READ: Jonah 1:17 – 2:1-10
“And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.” – Jonah 3:1-3
One day, a pastor handed in his resignation letter and quit ministry suddenly. He said he was going to pursue a secular career in another nation. I was shocked! I was shocked because the basis for coming into ministry is a conviction from the Holy Spirit about what you must do. If you had such a strong conviction, why do you suddenly resign and walk away without even a five-minute discussion? Is it so easy to walk away from a conviction?
It is easy to walk away from a job! It is easy to walk away from a secular school, but you cannot walk way from your conviction. Your conviction stays with you even when you are far away in the stomach of a whale.
Remember that Jonah could not get away from his conviction to serve the Lord. Even in the belly of the whale he knew he was to blame for his own calamity. Convictions are not easy to dispense with. Someone asked me, “How do you stay on course? How come you still have the same zeal that you had many years ago?” I am often amazed about that question because I do not do anything to keep the fire. I am simply following the conviction I have had since I was a child. I am doing what I strongly believe in.
Do you have any convictions? Make sure you follow them. Strong unshakeable beliefs are divinely imparted by the Holy Spirit! I followed my convictions earnestly and it brought me into a large ministry which I could not have known about. God knows about many things but He does not tell us with [English] words. He tells us very little but gives us convictions about what we have to do. Make sure you follow your convictions because your convictions will not go away. The strong beliefs you have were not formed by chance. They were formed by the Holy Spirit working in you.