Conviction vs. Condemnation: Drawing Near to God Instead of Running Away

Have you ever made a mistake and found yourself overwhelmed by guilt, shame, or self-judgment? Have you ever felt like your failures disqualified you from God's love?

In this episode, we explore the critical difference between conviction and condemnation and how each impacts our relationship with God. While condemnation leads us into shame, self-rejection, and distance from God, conviction from the Holy Spirit invites us into repentance, healing, and deeper intimacy with Him.

Through the stories of Peter and Judas, we'll examine two very different responses to failure. Both men betrayed Jesus, yet one allowed shame to pull him away while the other experienced restoration through God's grace. What made the difference?

Join me as we discuss how self-condemnation can become a roadblock to experiencing God's love and why God's heart is always to draw us closer, not push us away. If you've struggled with guilt, shame, perfectionism, or feeling unworthy of God's love, this episode will encourage you to embrace His compassion, receive His grace, and walk in the freedom that comes through true repentance.

God is not waiting to condemn you—He is inviting you closer.

Tune in and discover how conviction leads to transformation while condemnation keeps us trapped in shame.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to Abundling Love Podcast with your host, Gwendolyn Malika Nova.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hello, you guys, and thank you so much for listening to Abunding Love Podcast. I am so grateful for you guys who have been following the podcast, who have reached out to me to tell me your thoughts about what I'm sharing, to tell me exactly how it's impacting your life. I am just encouraged by God. I am just encouraged. And I want to make sure that you understand this podcast is not just for women. This podcast is for men too. Some people are asking me, is it only for single women? I like, even though I'm a single woman, I'm not just speaking to single women, I'm speaking to married women, I'm speaking to men who are single and married men. Anyone can listen to this podcast because the whole mission of this podcast is to teach you and to talk about roadblocks that's blocking you from growing deeper in intimacy with God and how to overcome those robots. And all I'm doing is sharing my life and different aspects of my life to show you ways that I face the robots that we're talking about and the ways that the Holy Spirit has helped me to overcome it. And also talking about scriptures from the Bible to guide you in certain aspects of how the Bible can be using this. Now, as a pastor or counselor and as a life's professional counselor, y'all, I love using the Bible, emerging the Bible with kind of behavior therapy. So a lot of times as I'm sharing this, I'm going to be really guiding you in how you're thinking and to address how your thoughts are and how your thoughts are impacting how you view yourself and how you view God. And that is the whole point. But honestly, as in Romans 12, when Jesus said, when not Jesus, but when Paul talks about being renewed by the transformation of your mind, then you attest and improve what God's perfect will is. So it's like everything we're talking about is how to first of all identify what are the thoughts I'm having about God, about myself, and about others. We gotta we gotta confront those thoughts. That's why this whole season that we're talking about is on denial because all human beings, all of us, want to avoid things that seem that they're hard, that seem like they're heart. We do. And in order for us to overcome anything, we gotta face it. I shared on several podcasts before about Isaiah 43. And if y'all ever talk to me, if you know me personally, you know Isaiah is one of my favorite books in the Bible. And Isaiah 43 talks about how when you face rivers, when you face the waters, when you face the fire, that you would not be overcome by them, you would not be burned by them. Why? Because the Lord your God is with you. So as you're on this journey with me, as you may be feeling some feelings coming up as you listen to this podcast, which is good, allow those feelings to come up. Be aware of those feelings when they come. Acknowledge those feelings when they come. Don't allow yourself to run from them because what you're doing is you're prolonging the process. Let's face it, y'all. What I'm telling you is what I'm what I've had to learn for myself. Oh, child. I've had to learn from myself to continue to face the things that's in my character, to continue to face my thoughts. And there are difficult things that we can think that can lead us away from seeing God through those right lenses that He's trying to show us and view Him through. Now, with all that being said, let's get into today's topic. So on episode six, on today, on this part on season two, y'all, we're gonna be talking about conviction versus condemnation, conviction versus condemnation. And so we're gonna be learning to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit, learning to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit versus shame. So this episode will help my listeners to help you guys to understand God's loving correction and how denial keeps us stuck in fear. Now, my background, some of you might ask, like what leads her to think that she could talk about this? And I'm just throwing things out there. I don't know if you're thinking that, but I'm just gonna address it anyway. I've been a disciple of Jesus for 28 years. And in my 28 years, if you've had conversations with me, I talk a lot about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the reason why I moved to New York City from Paplar Grove, Arkansas. He heard me on that dirt road, crying out to him, crying out, asking, like, where are you? I don't know, I don't feel safe, I don't feel close to you, I feel like something's wrong with my walk with you. I need help. And I heard a voice say to me on that road, if you were asked to be baptized again, would you be? And instantly I knew that was God speaking to me. And I said, Yes, I would be. And from there, the Lord put on my heart to move to New York City, and he did that by me walking in my in a DM with my family's watching New York undercover, and I heard a voice say, That's where you're moving to. And I got my ticket, flew to New York for a spring break, was there for a week, and while I was there, I went to a church, a midweek service with the church that I'm a part of right now. Went to a midweek service there. And as I'm walking down the stairs, y'all are I felt a flood of peace coming to me, and I saw a flash of light. And when I met the people, I felt genuinely loved. And then from there, I went back to Arkansas, moved back to moved to New York about a month later, and I have looked back since I've been a disciple. I studied the Bible in two weeks and I was baptized because I understood what it meant to follow Jesus as a disciple of Jesus according to the word, according to what he says, not according to what people are saying, but I'm reading it for myself. And I learned what it meant that the word was God's word, and what it meant to hold on to it as my standard, as my ruler, measuring my life against it. And any way that I fall from it, then I need to come back to that ruler, come back to that measurement, and realign myself with the word. Repent and come back, right? So I had to address the things in my character that was far away from what God's word says. And I told y'all before, look back at Galatians 5, looking back at in Matthew when Jesus talks about how sin starts with the thoughts, looking at those scriptures, measuring myself against the word of God, against what Jesus says, and not against other people. Right? And as I'm doing that, I had to battle feeling the condemnation that can come from shame. Over the years, y'all, there have been things that came up in my character that I'm like, God, I didn't realize that that was there. Oh, I felt shame. Because a part of me can be like self-righteous, because if I haven't done all these things that other people have done, because that's where comparison can come from, right? We compare ourselves to other people and we can get this condemnation attitude towards them. And then at the same time, when we when something happens within us that we're like shocked by, we begin to have that condemnation on us. Condemnation is judgment. The way that we're viewing others is how we're viewing ourselves, right? And so, with that judgment, we bring that judgment on ourselves, that condemnation, beating ourselves up because of the flaws and the ugliness that we can see in our hearts, in our actions, and our behavior, right? And I must, before I go into the story, no, let me go ahead and tell y'all the story because I think you need to hear it before. Um, and then I'm gonna share some scripture with you guys so you guys can read, so you can read along with me as I do. I'm reading from my NIV King James Version Bible. But a couple of years ago, I had to be in my 30s or something like that, and I was struggling with my body feeling sexual. And anybody, women, let me tell y'all, in your 30s, if nobody ever told you this, Gwendolyn Malika is telling y'all, when you're in your 30s, if you're at your sensual peak, at least that is what I went through, right? And I had to like pray and beg God to help me overcome this, control this until I get married, Lord. Please help me. And even in that time, I began to have codependent relationships with people. And one of those people was a sister, right? And in that relationship, I could feel impure thoughts come up in my mind, impure feelings come over my body because I began to become attracted to her. That had never happened to me in my life. I don't remember a time, even though I can sense that I can be pulled towards women in some form of fashion, but I'm like, no, that's not of God. But in this moment, it was like a true battle that I was experiencing, being pulled towards this woman. And I'm like, God, that is not of you. Lord, please take this villain away from me. And I'm like, Lord, battling. And I had to confess, and I sat down with her and I told her, like, look, I cannot be your friend anymore, because I'm struggling in this way. And she was confused when I was having this conversation because it just, it was not, it was just a not out of nowhere for her, but for me, I was struggling with being a codependent feeling and that that that wanted to be intimate with somebody that and that was not of God.

unknown 10:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

It was not God. But I was so shamed. I was so so shamed. And I wanted to hide from other people, I wanted to hide from God, but God has taught me that He sees every part of me anyway. Going back to Hebrews, like I shared in the last um episode in Hebrews chapter 4, how nothing is hidden from God's sight. He sees everything. And because I've learned over my years how God is a compassionate God, how he is a loving father. And I've learned his character is one that wants me to draw closer to him and not away from him. With condemnation, it leads us to want to run away from him. Like when I shared in the last episode about in the garden of Adam and Eve, how when they were they when they ate the fruit, they realized that they were naked. And so they went to hide and try to run away from God. And God was like, Where are you? God went looking for them. And sometimes in our shame, we want to run away from God, and God is like, No, where are you? Come near me. And so for me in that moment, God was saying for Gwen, don't run away from me, come near me. And a part of coming near God is sitting with other disciples who mentored me, who were able to hold me accountable to the word, who were my accountability partners, as people call them now, and I call them discipling partners. And I sat with my friend, my sister, my disciple partner at that time, and I confessed to her everything that was in my heart, everything that was on my mind. I laid it bare before her. And do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, guess it is we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word has no place in our lives. Now check that. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, it's walking in hiding, walking in allowing that condemnation to hide us from revealing what is going on in our hearts to people and to confess and bring it to the light, then we are walking in a lie. And no truth is there. We're living, it says we do not live by the truth. No truth is there. But if we walk in the light, that means if we're open, if we're confessing, we're bringing to the surface what's going on in your hearts, what's going on in your thoughts, confessing this to a trust, trustworthy person, someone who is safe, that you know will not judge you, that you know will hold you accountable to the word of God. Then, y'all, it says, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And let me stop right there. That's the gauge that you can check yourself with. How are your relationships with other disciples or other people who are following Jesus? If you're feeling fake, you're hiding, you're blocking, you're shining people from coming close to you, check yourself. Because that's the that's a reflection of you and God too. Because here's the thing: if we're putting hands distance between us and other brothers and sisters that's in our lives, then that's how we're treating God too. That means that's also something that we're hiding, that we're not trying to bring into the light. Check your heart. Denial is one thing that tries to blind you from checking your heart. Right now, on this episode and this season, I'm calling you to really check your heart. As God was calling me on that day, when I sat with that sister who I felt safe with and confessed everything that was going in my heart. And I talked to God about it too. Some of you guys, well, I talked to God about it. Great, you talk to God, but also at the same time, He wants you to talk to another sister and brother to bring it to light, to confess. And it says the prayer of a righteous person is a powerful righteous person is powerful and effective. That's why it says in James. Let me go there. Let's go there right now to y'all know where I'm coming from. In James.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Let me make sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

In James chapter one. Let me push pause while I find it y'all. Hold on, okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Welcome to Abundling Love Podcast with your host, Gwendolyn Malika Noah.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Okay, now here it is. And I don't know why they just played that again, but anyway, back in James chapter 5, and in verse 16, it says, Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. So, Cash, James and Son, let's confess our sins to one another. Why? So we can pray for each other. Me confessing my sin to that sister and not allowing Satan to allow me to remain in that condemnation because that's what Satan wants us to do. He wants us to remain in that condemnation because he wants us to draw us away from God. He wants us to walk in that shame, right? And by bringing it to the light and confessing, she was able to pray with me and for me so that I can conquer this, right? So that I can do what's right before God. What I ended up doing, y'all, I had to distance myself from the sister. I prayed like God, when you say it's time, allow us to be friends again. If not, then that's on that's what you want because it's in your hands, right? Because my time, my life, every part of me is in God. Because I said Jesus is Lord. That means my friendships, what my life, where I live, my money, all of it belongs to him. So this friendship was his too. So God is in your hands. Lead it how you wanted to lead it, because I want to do what's right before you. And years about five months later, or so months later, he allowed us to come back and be friends again because I was walking in right standing with him. I had realigned my life to want to cling to him versus wanting to clean to people. Because that's what it was, that's what was happening. But codependency is us wanting to cling to him, wanting to clean to other people, or clean to each other versus wanting to cling to God. And I had to address that in my life. So I was just so grateful that even though this came out of Nova for me, but God used it to humble me. He used it to humble me because in my mind, you you can have this thought like, oh, I would never do this, or I would never act like this, or I would never say you would never do anything because you don't know. But when you're tested in a way or you're tempted in a way, that's the time to draw closer to God and draw closer to other people that are followers of God to help you realign yourself back with the standard, the word of God, right? And so from there, through the because I overcame it, I was able to get a conviction. I was able to get a conviction, y'all, because now I'm able to walk in a conviction that God's ways are higher than my ways, his thoughts are greater than my thoughts, and to live in that conviction. Now, as I'm sharing this, one thing I needed to go back to, y'all, because it keeps coming to my mind. Judas versus Peter. And y'all can go back and read Matthew. In Matthew, um, it starts from verse 26 and go all the way to the end of it, but it tells you a distinction between Peter and Judas. Both of them were disciples of Jesus, right? Both of them followed Jesus during those three years that Jesus walked on earth. Both of them experienced the intimacy of what it meant to be in Jesus' presence, right? Both of them had their feet washed by Jesus, both of them saw Jesus feed 5,000, 4,000 people. They were there in those moments when Jesus did that, right? And at the same time, both of them betrayed Jesus. Now, so both of them did betray Jesus. So, but but the main thing is what did they do after they betrayed Jesus? Here's what they did. Judas went back to the Pharisees and said, threw the money to them. I don't want anymore. You convicted an innocent man. He felt shame. Let's talk about that. He felt shame and he felt condemnation from his behavior. Now, from there, what did Judas end up doing because of the condemnation and the shame? He allowed it to become like a heavy cloud on him that he couldn't see a way through. He didn't remember God's love for him. He didn't remember watching Jesus or feeling the intimacy that came from Jesus in those moments. He didn't remember all those things because all that he saw was his shame. And that's where Satan wants to get some of you to be. He wants you guys to get to that, he wants you to get to that point of all you see is your shame. Because what happens when what happens with him? He killed himself. What happens when we remain in that shame and don't draw closer to God? We can eventually walk away, which can lead to a spiritual death eventually. And some, if you struggle with depression, you guys, if you struggle with suicidal thoughts, I would encourage you at this moment to call someone. Reach out to a therapist, call the suicide hotline, reach out to them because condemnation and shame can lead to those thoughts. Too okay. Now, let me pause and give you that number. The number you can call is 988 if ever you feel that way and contact them. Um, if you're having thoughts of suicide, okay. Now, again, like I just said, that's what cut the nation can do. Peter, same as Judas, betrayed Jesus. Jesus told Peter that you're gonna you're gonna deny me three times, and the rooster's gonna crawl. Sure enough, that's what happened. What did Peter do? It talks about Peter running away weeping bitterly, right? And I imagine him along with the other disciples going back to fishing. They went back to fishing, went back to their old lifestyle. Because remember, when Jesus called them, what were they doing? They were fishing. So they left one purpose that they were doing and went to follow another purpose, which means went to follow Jesus to spread the gospel to fish for men. Right now, here what did they do? They left the purpose that Jesus had called them to do and went back to their old lifestyle, the old purpose that they were supposed to leave. Because they were ashamed, again, leaving the path that God had for them. That's what shame can do, that's what condemnation can do. But what did Jesus do? Jesus confronted Peter. Go back and read John 21. Jesus confronted them. Now, in that state, Peter, even though they were ashamed, they were they were in their condemnation, they didn't go to the point of wanting to harm themselves. They did go to the point of forgetting and going back to their lifestyle, going back to their old self. But in those in that space, the Holy Spirit can confront you in that space because that's what he did for me. He can confront you in that space because from he for what he did with Peter, he also did with me. He was like, feed my sheep, feed my lamb. He did that three times for me, the same way he did with Peter. Why did he do it for me too? Because I was condemning myself at another time in my life. Well, not only condemning myself, I was upset with God because I was in this relationship, the relationship I've broken up, and I was mad because why didn't you allow me to go through this? Why did you allow me to get my heart to this person? Notice I'm saying, why did you allow me? But I chose to do that. Then I went through that feeling of feeling guilty and feeling like shame because now after Jesus told me to go to Ezekiel 16, because this is what the Holy Spirit led me to read. In Ezekiel 16, he told me to look at this and see this is what you've done against me. I had committed an emotional adultery against him, giving my heart to someone who couldn't be trusted with it. And I talk about this a little bit more in my book. You guys can look back in my book, Love Abundantly Counseling. I mean Love Abundantly Counseling, Lord. 40 years of virgin wild away for morning purity in the world of promiscuity. Yes, this is brought to you by Love Abundantly Ministry and Love Abundantly Counseling. But anyway, from that reading Ezekiel 16, I was condemning myself, embarrassed and shame, because I allowed myself to go in that space. Peter was condemning himself, embarrassed and shame, because he allowed himself to deny Jesus, even though Jesus only was going to do so. For me, I'm sitting on my bed, y'all. Jesus led me to go to John chapter 21. And as I'm reading John chapter 21, as he was reinstating Peter, he also was reinstated and recalling my heart back to him, right? If that's a word, recall.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

It is real. Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

So in John chapter 21 and in verse 15, he says, When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these? Yes, Lord, he said, You know that I love you. Jesus said, Feed my lamb. Again, Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you truly love me? He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, Take care of my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, Do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said, Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. Jesus said, This will indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, Follow me. Notice in this Peter's response, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. You know that I do. Like Jesus was calling them back to that conviction of loving him. Loving him. And because you love me, then go feed my sheep. Because you love me, go care for my sheep. Because you love me, go take care of my sheep. There's the conviction, right? For me, when he was calling me back to loving him, and when he was confronting me with that, I had to say, Lord, honestly, no. I don't love you more than these. These could be my desire for the relationship, my desire for my music career to take off, my desire for financial gain, my desire, and you can fill this in for you because honestly, I'm sharing this story. So hopefully you can check you too. Where are you right now with your love level towards God? In that moment, I had to say, God, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. And I felt embarrassed asking a God who gave up everything for me to help me to love him back. I felt shame. Lord, forgive me for not loving you the way that you've called me to love you. And even in that shame and even in that guilt that I was feeling, he still showed me, Gwen, I love you. And I felt the intensity of his love. And Jesus confronted me in that moment, telling me, y'all, I could hear the Holy Spirit. He was telling me, stop living like I'm dead. He said it again, stop living like I'm dead. I'm alive. And for me, the reason why he said that to me was because in my thoughts, I can separate my thoughts and think, okay, I'm here on this earth, I'm flesh, I can have these impure thoughts in my mind and not affect Jesus. That's deceiving myself. That's walking in denial. If you are in that space, you're walking in denial. Like I said in another podcast, I've heard people say, I can pray and ask for forgiveness. And I know that I'm not, I shouldn't be sleeping with this person, but I'm gonna ask God for forgiveness now before I go and do this, what I'm about to do. It doesn't work like that. You're hurting him, and that's what he was telling me. You're hurting me. I am still alive, I still feel every single thing I feel. I feel the pain of your sin against me. I feel it. I feel it when you're going against my word. I feel it. That's why in Ephesians it talks about do not embitter the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, when you are baptized into Christ, you are given the Holy Spirit and you're clothed with him, and he is placed in your heart, and he grows within you as you grow in the word of God and walk in obedience to God. That's why it talks about feeding him. What you feed yourself is what you're going to grow in. So if we're feeding ourselves worldly things, watching the movies or watching or listening to music that leads us into impure feelings, which I had to check myself with, or watching reading magazines or watching videos, all those things that you can feed yourself with, your mind is gonna grow in that way, which means you're gonna grow more worldly. Versus if you're listening to the Bible, if you're reading the scriptures, if you're memorizing the scriptures, if you're applying it to your life, walking in obedience to you to the word of God, then it's gonna lead you in that conviction that you need to have in order for you to follow the ways of God and lead you in love with Him. One path, y'all, when we're following the ways of the world, because that's what Judas did. He followed his flesh, he followed the guilt, he followed the shame, followed the condemnation, following the flesh in that way. Let's look at that scripture in Romans 8. So Romans 8. Hope y'all are with me. Stay with me now. In Romans 8, it says in verse 1, therefore, I'm gonna read from Romans 8 all the way down to Romans chapter 8, Romans verse 8, rather. Therefore, there is no now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do, in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin and sinful men in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires, which is what I was just talking about. But those who live in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God and does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. Listen to that. If you are controlled by the sinful nature, you cannot please God. So one part of having convictions is learning how to recognize the Holy Spirit's voice. Like I just said, the only way to recognize his voice is to walk in tune with him, walking in obedience to the word, reading the word, because in Ephesians it talks about how, in verse in Ephesians chapter 6, it talks about how the word of God is a sword of the spirit. Then you go to John chapter 14, and it talks about how from verse 6 to 7, Jesus says he is the way and the truth and the light. And prior to that, it says in John 1 how the word came to flesh, and the word was with God, and the word is God, and the word was with God in the beginning. Who was the word? Let's connect all of that. The word was Jesus, the word is Jesus because Jesus was in the beginning with God. You go back to Genesis, Genesis chapter 1. Let us make man in our own image. He's talking about Jesus. Jesus all through the Old Testament. Fast forward, Jesus says he is the way and the truth. If Jesus is the truth, that means the word of God is the truth. That means very anything that I'm thinking that's apart from the word of God is not the truth. Catch that. Anything that I'm thinking that is apart from the word of God is not the truth. Anything that I'm allowing in my mind that is opposite of the word of God is not the truth. But how do I know when it's opposite of the word of God? I have to be in the word, I have to read the Bible. This is how we learn convictions and grow in our convictions and not continue following in condemnation. 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians 1 and 2 talks about how Christ's love compels us. Right? So because Christ's love compels us, his love is going to compel us to want to change and not want to walk in that shame. He wants to draw us closer to him and not away from him and to live in that condemnation. Do you think that Judas couldn't have been forgiven by Jesus? If he would have come to Jesus and asked him? Yes, Judas could have been forgiven, but he chose to walk in a path of shame and of guilt and walk away from Jesus. I don't know if I'm talking to people who are on that verge right now of walking away from Jesus. If you're on that verge of walking away from Jesus and you found my podcast, please stop. Please turn your heart back to him. The way you do that is by listening to his word, looking at how much he loves you. In Romans 5, listen to this scripture if you are in this space right now. In Romans 5, it talks about how let's go there in verse 6. This is one that helped draw my heart even more closer and deeper intimacy with God to help me to come out of that space of shame and denial of where I was, right? Oh y'all. In Romans 5, in verse 6, it says, You see, at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man. Though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. That God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Let's go on to verse nine. Sorry, my voice is like this, y'all. My allergies are coming back up as I'm talking to you right now. Since we have been, since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? For if when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son. How much more have been reconciled shall we be saved through his life? Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now we have now received reconciliation. Now, let me set this up for you guys because the book of Romans has been taken out of context so much over the years by theology, and certain theologies come from what man made, what they wanted to believe, and what they believe it says, based on their own ideas and interpretations of it. But what I'm doing is basing on what is the Bible really saying? And I shared this idea with someone else before, y'all, because I think even though I'm a pastoral counselor and I went to college in Fordham University, I had to take theology classes. My whole perspective of theology is like this. Your mom is telling you to go in the kitchen and wash dishes. You go in the kitchen and you look around, you see all these dishes, and you look around and say, Okay, did she say really wash dishes, or did she say just put them in the sink? Or maybe she just said, wash them off and just leave them in the sink. Hmm. Or maybe she just said, just leave them there and come back later and then I get them later. Notice mom originally said, go in the kitchen, wash the dishes. So because your own interpretation of what she said, it leads you far away from what she's telling you to do. That is what we can do with the word of God if we misconstrued and do it according to our own interpretation. As you listen to me and you listen to my podcast, what I'm doing is I'm reading the scriptures based on what it says and in the context of what it's been written in, not based on my own interpretation, but what is the Bible saying? In Romans, the book of Romans was written to disciples in Rome. It was not written to people who were not saved, it was written to people who were saved, people who were disciples there. So what has happened is people have taken parts of the Bible to create these man-made doctrines that create these theologies and create these denominations that are far away from the word of God. I was a part of one of those denominations myself. But when I studied, when I started studying the Bible for myself and read the scripts, I saw how far away the world has turned away from the Bible. No, it's now time to come back to what God is saying. Now, again, if you have studied the Bible, you've understand or you understood what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus, you have repented and confessed your sins, and then you are baptized because it says in Matthew 28, you baptize for the forgiveness of your sins, and you are saved, then you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, like it says in Acts chapter 2. Then this is for you. He's saying this to you. If you have not done those things, I want to encourage you to get with a Bible-based church, you can even reach out to me, I will study the Bible with you myself. Reach out to me, and if you're a man, I could refer you to other brothers. We can sit down and look at the scriptures. But for you to examine yourself and see where you are with God, because here's the thing: if you're consistently repeating the same sins over again without repenting, you doing the same thing over and over again, and you're caught up in that sin, then you have to check yourself and see and examine where you are. This is a part of waking up from denial and seeing where I am at before the throne of God. Am I still his enemy? Because when we're living in sin, that's where we are. When we're making a choice to remain in sin, that is where we are. We are being condemned in that case. But when we have repented and we choose to go follow God, and but we still maybe get caught up in it and we repent, then we are beginning to become, we're at this space, y'all, where we're understanding, okay, look, let me change. I want to come close to God. I don't want to continue in the same sin. And we need the Holy Spirit to help us to do that. And the Holy Spirit, when we're surrendering to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and walking in obedience to God, then He will help you repent and help you to change that sin, to get a conviction about that sin so you don't repeat that sin over and over again. True convictions come from the Word of God. Y'all, I'm gonna get to another scripture really quickly, but I'm gonna go through this right now. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for you. That means while you were in sin right now, if you are not with God right now, you listen to my podcast, Christ died for you. Not for you to continue in the ways that you're still living, but in hopes for you to chase after his love because he gave, he showed you how much he loved you by dying for you. Now is your turn to respond to that love by coming to him, by choosing to live for him, choosing to walk in obedience with him. If you've already chosen to do that as a disciple of Jesus, then our job is to remain in love with him and remember that we were once sinners and he still died for us. And when we get caught up in that sin, because we're all still similar, we're saved sinners now as disciples, but when we're saved sinners and we caught up in a sin, we're gonna go back and say, Hold up, Christ demonstrated his love for us in this. I don't need to repeat the sin again. Let me change because of how much he loves me. That's the conviction because of that love. Christ's love compels us to want to change. Okay, and John 16 and verse 8, it says talking about the Holy Spirit, when He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment in regard to sin because men do not believe in me. This is verse 9. In verse 10, it says, in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father now. So now, notice what it says Holy Spirit is convicting us. So if you have the Holy Spirit, you are going to change, you are not going to continue to live in the same sin over again because his spirit convicts us to say, Hold up, I don't want to do this no more. But what can happen is even when you are close to the Holy Spirit, you can deny the power of the Holy Spirit and push him down, which becomes grieving the Holy Spirit because you're closing your ears and closing your eyes. From listening to him. And if you feel that sadness, you can feel this heaviness that come on you when you do that. You're choosing to do that because you're choosing to follow the ways of the world and following your flesh. If you choose to do that, the more you choose to do that, what's gonna happen to the Holy Spirit? You will eventually begin to leave him. Y'all, once saved, it's not always saved. That is a doctrine that is a lie. That is not a true doctrine that is not scriptural. You can lose your salvation. The more that you ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit, to follow your own way, ignore the word of God, to walk according to what you want to do, you can lose your salvation. This is a warning for you. Hopefully, this will help to bring you out of the fire wherever you may be. Please turn back around because you will be condemned if you continue in this way. But the conviction can come when you wake up and say, Hold up, I see where I'm going. I don't want to go this way. No, let me repent, let me change my mind, change my heart, change my actions. Do a 180 to come back to God, to come back, to yoke your yoke yourself with the word of God, yoke yourself with the Holy Spirit, listen to him, walk in obedience to him, because he will speak to you. But the word, but the but your job is to listen. Are you listening? And whatever the Holy Spirit says is going to be in line with what the word of God says. There's a lot of pastors that's out there saying the Holy Spirit said this. In first John, it says, test every spirit. With you, if you listen to my podcast, I want to encourage you to go back and read the scriptures for yourself. Test every spirit. Test and see if what Gwendolyn Malika Miller is saying to you is true. Look at the word of God for yourself. Don't just take my word for it. Listen to the word. And don't try to misconstrue it according to what you wanted to say to yourself. Again, it's not according to your own interpretation, but it's according to what the Bible says about itself. Let me tell y'all this before we wrap up because we're at the end. Another analogy. Let's say you have this friend, and you and this friend has been you've been talking about whatever you want to talk about in your life, right? And you told this friend about something you believe really strongly about living this life, right? This friend goes back and tells this other person about what you just said. Yeah, Jennifer just said this about what she believes in life, about what she wants to live, how she wants to live her life. And this friend now goes and tells someone else about what they believe that what you just said, right? And it spreads. But eventually, if you guys know that that telephone analogy, how you on a telephone, one person tells another person, and it eventually ends up being something different than what you originally said. That's how we can do with interpretations. If we can take from what the original person just said and make maneuver and move it according to what I think it's going to be in my own words, and go in accordance to whatever else somebody said, eventually it goes further away from what the Bible initially said, what Jesus initially said, what the Holy Spirit initially said. I need to go to First Peter, y'all, because Spirit's telling me to go there with you. Before we wrap up, I need to read this to you. In First Peter, and I think it's in chapter um in 1 Peter chapter 4. Let me make sure. Let me push pause just to make sure, okay. Okay, y'all. It's in 2 Peter, not first Peter, 2 Peter chapter 1, and verse 19 through, and verse let's do 19 through 21. It says, and we have the word of the prophets made more certain. Cash that. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and a morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, cash that above everything. You must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by who? By the Holy Spirit. So no prophecy came from men, but it came through the Holy Spirit. That's why when you look through the Old Testament, anything and Moses says that a prophet will speak the words of God. If a prophet speaks the word of God, then it's going to come true. Right? And so anything Jesus said is going to come true. He says, I am the way and the truth, because Jesus is a prophet and he also the son of God. Anything that Eliza said, Isaiah said, anything that the Malachi said, Habakkuk said, anything the prophet said in the old that came from God, it came true. Because they spoke exactly what the word, what God told them to say. When you look at it, they're saying that it's not coming from them. The Lord says. The Lord says. So when you're looking at the scriptures, we're looking at what the Lord is saying. It's not based on what your interpretation is or what you want it to be. My conviction is this. This is my conviction because of how I've trained myself and how the spirit has trained me to walk in this conviction in order for me to listen to his voice. In order for me not to be condemned by my own thoughts about what the world may say about me, or what I may feel about what I'm doing, or whatever I may feel, but get the conviction of what the word says about me and what God says about me. This is how we challenge our thoughts, y'all. We gotta examine where your convictions lie. Is it lying about what your interpretations are, what you think about yourself, what other people say, or is it lying to what the spirit says about you, what the what the word of God says about you? Okay. Now, I have to close, y'all. We're gonna do part two of this because I got so much more to say about conviction and condemnation. So check out part two that's gonna be coming up soon. But before we wrap up, I need to wrap up in with this. This episode, y'all, is an episode that I hope reaches your heart. And I hope that it challenges you in some form or fashion to really examine where you are before God. If you're ready to grow deeper in intimacy with God, in your relationship with God, I invite you to join me in my growing deeper intimacy with God webinar. Together, we'll explore how to overcome spiritual robots, hear God's voice more clearly, and develop a closer walk with Him. Visit my website, Loveabundling Ministry.com, to learn more and register. You can email me from there if you're interested. I love to have you join us. Until next time, keep pursuing God's heart and remember you are deeply loved. Now, I want to add on to this before we wrap up again. If this conversation stirred something deep in you, especially patterns you've been carrying for a long time, I want to gently remind you that support is available. Though through love of abundantly counseling and ministry, we walk with individuals who desire emotional healing, spiritual growth, and deeper intimacy with God. So seeking help isn't failure, it's wisdom, courage, and self-love. You don't have to face this truth alone. So you can also email me again through loveabundantly ministry.com. You can also email me at loveabundantlycounselinginc at gmail.com if you're interested in counseling or even pastoral counseling or coaching. All right. So anyway, walk in this, walk in love, grow deeper in intimacy with love from God by really examining yourself and your ways and who you are before him. Let's walk in truth, let's walk in being honest with who we are before God so that we can grow deeper in intimacy with him. All right, love you. Have a good day.