To Heaven and Back Again: Conviction, Correction, and Condemnation

VIDEO: Conviction, Correction, and Condemnation

As Christians, we are called to repentance, which means to turn from sin. John the Baptist preached repentance and we are to see sin as something horrible that we need to turn from.

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness (desert), preaching a baptism [obligating] repentance (a change of one’s mind for the better, heartily amending one’s ways, with abhorrence of his past sins) in order to obtain forgiveness of and release from sins. (Mark 1:4 AMPC)

Bear fruits that are deserving and consistent with [your] repentance [that is, conduct worthy of a heart changed, a heart abhorring sin]... (Luke 3:8 AMPC)

When we confess and repent, we must mean it with our hearts, we must have a true and proper confession, not a false or flippant confession, where we just want freedom from attacks of the enemy, or from backlash we may be experiencing. God sees our hearts, He knows our motives and our intents.

Then hear in Heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart You know, for You and You only know the hearts of all the children of men, (1 Kings 8:39 AMPC)

We must repent with sincerity from our heart. This means we must fully agree that we have done something that is against God, something that is not right, which may be quite humbling. Regardless of what the sin is or was.

Different scriptures talk about how people used to ask for forgiveness in biblical times.

They were truly humbled, they sat in ashes and sackcloth.

Some people even fasted from food and drink.

They portrayed on the outside what they were feeling on the inside.

They felt grieved about sinning.

We are supposed to feel bad about our sins to some extent. It will help us to remember not to do it again! There may be times when feeling bad about the sin we have committed is all that we think about.

We may feel so overwhelmed with guilt and shame.

When this happens, we must remember that God has forgiven us!

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 AMPC)

If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action]. (1 John 1:9, AMPC)

I, even I, am He Who blots out and cancels your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25, AMPC)

When it becomes something we cannot let go of, no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we pray for help to let it go, this is a sign that the enemy has brought condemnation upon us.

Satan condemns us.
God corrects us.

Let’s look at what the word condemn means so we can understand it a little better:

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines condemn as:

To declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil usually after weighing evidence and without reservation
To declare to be wrong

Strong’s defines condemn as:

Penalty
Punishment

When you are condemned you may feel:

Truly horrible about what you did (which is how we should feel so we turn from it, and do our best not to do it again)

This is all we think about
We can’t let it go
We can’t forgive ourselves for committing that sin (no matter what the sin was)

We become so very sad, disappointed and upset with ourselves

It may be difficult to smile or have joy
We may cry about it, sometimes we may even cry a lot
It may be difficult to show love or even have love for ourselves and God

So ashamed

Which is ok if it helps us to keep from committing that same sin
When we are so ashamed, we feel that it may be difficult to face God, or even people, if they knew.

Sometimes, Satan will even tell people they are not good enough to be called children of God.
He can lead them to believe that what they did was so bad that God will no longer love them anymore because of their sin, or they feel that they can no longer be used by God.

The feeling of condemnation may be accompanied by a variety of emotions. Remember God does not condemn us!

Yet I am glad now, not because you were pained, but because you were pained into repentance [and so turned back to God]; for you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that in nothing you might suffer loss through us or harm for what we did. For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct, produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death]. (2 Corinthians 7:9-10, AMPC)

For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him. He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation—he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ’s name.] (John 3:17-18, AMPC)

I like that 2 Corinthians 7:10 says: Godly grief and the pain God has permitted and allowed is directing us to repentance, which can lead to and contribute to our salvation and deliverance from evil. Wow! What we are allowed to feel at first should lead us to repentance! When we repent, God has already forgiven us! If you find it hard to let go, you can take your thoughts captive and bring them under the obedience of Jesus Christ!

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 AMPC)

Or, you could ask the Holy Spirit if there is a soul wound involved in what you are feeling.

Is there a soul wound against God, because things have not turned out like you expected?
Is there a soul wound because of things you have done? A soul wound against yourself? This can prevent you from feeling like you are worthy of forgiveness.

Now God does convict us! Yes, there is a difference.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines conviction as:

The act of proving or finding guilty: the state of being proven guilty

Strong’s defines convict as: (the "I" here is the Lord)

I reprove, rebuke, discipline,
I expose, show to be guilty
Of uncertain affinity; to confute, admonish

When we are convicted of our sin, we are simply being shown that we have sinned. The Holy Spirit is telling us where we sinned, so that we can immediately confess, repent and plead the blood of Jesus over our sin.

And when He comes, He will convict and convince the world and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness (uprightness of heart and right standing with God) and about judgment: (John 16:8 AMPC)

The Word conviction means to bring about righteousness, uprightness of heart and right standing with God. As we repent, we are no longer feeling convicted about that sin. It has been removed. That sin is no longer there. There is a difference between feeling convicted as the Holy Spirit convicts us about sin and feeling condemned because we sinned.

The conviction of sin also brings correction.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines correcting as:

To make or set right
To alter or adjust so as to bring to some standard or required condition
To point out usually for amendment the errors or faults of

Conviction brings about changes to our behavior, our thoughts, and our actions. It corrects them and alters our perspectives so that we are in line with how God desires for us to live. Correction can be the pain that is allowed to come, so that we know that we have done something not quite right.

Reading the Bible teaches us how to walk in God’s ways. It can also be used for correction.

All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; (2 Timothy 3:16, AMP)

We have been forgiven. When a person repents, God does not pick and choose who receives forgiveness or not. Not one person is better or “more saved” than another. So, if you have confessed, repented, turned from your sin and saw your sin the way that God sees it, as something horrible, and asked to plead the blood of Jesus over this sin, then your sin has been forgiven.

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12, AMP)

If you have forgiven someone for something, would you want them to keep coming back to you saying “I'm sorry” over and over and over again? No, you have already forgiven them for their actions. You would want them to let it go. Trust and rest that it is blotted out of all records in Heaven. There is no longer any record of that sin.

Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. (Romans 8:1, AMPC)

If we think our sin is too great for God to forgive, then we are saying that the sacrifice of Jesus is not greater than our sin. He is the Son of God and His sacrifice is far greater than our sin.

Sometimes, even when we know that a certain action is wrong, we occasionally fail in our attempts to stop ourselves from engaging in it even when we know it is wrong. It is like the enemy is pushing a button, and we sin without even thinking about it. Sometimes generational curses or soul wounds allow the enemy to gain access to us.

Once you complete the first three courses at the free online school: the Courts of Heaven Academy, you will be ready for a prayer appointment to receive assistance if you are continually struggling with a specific sin! Look for the “Known Sin” appointment at the bottom of the 401 Removing Charges course.

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