21 Days of Listening Day 12: The Blessing of Conviction

This Week's Reading: Matthew Ch 5-7

Matthew 5:29 NKJV
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

One thing that the Holy Spirit will do in your quiet time as well as any time during the day is convict you.

I'm not talking about guilt. There is a difference.

Guilt keeps us in bondage. It implies judgment for not living up to a standard. Conviction on the other hand liberates us by merely point out our wrong doing to encourage us to be more Christlike.

The difference between guilt and conviction is grace.

Grace means that we can be forgiven. After all, that's the whole point to Jesus right? When you are guilty nothing can change that. There is no truth in guilt for those who believe in Jesus.

If you are plagued with guilt then odds are it is because you have not asked for forgiveness or given forgiveness to someone who has hurt you. Forgiveness is the source of freedom. It is the ultimate expression of love.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help. You can say this prayer.

God, please help me to forgive all who have wronged me; including myself. Please reveal the truth of those situations and show me the next Christlike step I should take. Please also forgive me for any wrongs I may have done to anyone else and help me to ask them for forgiveness. In the name of Jesus, Amen

This is a great way to open your prayer time! It starts you off from a position of spiritual freedom.
Jesus came to set us free. We do not belong behind the prison bars of guilt.

Freedom Through Repentance

f

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
   therefore I will wait for him.”

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
   to the one who seeks him;

it is good to wait quietly
   for the salvation of the LORD. – Lamentations 3:22-26

Today’s Reading: Lamentations 3-5; Hebrews 10:19-39

There is something about this passage that really hits me hard. I’ve actually been reading it over and over again for the past several days. Finally I think I am starting to get it.

Love.

Write Your Own Redemption Story

“‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. – Jeremiah 33: 6-8

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 32-33; Hebrews 1

We love to see stories of redemption. Have you ever read an article about a person who, after having been down on their luck, received wonderful opportunities? There is something magical about it. I think that deep down inside we want to believe in the happy endings that redemptive stories bring into our lives.

Lemonade

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.)

Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."

"Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"

But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright. – Genesis 25: 29-34

Today's Reading: Genesis 25-26; Matthew 8: 1-17

Esau was Jacob’s twin brother…

Shady.

How are you gonna hustle your own brother out of his birthright with some bread and stew? Would you treat your family this way?

Ok… maybe some of us feel like it sometimes… especially with a dummy like Esau. It seems like he would have sold it to anyone for a coke and a smile but geez… talk about a dysfunctional family.

What’s interesting is that later on in the story Jacob ends up being the father of the twelve tribes of Israel and a great man of faith.

The cool thing about the beginning of the Jacob story and several others is that we constantly see that God does a good job of turning lemons into lemonade.

Life isn’t so much about where you’ve been. It’s more about the actions and decisions we make today that determine where we are going.

Yes, I do believe that there is a cost that we pay for the things that we do in this life (we will see Jacob pay in full in the next few chapters) but it really feels good to know that a lot of the cool kids in the Bible didn’t start off so nice and sweet. Many started off like Jacob did… as people you wouldn’t trust farther than you could throw them.

But, with persistent faith they became great people who accomplished great things that they never could have imagined.

So when we make mistakes and don’t live up to the potential that we see in ourselves it is important to remember to forgive ourselves and make a conscious effort to do better today and in the future. . If we don’t, then we end up holding ourselves back from being the best that we can be.

Guilt is the strangest of bedfellows.