Convicts All

Convicts All

Leonard Ravenhill is possibly one of the most quoted man here on the internet. This is one of his that struck me today. “There is one thing we need above everything else; it’s something we don’t talk about these days. We need a mighty avalanche of conviction of sin.” I don’t know when Mr Ravenhill said this, but it clearly speaks to this present day as well. I was reading, too, about how, in the 1904 Welsh revival, trains would take people by the thousands into Wales for the meetings. Such was the anointing and Holy Spirit presence, however, that as the trains crossed the Welsh border, people would be convicted and fall to their knees crying out to God for mercy. Such was the conviction that Holy Spirit brought to the revival. That was perhaps why it turned into revival – because of the overwhelming conviction of sin.

Conviction really needs to start in our churches. Too many preachers take the pulpit each week and just tell Bible stories and go through the same old routine week after week. Their people know their Bible stories but they learn next to nothing from them. If the Church would step up, listen to itself and teach about sin, our need for repentance and how to overcome sin, and how as followers of Christ we can help others who are struggling with it, THEN we will see a turn and people will see the true darkness of their own sin and how to get out of its trap.

Here is the reason for all of this. Once again, Leonard Ravenhill hits the nail on the head. “I am concerned in my spirit that the reason the world goes to hell-fire tonight is because the church has lost its Holy Ghost fire.” I find it truly incredible that, even in the Pentecostal churches, there are so many who really do not know Holy Spirit through His baptism. They do not even realise His importance to us as our daily companion, teacher, and friend. I find it incredible that there is so much doubt and unbelief on healing; so much ignorance on deliverance; so much absolute rejection of the prophetic.

It is a disgrace that the church really can no longer tolerate. Yet tolerance is the “in-word” at the moment. We as Christians are called to tolerate everyone’s views while our own views are rubbished and completely disregarded. Surely it is time for the church to step up to the plate once more and BE the church, almost as it was in the beginning. Here in the West, persecution has barely started yet thousands are meekly surrendering and ducking below the parapet. Thousands deny their faith and their Lord by their unrepentant life-styles and their unrepentant mouth.

Come on Church – please. Let us feel once more the conviction of our sin. Let us repent and become the church Jesus died for rather than just the church – local glee and social club. We are all convicts together in this, so let us turn away from our sins and really show and lead the world back to Jesus Christ.