Conscience and Conviction

The more we know God's character and attributes, the more we trust His Word. The blind must see and deaf must hear by the Holy Spirit. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14). Can we trust the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, to reveal Christ, to open our minds to understand spiritual truth? If He doesn't do it, it doesn't get done despite all our efforts. All of us are born with "conscience" but not holy. When a Christian who is saved by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, this Christian is living in a new Creature with holy conscience rather than sinful conscience. Every Christian must decide whether they will us their liberty to decide on their moral decisions. We are free, but our freedom must prove a source of real temptation of this world. We are free from the chains of sin because by grace we are saved by Christ that we are forgiven. Spiritual liberty means the freedom to be all that we were designed to be, but this is not a freedom that is without restrictions or responsibilities. Grace is about loving other people that we have the freedom to do so but at the same time, respect how they practice their beliefs. As long as our conscience is clear and our heart is pure before God, don't be concerned with issues. I mean, it's like losing ourselves in the pursuit of Christ and let everything else take its place. In Romans 14:5 "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." 1 Corinthians 10:28-29 "both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake, the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience?" As a Christian, I still can have sinful desires, foolish desires, proud desires and at the same time, have godly desires. Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. 1 Timothy 1:5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is tuned to speak to our inner conscience and demonstrates with spiritual convictions. When the Holy Spirit convicts me not to sin, I tell people that I choose not to simply because I don't want to hurt my relationship with Him. I want to have the peace of conscience, not war within when I sinned. When I sinned, I am grieving the Holy Spirit; "not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30). I am saved and when the Holy Spirit convicting me not to sin, I will not sin. I tell them that if I didn't feel the conviction and didn't have the motivation to change from "within", then I am concerned whether I am truly saved or not. I choose not to sin because not the Bible says so but rather I CHOSE not to sin because the Holy Spirit convicts me (told me) NOT TO. God is always convicting my to search my heart to follow my conscience that God have given me. Romans 12:9 (NIV) "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Ephesians 4:24 "and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." 2 Peter 3:11 (NIV) Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives. I know I will never be perfect as long as I live in my sinful body. My role model, David, who was never perfect but God announced that David was always after God's heart. "David son of Jesse is a man after my own heart, for he will do everything I want him to do." Acts 13:22 & 1 Samuel 13:14 (NLT)God meets us in our heart rather than our mind therefore we need to focus on the "heart of the matter". Every wrong act or practice begins with a "thought". Legalism does NOTHING for my heart. Paul said, "But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection ..." (1Corinthians 9:27). The key word here is "discipline." I tell people that legalism can't produce a pure heart. Rules do not protect us from sin because rules are basically guidelines that will help you avoid sinning. Jesus had a problem with the pharisees who were very legalists and they had about 613 rules to protect God's commandments. This is my "personal relationship" with God. My concience is what I follow. If I sinned and my conscience told me that I have sinned, I should not sin again.