Personal ForgivenessSample

Conviction vs Condemnation

Remember this:

The Holy Spirit convicts us.

The enemy condemns us.

Satan has been called the accuser of the brethren and he continually accuses and condemns us. He tries to put guilt on us all the time.

How can we know the difference between God's conviction and Satan's condemnation? If we sincerely analyze our feelings, we can know the difference each time. God's conviction is very specific, and you don't have to guess what you've done wrong. You know!

But it's different with condemnation. There is just a vague sense of unrest. A person might feel like they know that they have done something wrong but don't quite know what it is. Where the Holy Spirit goes right to the problem, the enemy presents a general feeling of uneasiness. God's conviction is to motivate us to mature and draw us closer to Him. He wants to restore us and remove the sin to put us in a position so that He can bless us. Not so with the enemy's condemnation. His motivation is always to get us to give up, get discouraged and throw in the towel. Ask yourself, does what I'm feeling make me want to get it right and go on with God? Or does it make me want to give up and throw in the towel?

God demonstrated His love for us by dying for us while we were still sinners, while we were still out there in the world doing our own selfish thing. Notice, He didn't wait for us to change before He offered His love and forgiveness. He offered while we were still right in the middle of our sin. And the only way back to God is to do it God's way. Jesus Christ took our sin on Calvary's cross, and He broke the power of sin off of us. Very few people realize that when we accept Jesus, we instantly become righteous.

We become the righteousness of God! Let this become the cry of our hearts today:

God, help me to realize Your kind of forgiveness. Help me not to live in regret over something I did years ago of which I have repented of and You have blotted out. I choose to believe Your Word when You tell me I am cleansed. You say that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus and I choose to believe it. Thank You, God.