Oct – 20 – CONSCIENCE WITHOUT OFFENSE!

“This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men” (Acts 24:16).

If you possess a conscience without offence, you can directly look up to God and call Him “Abba, Father.” One can feel the presence of God and rejoice in it only if he has a conscience without offence in him.

1. During the time of prayer: If the guilty conscience pricks you, you cannot pray with revival and you cannot cast out satan with full strength. When a person was praying earnestly for an important blessing, the lusts in his eyes stood as a barrier and blocked his prayer from reaching God. With tears, he pleaded in prayer that he should be free of these lusts. Since he pleaded whole-heartedly, God filled him with His presence and his request was fulfilled.  

2. For the Holy Spirit: One person was earnestly praying for the Holy Spirit. Despite praying for many days, he was unable to succeed. He felt some guilty conscience pricking deeply in his heart. When he humbled himself before God and submitted himself, God gave him thought of a crowbar. He had borrowed a crowbar from his neighbour and since the neighbour had forgotten to claim it back, this man had cunningly kept it as his own. When the Holy Spirit reminded of his sin, he immediately made a vow, got up and went to return the crowbar to its owner. He came back, knelt and at one God anointed him with the Holy Spirit.

3. To meet God: A wonderful and spiritual sister was seriously ill. She was struggling in the final moments. Some servants of God came and prayed for her the presence of God did not descend on her bed. Suddenly the sick woman called her son, gave him Rs 200 and asked him to hand over the money to the house owner. She also said that she had forgotten to pay the rent to him. Once that money was handed over to the house owner, the presence of God descended there. The sister peacefully and happily entered into glory.

Dear children of God, whatever be the situation, never give space to the guilty conscience. Be honest before man and God. If your conscience is clear, your entire life will also be the same. So, evaluate your life every day. Review yourself whether you have anything which causes distress, whether you have saddened God by doing something or you have blunted your conscience.           

To meditate: “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from sincere faith” (I Timothy 1:5).