Daily Devotional

THE CONVICTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS YOUR FRIEND

March 19

hild of the King, do you know what it means to come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit? It means that there is some place in your life and walk with God where you have stepped out of line, or some area where you are in disobedience to His plan for your life. The Holy Spirit does you a large favor by allowing the force of evil that wants to destroy you to oppress and depress you. In other words, you can feel the impact of the evil force that has pierced through your "armor" of protection around your soul, mind and spirit. This is a part of the convicting work of God's Spirit in your walk with Him. You feel "pressed upon" by your own actions which are against your Father and the purity of the walk that should be maintained with Him. This conviction of the Holy Spirit is a good friend to you, and you should thank God for the fact that it comes into your life as a powerful alert force, waking you up and urging you to come to your Lord in prayer, confession and repentance. It is much like the nervous system of your physical body. If you felt no pain when you burned your hand, you might leave it on a hot surface until you destroyed the flesh and do serious damage to your body. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is much like that. The Holy alarm system goes into effect when you enter any area of sin, rebellion or unbelief, and you are warned through the "heaviness" or weight of your own sin recoiling or reacting upon your own self. This again is one of the things for which you should give your Father praise. In fact, the conviction of the Holy Spirit as a blessing to you keeps you from walking numbly in open sin without realizing it. It tells you with its accompanying feelings of sadness, depression, fear, confusion and sorrow that the loving fellowship that you have with God has been violated somewhere and it is necessary for you to take fast and effective action not only by repenting, but also by offering prayers of cleansing and restoration toward your Heavenly Father. Remember child, the Bible teaches you that "if I regard (cherish or hold on to) iniquity (sin or its ways) in my heart the Lord will not hear me (my prayers)." (Psalm 66:18) The sin which is continually committed sets you up so that when you try to pray, those prayers are hindered, or prevented from getting through to your Father. This is a dangerous situation for you as one who needs an unbroken fellowship and communication of love with your Savior in Heaven. So, again I say unto you, offer thanksgiving and blessing to God that the Holy Spirit comes to you and permits you to "feel" the separation that your sin causes between you and the Father. He is your Friend to guide you out of danger and out of the destruction of the sin which regularly attempts to destroy the best relationship that you have in the universe--- a close walk with your Father.

Prayer

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Father, I am so glad that the Holy Spirit of Heaven is my Friend. I sometimes stumble and even fall in my walk with you. You rescue me from the eventual destruction of this sin by causing me to feel the impact and frightening experience of a temporary separation from fellowship with you and the peace and joy that I lose through that unhappy departure. I ask you for the gift of "unbroken fellowship" with you. Let me never grieve your precious Holy Spirit, but if I do sin, I welcome the loving and powerful conviction of your Spirit to get me back on the pathway of full obedience. To this I commit myself to you through the name and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen!