Conquering the cons of condemnation (Part 5 of 5)

7)    Let Jesus love you: This is essential in overcoming condemnation.  We need to fall deeper in love with Jesus. This is true.  Yet, the Bible is clear: We love Him because He FIRST loved us (I John 4:19).  This is true both the very first time we receive Christ as our Savior as well as every day following.  We must allow Jesus to love us.  Theologically, I accepted this idea since I was young.  We sang about it in Sunday School and children’s church: “Jesus loves me this I know.”  The only problem is that all that I only knew it in my head, but not in my heart.  I will never forget the first time in prayer when He whispered to my hurting heart to tell me that He wasn’t mad at me.  I think I retaliated with something really spiritual like, “well, you should be.”  This began a journey of learning to bask in His love.  I love what Graham Cooke says, “God is the kindest person  I’ve ever met.”  In His kindness He lavishes His love on us.  And the surest way to beat condemnation is to get so full of Christ’s love that there is simply no more room for self-hatred.  This will take time.  This will require perseverance.  Our hearts will fight such radical love, especially if we have a religious mindset that sees God as the big thug trying to take shots at us.

Let the truth of His love move from just being a promise to becoming a presence In your life.  Let His love move from your head to your heart.   In order for this to happen you’ll have to learn to listen for His voice.  At first, your own flesh will trick you into thinking that you are hearing His voice, when in reality you aren’t.  Keep believing and keep trusting the Scriptures.  Soon you will hear a different voice- quiet and peaceful that agrees with the truths of Scripture.  It is the voice of healing.  His voice. 

Practically speaking, this will require time. I’m not the kind of person who says you need to spend this amount of time or that amount of time with the Lord everyday.  But from personal experience I can tell you that it usually takes me a minimum of 20-30 minutes of soaking in the Word and in His presence before the other voices in my life: my flesh, fear, etc… is quieted and I can truly begin to hear His voice. 

8) Walking in the power of the Spirit:  Another essential key to conquering the con of condemnation is the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer.  Always remember that this is a spiritual battle.  As such, we need spiritual weapons with which to combat the tactics of our enemy.  Good news! Holy Spirit has been sent by Jesus himself as the Paraklete.  It’s a greek term that basically means the helper, the comforter, the advocate, the counselor, etc…  His role is to point us to Jesus and remind us of everything that Jesus taught in Scripture.  I don’t just mean some empty head knowledge of the facts of Christianity, but the revelation of the truths of God made alive and practical in our lives.

Throughout Scripture we are instructed to walk in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, follow the Spirit, be full of the Spirit, etc..  Why?  This isn’t rocket science.  We need Holy Spirit if we are going to be victorious believers.  I love to teach on the book of Acts.  It demonstrates the power of Holy Spirit in the life of believers. What triggered this glorious inflow of heavenly activity? Acts two tells the story.  They were praying and waiting on the promise that Jesus had given them. They would receive the Holy Spirit and power.  Some ten days went by before the day of Pentecost arrived.  Then suddenly, a blowing wind with tongues like fire and they all start speaking in other tongues.  In our day, the idea of being baptized in the Spirit has suffered much unnecessary bad press.  A huge part of this is because of the hypocrisy and duplicity in the lives of people who say they are baptized by the Spirit.  Another criticism comes from those who say it isn’t legit due to some very one-sided exegesis.  My intention isn’t to go too deep into this topic right now; but I do want to tell you that the baptism in the Spirit is real.  It is available for all believers.  And it is absolutely essential in conquering condemnation. 

I learned the necessity of praying in the Spirit when waves of condemnation would try to sweep over me.  Tongues is essential in this regard.  As I prayed my spirit would rise up in me with faith and hope.  I gained new perspective.  Verses came to mind useful in fighting the good fight of faith.  Strength was released to resist the enemy.  This isn’t just a one-time deal. I’ve learned to pray in the Spirit everyday. As we pray in the Spirit  strongholds in our minds are pulled down.  And strongholds in the mind, i.e. our perceptions and paradigms, take time. So keep praying in the Spirit!

For those of you who haven’t been baptized in the Spirit, I would encourage you to take 3 simple steps. 

 1) Ask:  We need to be intentional about taking the first step of asking Jesus to baptize us in His Spirit.  For those who have asked before with no result—keep asking. I asked for months before Jesus filled me.

 2) Believe: This isn’t just some far-fetched notion that could possibly be a reality.  There are clear promises that produce faith in us.  The one that solidified my faith is Acts 2:39 “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”  This promise is the baptism in the Holy Spirit and its available for all who are far off—a distant generation that I’m a part of and it’s available to everyone the Lord calls to Himself! 

 3) Receive:  It’s easy to get comfortable on point 1 and 2, but remember that the end goal isn’t just to ask or even to have faith.  We need to receive what has been promised and exercise that gift by learning to pray in the Spirit.  

Condemnation is a  con. We are called to conquer it through the truth of the Word, the honesty of confession, genuine repentance, the richness of God’s love, and the power of the Spirit.