There are times that I notice people who say they believe in His power to save and His power to heal but it seems to be more of a “head knowledge” kind of belief rather than a deep, heartfelt conviction. The way I look at the Bible and God and Jesus and all of their abilities is based solely on what He has done in the past and what He will do now…if we will have the conviction to follow through. Remember, a conviction in this sense is a strong belief and is deeply held. It is not swayed by the opinions of others.
It was conviction that began the church after Jesus was resurrected and then taken up to prepare a place for His people. Ideas and a belief that is only knowledge of a fact or a memory is not the same. Peter and the other disciples would never have started the beginnings of a church or a movement without a true conviction that their Savior lives and in all of the promises that they heard from Him. A deeply held conviction cannot be shaken even when everything around you is not going according to your plan. God is still behind the scenes, moving the pieces so that “all things will work for your good“.
Prayer and reading His Word daily will strengthen your faith and your convictions about Him. Although many of us who claim to be walking with Him only do so when we are at church. We don’t practice our beliefs when we are at the doctor’s office or when we are traveling or at work. That is not the part of our life that we allow God to invade unless we need Him to. We need to remember that “God came and walked in the garden“, He wanted to be near and with His Creation, Adam. The only time we read this is after they have eaten of the fruit that they were not supposed to eat, but I believe that God walked with them to teach them every day. How else would they learn?
Belief and conviction are different sides of the same coin. One is just an intellectual knowledge where you have read about God’s miracles and you know that He has done this in the past. The other is based on that but it is deeper meaning that He is still doing those things today. God didn’t stop performing miracles in the first century, He is still doing it even now somewhere in the world. Take that into your heart and believe it with enough conviction that those problems that you are having or going through are being fixed by the Creator as you pray. Just believe it in faith.
The Living Message of Christ 