It may be temptation, accusation, rejection, a broken relationship, self-pity, and worse back under the Law, the list is never ending and its destruction can be lasting. If we are not aware of its explosive power, we soon become its victim. Handicapped on the road of life. The product of these land mines (which is the law of works) are a people who are disappointed, crippled by self-accusation, wounded with failure and low self-worth. If this type of belief is allowed to run its course, it will only produce a curse instead of life. Understand that the curse is the work of the law and the law nullifies the grace of God in our life and puts us under legalism, and the law only produces a curse. Condemnation; Law The work of the Law only drives us to performance. In other words, we perform so we can be accepted. Self-condemnation is a work of the law, which says you are not good enough, not accepted, have not done enough and not blessed because of your circumstance. Sadly, many feel they must appease God or others to earn His acceptence and favor. When self-condemnation comes, like the law, it point a finger at us as being the problem. Because of our expectations or mind set we allow our feelings of overwhelming grief to dictate guilt to our mind, which produces condemnation that drives us to a works mentality or sin cousceouness. Yet, through grace we are accepted unconditionally, just as we are! We understand we are free in grace, which in turn makes us want to do good works, not because of condemnation, but because we are accepted in Christ! In other words, in Christ we are already blessed and in this we will want to do well. But for some reason many believers think that before God, if they are good enough, He will bless them, but this is not grace at all but the law. Condemnation; A Taskmaster The law of condemnation will only produce death, not life. Its motivation comes from fear, fear that I am not good enough. The by-product is rejection and this rejection, through condemnation, always points at us the problem. this only produces self-condemnation! Many of God's children have been forced under this dark hand of the taskmaster. Forced into the labor camps of false hopes. Made to sip the bitter cup and its poison and wrath. Because of this, self-condemnation is continually maneuvering to accomplish its ends, continually laying on the shoulder of believers the responsibility of something they could not change, something they did not commit or something they were not sinful of. To take it further, darkness will use whatever or whomever to accomplish their task of accusation. It may be a friend, a relative, a circumstance not even in their control, And yes sadly another believer or worse a minister who has been captured by its lies. Understand, Satan will use whatever is available to set the explosive land mines and oh how life destructive they can be! Soon through the battlefield of life, we hear more whimpering cries, "I didn't realize! If only I had been there! If only I had done something different! Maybe I didn't think it through! If only I knew! If only I wouldn't have forgotten!" Soon they become captured and forced to be their own witness, judge and jury. Slowly, the dark prosecutor of the law of self-condemnation has convinced the prisoner of their guilt, which only motivates to more self-accusation. They seem stuck in a ruthless prison jungle with a bayonet to their head, and with no more will to fight; they are forced to sentence themselves. |
Copyright Roxy J Nolin 1997 |
Victory Over Self Condemnation By Roxy J Nolin Chapter 2 Condemnation or Conviction |
Introduction |
The Book Victory Over Condemnation |
