"If Only" Regrets Part 2: Condemnation vs. Conviction, and Developing New Habits (chapters 1-7)

Note to anyone who is following the alignment series with First Assembly of God—I am a little behind the church's schedule in this study. I'm chalking that up to a busy life with two little girls! Momma doesn't always get to write and present in a timely way. Also, I felt that some of these concepts could be more deeply explored in various ways on the blog, as we expand upon the themes taught by the pastoral staff at First Assembly.

In the book If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities, all of the concepts author Mark Batterson focuses on are centered around Romans 8, what theologian and pastor John Piper calls "the Great 8." This is because, as Batterson and Piper put it, Romans 8 is "the greatest chapter in the Bible." (page 15)

When I was in my early 20s, I "almost-memorized" a big chunk of Romans 8. I was working with a church youth group and decided to present a dramatic reading of a few sections of the Bible, pieced together. I think a lot of things I did in those days were pretty darn dramatic, and not in a good way! This little piece of drama, however, was one of the best things I think I could have done for myself. I spent a lot of time with my typed-up script becoming as familiar with it as possible. In readings like this, the presenter holds the script as they read, but generally, most of the content really is committed to memory. In spite of what might have been grandiose intentions on my part, the fact is, large chunks of Romans 8 became written on my heart. (Isn't it good to know that God can take the weirdest things we do and work them for our good?)

The Great 8, therefore, has a special place in my heart.

Here is where Batterson devotes a lot of attention, when he talks about "if only" regrets:

Romans 8:1 (NIV)
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Batterson very rightly calls this a life-changing statement. He defines for his readers what condemnation is, versus conviction:

• Condemnation is guilt over sin you have already confessed to the Lord.
• Conviction is healthy "pressure" from the Holy Spirit regarding your unconfessed sin.

In my last blog post, I talked about how important it is for us to be fully surrendered to God, that falling on your face before Him is one the greatest things you can do for yourself. At the end of your life, you will be able to say that you have NO REGRETS about complete and total surrender to the Lord.

God can be completely trusted with everything in your life. When you let go of your doubts and fears about what He wants for you, what His purpose is for your life, then you can see His purpose in your life realized!

My friend, that is the greatest hope I have for my life. I do not want to lie on my deathbed wishing that I had surrendered to Him, knowing that if only I had done that, I could have had that purpose fulfilled.

The enemy wants to distract you from that. He wants to do everything in his power to ensure that you are not fully surrendered to God. The act of surrendering requires focus, and he wants to get your focus off God and onto something else...

...like...the past you have already repented of?

Exactly.

Condemnation, Your Heart, and Developing New Habits

If you find your past sins rising up in your memory, and painful pressure hitting you about them, and then you find that terrible feeling growing...then THAT is the enemy of your soul, testing the waters, looking for a way to paralyze you, to keep you from the purpose God has for you.

Now, your own heart, apart from the enemy, plays a part in this, of course. Your own heart is usually the culprit initiating the condemnation. The Bible says:

Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Even without the enemy lobbing his condemnation bombs at us, really, we do pretty well all by ourselves. We as humans with our fallen hearts and sinful natures have a very nice way of condemning ourselves. But that enemy is smart. That condemnation from my own heart creates a little opening, a little stone out of place in the wall. The enemy is always testing the wall, looking for the holes, the cracks, anything where he can get his claws in and start tearing down the defenses.
And once he gets in, he's going to take that thing your heart started and make it grow. The condemnation can get overwhelming and become paralyzing...

If you allow it.

You don't have to allow it.

If you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and have received the forgiveness of sin that He offers, then YOU are now royalty. You are a child of the King. You have special privileges and rights as His child. If you fall under attack, you can call upon the name of Jesus and He will provide everything you need to fend off the attack.

Don't let the enemy gain a foothold in your life through condemnation of things from your past. Learn to recognize that random thought that crosses your mind, and IMMEDIATELY take it to Jesus. You may find that you have a lot of battling to do with your own heart, if time and time again that condemnation comes up. You, however, can make it a habit to recognize and push back.

The tendency to allow your heart to condemn you can itself become a bad habit, if you allow it. To put a stop to it, you must develop some better habits. Where do those better habits come from? The Lord has given us a good place to look for them:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Let's recap those new habits:

• Rejoice always.
• Pray continually.
• Give thanks in all circumstances.

I used to find this daunting: "Pray continually." How in the world does that happen? I heard a story once about Corrie Ten Boom. (If you do not know who she is, please Google her!) She had learned to incorporate into her life the habit of talking to Jesus all the time, just as she would talk to anyone else around her. While there are definitely times when you want to be heads-down in your prayer closet, the fact is, you cannot always be in that "prayer closet posture."

But the Lord is always with you. (Hebrews 13:5) You can make a habit out of talking to Him as you go about your day. That is continual prayer.

Likewise, you can practice rejoicing throughout your day. Thanking God throughout your day. No matter what circumstance you are in, discipline yourself to find the things to be thankful for and to rejoice about. If you fill your mind with these good habits, there won't be any room for your heart to condemn you. And if there is no room for your heart to condemn you, then that will be one less crack in the wall for the enemy to squeeze through.

Conviction

We stated earlier that conviction is healthy "pressure" from the Holy Spirit regarding your unconfessed sin. Batterson describes the Holy Spirit's voice as comforting or guiding, but also convicting. Part of the Holy Spirit's work in your life is to help make you more like the Lord. Did you know you are always under construction? And the Lord is your contractor!

Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham, passed away in 2007. Her headstone reads: "End of construction—Thank you for your patience." As long as we are alive here on earth, the Holy Spirit will never stop working on us, perfecting us, making us more ready, more fit, for the purpose He has for us. We definitely have an earthly purpose in the here and now, but we also have an eternal purpose after our time here on earth is over. We will reign with him. He will have more and more for us to do, even after this life is over. You are being prepared on so many levels!

Because of this, when you have unconfessed sin in your life, the Holy Spirit will convict you of it. It's the Lord's way of continually working on you.

When you detect this conviction, it is very important for you to heed it and pray. Confess that sin to God and ask Him for His help with overcoming it.

Earlier we talked about replacing bad habits with good ones. We also talked about the importance of complete submission to the Lord. Here is why it is so important for us to develop the good habits and completely submit to God:

• If we do not, if we stubbornly refuse to heed the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that can become a bad habit.
• If we allow that to become a habit, something we just get used to doing over and over, the Bible says that we will become deaf to the voice of the Holy Spirit—our hearts will harden.
• If we become deaf to the voice of the Holy Spirit and develop a hard heart, His work in us cannot continue.

That leaves more gaps in the wall, and provides the enemy with a lot more opportunities.

I was going to make sure to quote scripture here about how the hardness of heart happens and the consequences of it, but when I researched to find a single scripture to present here, I was overwhelmed by the number of times the Lord speaks about this in His Word, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament! Clearly, if we want to grow in the Lord, if we want to see His purpose for our lives fulfilled, we MUST NOT be hard-hearted. We must learn to submit to the voice of the Holy Spirit when He convicts us, because He is trying to perfect us. The choice to do so is ours.

A Few Final Notes

There is so much to say about the work of the Lord in us! I cannot possibly blog every piece of it. But I do want to leave you with a few things you can think about—in the video that goes with this section on "if only" regrets, Batterson has a few excellent sound bites for us:

• Tune in to the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit. But tune out the condemning voice of the enemy. Turn the dial to Romans 8:1 and stay tuned.
• Each time the enemy reminds you of your past, remind him of his future! (Revelation 20:10)
• Christ is no longer nailed to the cross, but your sin is! See 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV): "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
• Half the gospel is the forgiveness of Christ. The other half is that the righteousness of Christ is given to us. So when the Father looks at us, He sees only the righteousness of His Son! THAT is why there is no condemnation coming to us from God!

He loves you! He has the very best in store for you!

In the next post, we will continue to look at Batterson's book and videos and talk about "as if" faith. I am excited about this. I love watching God grow my faith!

Prayer

Jesus, learning more and more about you is such an enriching, exciting experience! I pray for anyone who is reading this blog and following along with this teaching—I pray that the truth of Your Word would sink down deep into them. Make them overcomers, Lord. Make them strong and mighty in you. Grow them in Your Wisdom. May they seek you for the power You want to give them as they go after a life submitted to You. If anyone is reading this and does not yet believe in You, Lord, then I pray that they would accept You as their Lord and Savior. May they believe in You. May they confess their sinfulness before you and accept the forgiveness you freely offer them. I ask all this is the incredible name of Jesus—Amen!