Good morning Friends,
I trust you had a great weekend.
Today, I’ll be sharing on something The Lord has been teaching me for the past few weeks, which I have titled: Conviction Dynamics.
Conviction is a very strong word, especially in the Christian community. Once a person wants to communicate unwavering commitment to a notion, belief, idea or decision, there seems to be an injection of the word conviction somewhere in the mix of the conversation. What does this conviction mean and how exactly does it work?
I want to establish this short article on the premise of a scripture found in
1 Cor 2:11… that no man knows the things about a man better than the spirit of man that is in him. (paraphrased)
What this tells me is that, the answer to every life problem you have ever faced is not found on your outside but on your inside. Your spirit has the answers to the questions of your heart and you must believe this with the whole of your heart because the scriptures says so. No man knows your future better than your spirit man. One of the most fundamental ways our human spirit conveys very vital information to our consciousness is via strong prompting that convey unwaveringness and stability. Usually, at the instance of these promptings, there is that assurance and confidence that comes with it thereby adding immovability to their expression.
Isaiah 32:17 says that the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance forever.
There is that one of the effects of being on the right path is that strong and steady but quiet assurance that holds our heart in place, especially in the face of a contradiction, persecution or confrontation. Every conviction worthy belief will inevitably face at least one of these; contradictions, persecutions and confrontation, or all of them at one time or the other in the lifespan of that belief. The sad reality is that many times, a lot believers have sacrificed their convictions on the table of an emotional high that comes from a momentary atmospheric pressure. So, the Lord asks you to save up for something specific, but a prophet shows up and decrees that God says you should give the money to him. Then he works up some really impressive testimonies of how a woman gave her annual salary to him and she’s now a billionaire, then you emotionally give him what The Lord had commanded was for another purpose, and thereafter feel scammed.
How does a believer deal with this conviction dilemma? How does he decipher between good and “kinda cool” without missing the way? How do you know that the man coming to you with 3 dreams, 2 open visions and 1 trance about how The Lord had told him you are his wife, is only a phony? Remember what I said in the beginning about how that no man knows the things about you except the spirit that is within you? So here is what the Lord began to teach me about convictions;
1. It’s a Straight Line: Convictions do not bend with vogue, peer pressure, situations or circumstances. Convictions are eternal. Please note that I am not referring to instructions here, but convictions. Instructions may change from time to time as directed by the same Spirit and we must not be foolish to see an instruction which was never designed to be a conviction as one, and vice versa.
“Abraham, take your son, your only son whom you love, and sacrifice him unto me in a mountain that I will show you” … Instruction
“Do not lay your hand on the young lad, there is a ram caught in the thicket behind you…” … Instruction
“I have made you a father of many Nations…” Conviction
While instructions may sound contradictory at different times as directed by the Spirit, convictions remain the same.
Conviction is a straight line that is designed to stay the same over a long period of time without wavering… Straight line
2. Convictions are Bold but never Loud: Emotional decisions are pretty loud but do not have the sticktoitiveness to stay the same over a given period of time. Emotional decisions are pretty much like a cosine graph plotted along a straight line. Loud in one moment and then non-existent in another. Convictions are bold but never loud, after emotional decisions must have lost their steam with respect to a decision, convictions stay the same forging ahead with steady momentum. This is why many people lack the strength of character to keep their word or stay committed to a relationship, the decisions were borne more out an emotional decision than a conviction. The decision to love your mate must be borne out of a conviction as influenced by the Holy Spirit and not some emotional high, fostered by physical attributes.
3. Convictions can only be Suppressed but not Eliminated: We find a lot of people suppress their convictions only to choose to do something entirely different, in the end, they will come back to rue the decision that made them suppress such a valuable prompting. However, one can completely eliminate an emotional decision by unplugging oneself from the environment where that decision was birthed or where it gains prominence. Jesus once met a blind man who was from Bethsaida, He took him outside of the city and then healed him but Jesus gave him some very important instructions; Do not go back to the city of Bethsaida and ensure you don’t tell anyone about this healing. Jesus was saying, you must completely unplug from the environment that brought this on you, else something worse is brewing… Atmospheres either empower or disarm notions and leadings. Worship is an amazing atmosphere that enhances our ability to hear what our spirit and the Holy Spirit are saying which 100% of the time, is the exact same thing.
One very profoundly important thing to note here is that, whenever you are in the middle of deciphering whether a a decision is emotional or conviction based, take some time apart and search your own spirit via tongues and study of God’s Word. That loud emotional high (cosine graph) will ultimately regress and nose dive until it hits the straight line where you are now privy to what the Spirit had been saying via your spirit. This is the primary reason for a fast, it is to locate our compass away from the distractions and noise of this world. Usually, once you hit your note of conviction, it will take more than hell to move your rooted feet away from that spot.
Marthin Luther King Jr. so believed with all his heart that every human was born equal, no matter the colour of their skin. He defied deaths, threats, persecutions and pressures simply because he was not driven by a mere fleeting emotion, he was taken over by a fiery conviction.
I hope this blessed your heart like it did mine.
Do well to share with your friends, God bless your heart.
