Condemnation

I have found that some people don't know too much about condemnation so I thought I would share some thoughts that have been going through my mind recently on the subject. I think I've mentioned this in the past, but it's always worth repeating.

Sometimes when a person is feeling beat up emotionally, they stay in this state for weeks. Some don't know why it is happening. They may have had a conversation with a believer who was trying to help them in an area they are struggling with. They turn the blame on the believer, feeling the believer was trying to condemn them. More times than not, it is actually the Holy Spirit convicting them instead. The Holy Spirit gets our attention by bringing up an area we should be better at, like spending time with God, giving, fellowshipping, etc. In this case, the best thing to do is make the correction and the conviction goes away.

Other times, it really is condemnation. The enemy finds an area we're weak in and starts telling us what a horrible person we are. The difference between conviction and condemnation is that the Holy Spirit draws attention back to God. The enemy, however, tears us down, and makes us feel unworthy, drawing our attention to ourselves. God would never make us feel unworthy. One leads a choice to repentance, the other to a focus on us and our sin.

Once it is determined that it is condemnation from the enemy (which lasts as long as we allow it to), we have a choice to make. When someone tells us a lie, we have a choice whether to believe it or not. It's totally up to us. We can choose to be sucked into this lie, believe it, join the enemy in beating ourselves up, (which he just loves the help!) or we can choose not to believe it and replace the time we have been spending on the lie, on something much more healthy. Philippians 4:8 says, "Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." God doesn't want us spending any time on the negative. God made you wonderfully, He doesn't make mistakes, and he doesn't make junk. Why ever believe that you are anything less than wonderful?

If this blog helped you, I would love to hear from you! You can email me at gshazenberg@sbcglobal.net. Have a blessed, cool Monday!