Gold Nugget #1

"Therefore, let all the godly pray to You while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgement." {Psalm 32:6}

      In context, this was right after David described how he hid his sins from the Lord and how much it was eating him up inside. When he finally spoke to the Lord about it, his guilt was taken away and he felt free and hopeful again (vs.1-5). I think this shows us that even when we are convicted by the Holy Spirit of our sins, it is important for us to go to the Lord for our guilt to be taken away so that we can ultimately continue moving forward in all hopefulness. We have to understand that while conviction can produce guilt about our sins, its main purpose is to push us towards God. When we refuse to go to God  to be forgiven and cleansed of our sins (Note: possibly because of shame, embarrassment, not forgiving ourselves, etc. satan uses these feelings to make us think that we do not deserve to go to God), we maintain this guilt. Then satan uses something that was intended for our good -- conviction -- to condemn us and judge us. He perverts what is initially intended for good -- one of his greatest tactics. So then we end up staying in our sin because we feel condemned and also feel as if God does not love us and does not want to help us. This is the biggest lie. It is important -- no matter if you just got out of bed in sin -- to go to God once you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit to obtain mercy for Him to wash you, forgive you and then strengthen you to turn around and kick that sin out of your bed! Then you can continue moving forward in victory as God intended. This is the outcome that satan tries so hard to prevent. Now that you know his trick, don't fall for it! God is ready to forgive you and strengthen you to continue to fight. All you need to do is talk to Him.