JULY 19, John 16:7, 8 

Imagine there is a junior worship Christmas celebration where new friends are invited. The Gospel is preached and two boys hear the same message. One believes but the other does not. Why is this so? It is the convicting work of the Holy Spirit on the one who believes; the Holy Spirit will help that person to understand how great and grievous his sins are. The other boy, whose heart hardened, will not be convicted of his sins because he refuses to believe he has sins or that his sins will condemn him.

For the first boy, the Holy Spirit will open his spiritual eyes and give him faith to believe. Faith is a gift of God. Faith will enable him to realise the love and sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son on the cross. He will come humbly and give his heart to the Lord who loved and died for him. There might be tears, tears of repentance for his bad behaviour and tears thinking of Christ’s great love for a sinner such as he is. All this is the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit also convicts believers of sin and wrong-doing when we are close to Him. Sometimes, when you pray or read the Bible, are you not touched by the grace of our Lord? When you are moved to be a better Christian, to have a more consistent Quiet Time, to be more like Jesus, all these are the convicting work of the Spirit.

Write T for True and F for False against these statements.

1. Our hearts are hard and we cannot by ourselves choose Christ.                                            __________

2. Our spiritual eyes may be opened by the Holy Spirit to see the truth and glory of Christ.      __________

3. The Holy Spirit may be rejected by some and accepted by others.                                         __________

Thought: What a glory to be chosen and convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, let me be always thankful that I am chosen by Thee and help me show by my life how much I owe to Thee. This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.