“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will
guide you into all truth; for He will not speak o His own authority, but
whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”—John 16:13
There are times that the believer strays from the direction
of the heavenly Father. In order to help
us, God has sent to us the Holy Spirit to guide us on the right path and
redirect us when we are going in the wrong direction. The Holy Spirit is sent to: “…He will convict the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment; of sin because they do not believe in Me; of
righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment,
because the ruler of this world is judged’ (John 16:8-11),
Our heavenly Father desires that we walk closely with Him;
therefore, the Holy Spirit will convict
us when we are in danger of straying. Conviction is what God uses to steer us
back to the path that leads to life. An
analogy for us to better understand this concept is seen when a parent whose small
child begins to chase a toy into a busy street. The child has only one desire at that moment:
to retrieve the toy. However, the mother
would be negligent if she did not stop her child and prevent him or her from
harm.
This is how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. We may not know the potential danger or threat,
but the Holy Spirit will convince our
hearts not to do something; this is called conviction. When we allow the working of Holy Spirit to
work in our lives, He will guide us into all truth.
Conviction
begins even before salvation. The Holy Spirit reveals our wrongs to help us
recognize that we need forgiveness. Then,
once we accept Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf and choose to follow Him, we are
born again. Only then are we free from
the consequences of sin. At the same time, we are still human and will make
some poor choices. So, even after we are His children, God continues to
redirect us.
Do not confuse conviction
with condemnation. Remember that “For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).
Although believers at times will sin,
they are justified by Christ’s sacrifice and free from judgment, “There is therefore now no condemnation to
those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1).
To help guide us in our walk and relationship with the Lord,
He has said that, “All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man [or woman] of God
may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). The word profitable in this scripture
means serviceable, helpful, and beneficial and refers to that which yields advantageous
returns or results. The word “reproof”
describes the process or the action which brings something to the light and so
which scrutinizes or examines carefully, exposing and setting forth. It can also express strong disapproval.
To bring correction in our lives, God does not condemn us. He uses the Holy Spirit to impress upon our
hearts and minds those things that need correction. God may use the Scriptures, people or
circumstances to begin to deal with our hearts so that we will be open to the
correction that is necessary to return us to His pathway of life. Let us
purpose in our hearts to be open to the Holy Spirit to help keep us close to
the Father’s heart.
Prayer—Father I repent of
any areas in my life that I have strayed from You. Today with Your help I reject any voice that
has come to me to bring condemnation into my life that tries to force me to do
things their way. I rejoice that it is
Your voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit that leads and guides me into all
truth. I submit to You and Your Spirit
to lead and to guide me into all the truth, in Jesus Name. Amen.
