David.

Hey bloggers! :) Today I will be writing on a topic that is something I feel every believer needs to reflect on and think about. It's not the greatest subject. It's not the cleanest subject. But it is a very beautiful subject. Okay here it is: conviction. con-vic-shon. ken-vic-shen. We have all been through it. And if we are where we need to be, we go through it every single day. But lately, I have been really reflecting on the beauty of the feeling of conviction. The feeling in itself means that I have the Holy Spirit living in me. I know that I have days when I question my salvation and question whether or not I am truly saved. Do you ever feel like that? It could be just me, but I doubt it! Anyways, it's days like these where I look back to the positional truths of God and I get the peace of knowing that my convictions are just one way that affirm my personal relationship with God!

But let's take the focus off of me. Let's take a look at one of the coolest guys in the Bible-- besides Jesus of course! ;) I happen to love [and completely relate to] David from the old testament. You may know him from the story of David and Goliath. Or you may know him from the story of David and Bathsheba. If not, I will sum it up for you really quickly! After slaying Goliath, David became the King of Israel. Naturally, this was a huge deal for him. It would be a huge deal for anyone! One night David was walking on the roof of a palace and caught sight of a beautiful woman bathing. Guys are creatures of sight. They lust like crazy. This is just how they are built, how their minds are: visual to the max. Upon being captivated by her beauty, David decided that he HAD to have her. He immediately had some guards go and bring her to him. When she came to him, he found out that she was married. Bummer, right? Well unfortunately that did NOT stop him. After having an affair with her, she became pregnant. When he heard this, David decided that he had to have Bathsheba's husband killed. In short, her husband (Uriah) was killed.

Shortly after all of this occurred, David began feeling mega conviction. In one of his Psalms, David cried out to the Lord, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalms 51:11). This is something that should be the constant cry of every true born again believer. When we do not feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in our life, we are in a hopeless and desperate situation. David knew that he had sinned. Usually, we know that we have sinned. But when we feel the conviction we can do one of two things. Either we can turn to God, who knew we would sin before we even did, and we can repent to Him and cry to Him for strength and guidance. OR, we can become ashamed of our sins and shy away from God, almost as if we are scared of bringing it to God. It is so funny how we are so quick to forget that God see's, know's and hear's everything. He is so acquainted and intimate with every single detail of our lives. But instead we try to ignore our sins, we try to go on with life like it never happened. Yall, let me interfere here with a personal testimony to this approach: IT NEVER WORKS. Getting caught up in a sin and trying to ignore it like it never happened, expecting nothing to happen from it, is silly and foolish. Of course something is going to happen! Read Hebrews 12, it's a chapter all about God's discipline on His children. But the cool thing is: He does this because He loves us so much and does not want us to be caught up in doing things that will only destroy our lives-- whether it be a slow destruction or a rapid one. God knows that experiencing the consequences of our sins will aid us in becoming more sensitive to His divine Will. Continuing with the story of David, he says in chapter 38, "“I am bent over and greatly bowed down; I go mourning all day long … I am benumbed and badly crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart” . David loved his Lord and tried to worship Him, but he found a barrier there; it was the barrier of his own sin. Does this every happen to you? Trying to talk to God and worship Him and yet feeling like you can't do it with a clean heart... because you just don't have one. I get caught up in this situation a lot. Repenting your sins to God is one of the most cleansing and peaceful things that you can ever experience. That is exactly why Jesus died on the cross, yall! He died to forgive us of our sins-- He promises us that if we acknowledge them, then He is faithful to forgive us. Mmmm, amen. Have a sin in your life that you just haven't really repented? Have a sin in your life that is keeping you from continuing in a healthy relationship with God? God stands ready to blot out. Acknowledge it to him, then accept his gracious forgiveness. And don't forget, He died for you. If you were the only one on this earth, He still would have died for you. He loves you!

to Him be the glory,