“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.” But Peter and the other apostles replied, “WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior, in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” When the Council members heard this, they were enraged and wanted to put the apostles to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a short time." Act 5:28-34 BSB
A deep conviction is a key to all great accomplishments
18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. After the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged whites, he (Nelson Mandela) and the African National Congress (ANC) committed themselves to its overthrow. Mandela was appointed President of the ANC's Transvaal branch, rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People. He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the banned South African Communist Party (SACP). Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant "Umkhonto we Sizwe" in 1961 and led a sabotage campaign against the government. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state following the Rivonia Trial. Standing behind bars for the next 27 year did not tie the hands of the anti-apartheid revolutionist, but fought even from prison for racial reconciliation and apartheid abolishment. His conviction made him refused to be granted bill even when the ruling white majority leaders granted him bill on the account that he will put an end to his activism. Amid growing domestic and international pressure, and with fears of a racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and became president.
HIS CONVICTIONS, CONQUERS
In Acts 4, the apostles were arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, which is the court of Jerusalem. It was on the account of preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus as being resurrected from the dead, (Act 4:2). When they were been queried, scripture said, Peter being full of the Holy Spirit replied them saying, " If we are being examined today about a kind service to a man who was lame, to determine how he was healed, then let this be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.' (Act 4:9-12 BSB). This statement of Peter capture the core of his convictions. It is in one line of his statement which is in the tenth verse of the scripture. It says, "then let this be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed." Peter captured a conviction: Jesus been dead and overpowering dead, came back to life and has all powers at His disposal. This was the core of his convictions. Throughout scripture, peter made references to his conviction times without number. On the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured forth, scripture said, peter stood and preach and the message captured the core of his convictions. What was the message he preached, "Men of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its clutches." Act 2:22-24 BSB; and likewise in Acts chapter 3:14-15, he preached saying, "You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. ( he was speaking about the Jews asking for Barabbas to be released when Pilate wanted to release Jesus), You killed the Author of life, he continued, but God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses of this fact." With regard to his conviction, he said, " *WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN* ." Verse 29. Peter captured a conviction which he world rather die for than not live for. A man with a deep conviction is a dead man, he is dead to his convictions, you cannot take that conviction away from him. Frustration is nothing but being against a man with deep convictions. No man stands opposite to such people and prevails. The Court of Jerusalem ( the Sanhedrin) gave strict orders to the apostles not to teach in the name of Jesus but the apostles also cannot help it because, they have to live their conviction. Earlier, they were put in prison and God sent the Angel to release them. This and many other events gave the apostles great courage and a more multiplied reason to stick to their conviction.
The source of every deep convictions is a Revelation of the divine
*Every strong and deep conviction is a revelation of the divine.* This is the source of all strong convictions. A revelation is coming to know something which is there all this while but you ignorant of it which by the entrance of the light of the Word of God illuminates your mind equipping you to have it found expression on earth. This kind of illumination is what the Bible called "epignosis". Epignosis is a kind of wisdom that empower you to becomes. It is a revelation that illuminates your soul to the extent that it leads you on the pathway to established what you have come to understood in the earth realm. When Martin Luther had an illumination that all humans are created equal, it birth a conviction within him which became a vision he bore the rest of his life. Out that conviction he fought, and the Gim Crow law was abolished leading to racial reconciliation between the black community and the whites in the States. It was the same conviction which took his life. You will never accomplish anything significant if your convictions are not deep enough for you to die for them. Scripture said, " Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hen 12:2 kjv.
You see, Jesus had a conviction with he lived for and ultimately died for. Do you have something to live for and to die for, if your answer is yes, you have strong convictions, a purpose to accomplish; if no, it is time to wrestle with God for the vision you must run with in this life. And when that conviction comes, It elevate your Faith in God, It light minds and illuminate souls. Your conviction will give someone meaning in this life. Even creation awaits the manifestations of the sons of God. Arise thou sleeper, for your season is due. Arise!.
Every great thought required an action step
How can you capture a deep conviction which will give you relevance on earth. You can have conviction which birth no relevant. Irrelevant convictions oppress rather than improve the living standard of people. The conviction of "Bocho Haram", ISIS, and many other similar groups has no relevance to the human race. So to have a conviction which is relevant to the purposes of man must be birth from the God realm. That is why it is very important to wait on God for a revelation of the divine. When that revelation is come, it birth a purpose in your life which will ultimately be the fuel of a conviction which will shape the whole world. Wait on God for the vision.
Our meditation
Lord, Show me the purpose for which I am born, the source of my conviction in order to establish your purposes on earth, in the name of Jesus. Amen
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