by Peter Frantz

Created on: September 25, 2009

We've all seen it.

Deep and spiritually penetrating worship in the presence of God at church, at a conference, or even in a home. It moves us, causes great fluctuation in our emotions and our spiritual temperament. It may even change our lives if we let it.

In these situations when the Spirit descends upon his people in powerful ways there can be a new sense of conviction and the love of God to individuals who had not recognized their need for those things in the past. There's no doubt that the conversion experience plays a major role in evangelicalism today. However, the Spirit of God is so powerful and mysterious that not everyone hears from the Lord in the same fashion. Not everyone is convicted of all his/her wrongdoings in a single moment.

Let me retrace my steps for just a moment. Every person who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ must, at some point in life, make a commitment to pick up their cross and follow him. We're born into a sinful world with sin in our hearts. The only way to rid ourselves of this destructive nature is through the sacrificial death and resurrection of our Savior. Now, the process of conviction, deliberation and repentance can take months or years for people. It may not even be a completely conscious ordeal.

For example, I was born into a non-believing household. I was raised with a belief in a god of some sort who didn't care a whole lot for people. In high school, I found a whole new meaning to life and spirituality. I had many Christian friends who were living for something I could not understand. Years passed, and by the end of high school I was a Christian. Now, there is no sense in asking me when I made the big commitment. I don't know. I don't remember. There may not have even been one. There was just a point in my life when I just realized that I was trusting God. That's not a "conversion experience," ladies and gentlemen. That is simply a realization of what God had been doing in me all along.

Please, don't feel like your story has to conform to the modern day format of re-birth in Christ. We are all different. God loves us all and speaks to us all in a variety of different ways. Maybe we should stop trying to pinpoint a conversion experience in our past, and instead focus on the experience of life ahead. The Lord has a lot in store for his people.

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