In my walk I realize that learning certain things takes time. As we grow and as we mature in our faith we start to through experience understand how to discern different things. Lately for me it’s been discerning the difference between the conviction of the Holy Spirit versus the condemnation or accusations of the enemy of our souls. I have learned through experience how Satan uses anything or anyone to send these messages our way. We have to test to see what someone says or does and if it’s not exhibiting any of the fruits of spirit or it just seems like they’re just out to point out all of your past failures and all of your faults there’s a good chance that is from the enemy.
If you are sitting around thinking about everything that is wrong with you then I want you to know that isn’t what the Lord wants. I think religion sometimes almost makes us feel like it’s good to feel bad about ourselves. We should grieve over our sins but we should also receive forgiveness for them and live in the freedom that Christ has given us! If we don’t do this there’s no way that you can help anybody else. It prevents us from loving others the way Christ calls us to.
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CONDEMNATION VS CONVICTION
To condemn means “to pronounce to be guilty, to sentence to.” Conviction is from God (Accept it). Condemnation is from Satan (Reject it). Romans 8:1
If you are in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit is not going to condemn you. The Holy Spirit will highlight some of your sins but the reason for this is always because he wants to lead you to repentance. That’s why the Holy Spirit convicts, to lead us closer to the Father and to lead us to repent of our sins so that we could come closer to God in our relationship with Him.
The enemy will accuse us in order to condemn us. He wants to beat us down into the ground and make us feel like garbage. The enemy not only whispers those accusations into our ear he speaks those accusations to God. Revelation 12:10
CHECK THE SOURCE
God corrects just as a father the son in whom he delights. I am learning that to discern the difference between between Conviction (God) vs. Condemnation (Satan) we have to look at the source intentionally.
- What’s the source or who is the source of this person that is bringing this sin to my attention?
- Look at them and I ask do I see the fruits of the Holy Spirit operating in this person at that time?
- Do I see these fruits in the way this person is presenting this to me?
Fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, grace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.
If the spirit of the person is anger, condemnation, and without love. If you you’re not feeling that the fruits of the Holy Spirit and it just seems like they’re just out to point out all of your failures and all of your faults there’s a good chance that that is from the enemy. I am learning that sometimes it’s obvious you see the fruit of this person and you know it’s from the enemy other times it might be subtle and it’s a little harder to discern which is unfortunate sometimes.
RECOGNIZE AND FIGHT BACK
Remember just because someone spits out Bible verses at you doesn’t mean that it’s from the Lord you got to look for the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The devil knows scripture better than a lot of Christians and will use scripture just like he did against Jesus in the wilderness. But just like Jesus we have to be equipped to throw the truth of the word right back at him. Matthew 4:1-11
Identifying the fruit of the person that is coming at you is so important and if you see the fruits of the Holy Spirit it could be from the Holy Spirit. If you see the fruits of the enemy then just ignore it and don’t entertain it. Don’t let those seeds get planted into you and then pray for that person because at that point he is the enemy of your soul. Matthew 5:44
If the condemnation and the accusations of the enemy makes you just feel like you’re a horrible person, a miserable Christian, or “there’s no way that God could love me” that is from the enemy.
I hope this was helpful remember there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ! God loves you so much and when we mess up and we get out of line he is there to corrects us and disciplines us as a loving father. He does this to draw us back into a relationship with him. Proverbs 3:11 If you don’t yet have a relationship with the Lord I strongly encourage you to believe in the name of Jesus. We were all sinners and God can’t allow sin into heaven but the good news is our sins can be washed away through believing in His Son Jesus Christ! I encourage you to place your faith in Him. He is so worth it and will change your life now and forever! Ephesians 2:8
