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Friday, March 4, 2011

Everyday Without Rachael Ray.

The conviction of the Holy Spirit is usually taken the wrong way.  Before I explain what I mean, let me give you an example.  Timmy was a good little lad, raised in a loving home with caring parents and two older sisters.  Being that of a good Christian boy, little Timmy was always on good behavior.  One day, Timmy's sisters had some friends over for a pool party.  Timmy couldn't help but notice just how pretty these friends were.  (Gee Justin.... I wonder where your going with this story? Just wait...)   Timmy found himself tempted to peek while the girls changed into their swim suits.  And, little Timmy had his sneak peek and got away with it.  But something deep down inside just didn't feel right, why?  Little Timmy just couldn't figure it out.  Nobody saw him do it, and the only person that knew about it was himself.  So why was he feeling so bad about what he did?  DING DING DING.... If you said HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTION you guessed right!!! Congratulations! You're smarter then a 5th grader.

So back to what I was saying about how most of us usually take this conviction the wrong way.  When the Holy Spirit convicts us of something, our response is usually that of guilt.  And rightly so.  But guess what?  The Holy Spirit does carries no condemnation! So It's important to not tear ourselves down when we're being convicted.  This happens all to often, and when we do this, we loose focus on what the Spirit is really trying to do.  Well Justin, what is the Spirit trying to do?  I'm glad you asked!  Lets look at the book of John. Chapter 14 says:

"All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."


  Oh boy! this is good stuff!  The Advocate. I like that.  Do you know what advocate means?  Neither do I!  So, let me copy and paste from dictionary.com to show you!  "Advocate: a person who pleads for or in behalf of another; intercessor.  To speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument."  So here we have the Holy Spirit "The Advocate", the One who stands in our favor, who supports us and urges us.  And He is ALWAYS with us, to teach us all things. Chew on that for a while!  Thats good stuff right there! When He convicts us, He's teaching us.  He's telling us that we're better than what He's convicting us of!  His conviction gives us the opportunity to repent, rise up and become stronger.  A good teacher helps his students to overcome obstacles and certain weaknesses and also helps them to persevere through hard times and trials.  Thank you Jesus that we've got the greatest teacher anyone could ask for!  He convicts us, not to tear us down, but to build us up and encourage us.  To teach us how He can help us overcome all sin and temptation.

Why is this titled Everyday Without Rachael Ray?  Good question!  I have no idea.  Everyday we have an opportunity to be guided and taught by the greatest mentor the world has ever know!  The church needs to take hold of this! You know what I'm gonna do!?!? From this point on, I will take his conviction straight to the heart and push aside all the shame and self pity that tears me down!  I will let His words of wisdom be my guide to the joyful and more fruitful ways of living. I will look upon myself as He does, and look to Him if I loose sight.  It's His teachings and convictions that will encourage me and strengthen me to become who He's training me to be.

2 comments:

  1. I just heard the tail end of a teaching R.C. Sproul was giving the other day about the Holy Spirit. In the Greek, the word for this is paraclete, "para" meaning to come alongside, and "clete" a form of the word to call out. Sproul went on to say the when Jesus said He was going to send a Comforter, this paraclete, the disciples understood this to mean, not only an Advocate would come in the same a good lawyer would stand up for us on our behalf, but this "Lawyer" would actually stand next to us and go with into the foxhole, if you will. Wherever we go, the paraclete would go with us, always cheering us on to live righteously. It's like the best lawyer money can buy is also your best friend. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. I was just going through all my friends blogs that are linked to my page and re-read this. I loved it before, but it spoke to me in a different way today. I love that not only do bible verses speak to us differently and apply to us at different times in our lives, but God gives us our gifting and uses people to do the same. This is why it's so important to be obedient to God, such as writing a blog on something we feel is really strong on our hearts. Even if we feel in the moment that no one reads it, or it might not apply to anyone... you just never know how God will use it for weeks or months to come. I so needed to read this today. Thanks for writing.

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