Say Yes to Conviction!Sample

Now that we have the context set, let's talk about faith and conviction! Faith is not passive. It doesn't just happen. We have to make it happen!

Peter had to step out of the boat!
Peter had to stretch out his hand and help that lame man walk in Acts 3.
The Israelites had to march around Jericho before it fell!

BONUS: My very good friend took things quite literally and marched around the girl's house who he wanted to marry. They have a son now! Haha!!

My point is, faith needs some work… Faith is a verb.
Jesus said, “This is the work of God—that you believe.” (John 6:29)

To me, in this verse, it looks like believing is a verb.

I'm telling you – Faith is labour. It's hard! It demands action. It’s exhausting sometimes. You’ll sweat like Jesus did in Gethsemane when your faith is asking you to take a step that doesn’t make sense. You may have to spend and lose money, you may have to fast and pray, you may have to do something that is not at all easy! Faith is work! Believing is work! It costs you something! It takes something from you! And that’s exactly what separates the few who walk in purpose from the many who just watch about purpose on YouTube… now on reels of course!

When you believe, it shapes your behaviour. You start tithing even when your salary is tight. You forgive even when you want revenge. You choose simplicity even when extravagance is expected. You become the exact opposite of the world that's around you!

When people are afraid; you say NO to fear and yes to the promise of God.

When people do things because of culture and pressure, you must become confident to stick to your faith.

When you're asked about your future and when things aren't clear, you're not afraid to say – “I'm still trusting God! I don't know what to do next!”

That’s faith.

Very interestingly, I find that this kind of faith that is demanding is often diluted even in our church circles! I know people who do things out of fear of the greater society.,

They choose partners of the same caste because they are afraid of what people may say!
They practice ‘ceremonial good omen’ at weddings, birthdays and celebratory events. Such as
boiling milk over at a housewarming.
Choosing an auspicious day for an event.
Black dot on babies.
Not cutting hair or nails at specific times and days.
Pregnant women not attending funerals.

Now, the Bible says that on the last day, people from all tribes, and all nations will come to Jesus. To me, that says that Jesus is not against culture, I do not think that the Bible hates the culture or is against it. I also do think that culture is a beautiful thing, and it's given us great art, music, literature, culture and movies… What I'm trying to get at is: fear! I do not think that people who are believers of Jesus, lead a life of fear and practice the things that are driven down generationally because of fear. I also, do think that the one who is in me is greater than the one who is in the world!

That means, that you do not have to practice these things out of fear or doubt… often this is what affects the faith, the big question of ‘What if’ and ‘if only’

So, as I was saying, this kind of diluted faith is still found in the church today and if it's found in the church today, that's what the children will learn! They won't learn faith alone in church these days, they will learn faith + ‘What if’ and ‘If only’! Which frankly we are better off without!

So you have to be the one that is saying!

By Faith Alone! By Grace Alone! By Scripture Alone!

And that, my friend, is not easy!

I did a small anonymous survey at our church. I asked, “What is stopping you from obeying your personal conviction and faith?”

Most people didn’t say sin. They didn’t say doubt or finances or anything like that! They said:

Fear of judgment
Family pressure
Embarrassment
Responsibilities

In short, it was people. People are stopping them from stepping into faith. Honestly, this was literally how 70% of the answers were formed!

Here’s the reality: most of your life’s tension is not because you don’t know what to do—it’s because you’re scared of how others will react to what you already know you need to do.

Do you want to pursue ministry? Your family thinks you’re crazy!
Do you want to live a simple life? Your relatives think you’re not ambitious.
Do you want some privacy? Your family thinks you're rude.

But here’s what Psalm 20 says:

“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble… May He remember all your offerings… May He give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 20:1–4)

God will reward you not for the expectations you fulfill, but for the faith you obey.

Here is also the truth! All the people who limit you by watering down your conviction and your faith won't come to rescue you when you've failed! It's only the lord who will lift you 7 times! He's not gonna laugh, He's not gonna mock, he's just gonna stretch out his hand and lift you up!

To me, that means I would much rather fail following my conviction for God to lift me up rather than fail following suggestions and expectations from people of diluted faith who won't show up when I need them! You will be better off setting your expectations on your faith and in God than in the people who you were trying to please!

Have faith in God! Believe that he who started this good work in you will bring it to completion! Start small but start now!

It is a blessing to surround yourself with people who have followed their convictions and then also succeeded at it... Their few words will help you much better than the many words others who followed the status quo will tell you!

Those who followed their conviction had to show up with a lot of resilience in the face of failure and also show up in front of the people they failed, these guys have had to learn how to face disappointment and how to own up to shame and own up to failures, all because they knew their conviction was real!