Conviction

Job 36:5-12, ‘God is mighty but He does not despise men; He is mighty and firm in purpose. He does not keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their rights. He does not take His eyes off the righteous, He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever. But if men are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction, He tells them what they have done – that they have sinned arrogantly. He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil. If they obey and serve Him, they will spend the rest of their lives in prosperity and their years in contentment. But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge.’ God loves us so much that He gave us a gift of salvation to those that are willing to accept it. Even though we were His enemies, He came and died for us at the cross, taking on the sins of the world, though He did not sin, suffering separation from The Father – what we as sinners deserved – so that we could enjoy and celebrate life in His presence forever. In this loving manner, God uses all things of this world for our good, using our chains and cords of afflictions to convict us of our sinful nature, so that we may be broken and humble ourselves before Him, accepting that we are nothing and can do nothing without Him, so that we repent – listening to His corrections and commands and turning away from our evil ways – and receive with joy and celebration the gift of salvation and righteousness that He offers us by His boundless grace, through faith in Christ Jesus, submitting and surrendering our lives and will to Him as our LORD and Savior. When you have right standing with God, He will bless you with peace and joy that transcends all understanding; He will prosper you and allow you to enjoy this prosperity in peace and contentment. But if we remain arrogant, living a life of selfishness and wickedness, exalting our self before and above Him who created us, Him who is the great I AM, the God of yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever more, He will come against us and humble us, we shall find no peace and contentment, we shall eat choicest food but never be satisfied, engage in every imaginable passion but never be satiated until we either acknowledge Him or we perish to eternal damnation in the lake of fire. The Holy Spirit is convicting you of your sin, are you willing to listen?