INTRODUCTION

Man’s conviction is a work of God that begins within a man, hidden from the view of others. Yet, that work ultimately manifests itself on the outside. As the apostle Paul reasoned with Felix concerning righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, the Spirit of God took the sword of the Spirit (the word of God) and worked within Felix. Though Felix’s conviction did not lead to his immediate conversion, it visibly affected him by causing him to outwardly tremble. The book of Daniel tells us that the Lord interrupted king Belshazzar’s party and caused his knees to smite against each other (Daniel 5:1-6 [1] Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. [2] Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. [3] Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. [4] They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. [5] In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. [6] Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
See All...). The Second Book of the Kings tells of Josiah’s conviction that was manifested through his weeping and the rending of his clothes (2 Kings 22:19Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.
See All...).

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS

• (For children): The Ninevites were visibly convicted at the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:4-10 [4] And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. [5] So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. [6] For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. [7] And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: [8] But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. [9] Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? [10] And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
  See All...). After denying the Lord, Peter thought on the Lord’s words and wept bitterly (Mark 14:72And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.
  See All...; Luke 22:61-62 [61] And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. [62] And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.
  See All...).
• (For everyone): How does conviction usually affect you? Does it sometimes cause you to weep, or tremble, or some other outward manifestation?
• Everyone responds differently to the Lord’s conviction. Why is it so dangerous to always assume that outward manifestations are signs of a deep inward conviction? Why do you think that the outward manifestations are sometimes faked?

PRAYER NEEDS

• Ask God to keep you from mistaking evidences for conviction.
• Ask the Lord to convict you when you sin against Him.

HYMN

TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS

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