BACKSLIDERS: God doesn't hate you!
(Don't allow displaced shame to keep you from Him.)
BACKSLIDERS: God doesn't hate you. While it's still called today (Hebrews 3:13), the bridge that initially led you TO God is STILL available to lead you BACK to God. There is NOTHING so heinous that He will refuse to forgive of, so long as you respond to the conviction that is designed to lead you to forgiveness. Don't allow displaced shame to keep you from Him.
Shame and self-condemnation are Satan's counterfeit of conviction. It is designed to keep you from repentance. It's sole intent is to "beat you up" while remaining in a perpetual state of self-loathing, condemnation and guilt. It is meant to keep you away from approaching God due to the shame you feel. So long as shame holds you back from approaching God...Satan knows you will NEVER seek repentance. This is the downward spiral of backsliders. The vast majority of backsliders are caught in a constant cycle of shame and sin that they just can't seem to escape from.
Conviction is God's method NOT to "beat you up" but to "lead you up". To lead you up from your sin unto the throne of grace through the medium and vehicle of repentance.
Sin causes true converts to feel "godly sorrow" (2 Cor 7:10).
Godly sorrow leads one to conviction.
Conviction leads one unto repentance.
Repentance leads one unto forgiveness and restoration unto God.
PLEASE NOTE: When the conviction that Godly sorrow produces isn't acted upon immediately...
when repentance isn't sought AS SOON AS you are convicted after being exposed in your sin...
when you procrastinate under the light of conviction and deny yourself of the reality it exposes and illuminates...
BEWARE:
Satan then will have full reign and access to begin to pervert Godly sorrow and conviction, thus counterfeiting it with the perpetuation of shame, condemnation and self loathing...which inevitably leads to an up/down cycle of backsliding. When you deny yourself of the repentance that conviction wishes to produce, you invariably play into Satan's scheme and become a sitting duck within the perversion of his methodologies. His methodologies are there to keep you in a perpetual state of shame that consistently deprives you and keeps you away from repentance.
He who is kept from repentance is also kept from forgiveness.
He who is kept from forgiveness is also kept from Eternal Security.
He who is kept from Eternal Security is kept from salvation.
Delayed obedience is disobedience. When we reject the conviction of the Holy Spirit in regard to our sin we are accepting the beginning stages of Satan's counterfeit of shame. When you reject the light that conviction brings, you are embracing the darkness that Satan offers. When you embrace the darkness as opposed to the light...you are on the road to apostasy and the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:25-30, Matthew 12:31-32). He who rejects the Spirit who produces the conviction that leads to repentance and forgiveness of sin...is the same person who blasphemes and sins against the Spirit, thus producing the end result of "the unpardonable sin". It is utterly unpardonable to live your entire life in a constant state of rejecting and hereby depriving yourself of the conviction that comes by the Spirit.
He who denies himself the Spirit that brings the conviction...denies himself the repentance.
He who denies himself the repentance...denies himself the forgiveness.
Denying yourself of the forgiveness that comes to you by the vehicle of the Holy Spirit's conviction is considered "blasphemy of the Holy Spirit".
You tie God's hands when you reject the Spirit of conviction and instead embrace the spirit of Satan. What more can God do when we live the entirety of our lives rejecting the conviction that ONLY comes by His Spirit? Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is one step beyond apostasy...and it's unforgiveable.
Repentance by and through the conviction of the Holy Spirit is the key to Eternal Security.
If you deny yourself of the key...you will deny yourself of the entry.
If you deny yourself of the entry...you will deny yourself of the mercy, grace and eternal security that lies beyond.
When you live your entire life rejecting the forgiveness that offers itself to you through the medium of the Spirit unto repentance...you commit the unpardonable sin.
Yes, God will keep us...but what is He to do when our entire Christian Life is now being lived as if we don't want Him to keep us at all?
God is no rapist...he doesn't force Himself on anyone. But He incessantly seeks those who are truly His by and through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. But when those who are truly His, begin rejecting the conviction and light that He brings by pushing Him away and instead embracing Satan...His hands are tied. What more can He do except honor your request to be a blasphemer of the Holy Spirit of conviction?
BACKSLIDERS: No, God doesn't hate you. But when you fall into the trap of Satan's counterfeit of conviction, eventually you will begin to love your sin and backsliding more than Him. Therefore, Satan will eventually convert these feelings and behaviors into an inevitable hatred and disdain toward God. The end-result of repeated backsliding is absolute apostasy and rejection of Christ. If you are backslidden while reading this and can still feel conviction....RUN TO CHRIST WHILE YOU STILL HAVE TIME.
In the meantime, we must continually differentiate between the Spirit derived Godly-sorrow and conviction VS. the Satanically derived shame and condemnation.
Backslider's remain backslidden and deprive themselves of forgiveness because they buy into Satan's lie of shame that "God hates them"...God doesn't hate you. He is doing NOTHING BUT sending conviction because HE LOVES YOU and wants YOU to respond to it. If you remain in the Satanic state of believed lies, it will eventually cause you to hate God. And when you begin to HATE a God that LOVES you...you will begin the process of depriving yourself of the forgiveness that only comes through the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
So long as it's still called "today" it is NEVER too late for you to respond to the Godly sorrow, conviction and repentance of Christ. If you're reading these words now and the Spirit bubbles to the surface a particular area of your life He has been honing in on...RESPOND NOW.
NOW is ALL you have.