In this episode of The Word Project, host Sharnita Gates explores what it means to "expect good" from God by focusing on the concept of conviction. She frames conviction as the central "O" in the energy of an ion, a source that can transform negative energy into positive fruitfulness. Gates guides listeners through practical steps—writing lists, visualizing outcomes, and meditating on the Holy Spirit—to consciously align desires, passions, and actions with divine purpose. She explains the role of the Holy Spirit (Paracletos, the Comforter) as an advocate who leads believers into truth, love, joy, and peace, urging them to invite the Spirit into their hearts, release guilt, and let the Spirit’s comfort replace fear and baggage. Throughout, she emphasizes self‑conviction before external correction, the liberating power of truth, and the importance of cultivating spiritual fruits such as love, gentleness, and joy. The episode concludes with a call to sketch out one’s vision, pray for the Holy Spirit’s presence, and embody conviction as a daily practice of expecting God’s goodness.
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Hey everyone, and welcome to The Word Project. I'm Sharnita Gates, and today on this podcast, we know who are they to say? Well, today we're going to be talking about expecting good from God. Now, when we think about the word good, like that's a double O. So what does that O stand for for you? Now for me, I think that is the middle of the energy that we put out there. So the word that we're focusing on today is going to be conviction. And the reason why I said it is the O that's in the middle of the energy, because when you think of an ion, I think of energy. So within that energy, there's an O, which is in the middle of ion. So When we think about the word conviction, conviction is a source of energy. And a lot of times when we think about conviction, we may think like I don't want to be convicted. But sometimes when we're expecting something good, we should expect conviction. Conviction actually helps free some of the bad energy that we may have. So when you're expecting good from God, today we're going to talk about how to go through some of the conviction that you may face. You definitely want to start off with a question, if I had, and wrote, and, you know, and write a list out. It helps because it helps you to see, well, at that time where you previously had done something and did not go through the conviction visualization. So you want to make sure that you have a vision when you do something or when you want something, when you desire or you have a passion for anything, you want to kind of convict those passions and, and also those desires. Because those passions and desires, if you go ahead and convict yourself in the beginning, it will help you to understand the end, which I said is the extra O in the energy that you put out. So now I just want to take a moment to kind of just reflect and just listen to the Holy Spirit. That is the conviction. Convict yourself to just listen to the Holy Spirit. When we think about the Holy Spirit, we just think about A fruitful spirit? Have you cleaned, you know, asked God to show you what's in your heart? What's in your heart is love? Is it joy? Is it peace? Now that's what you want to convict yourself when you ask the Holy Spirit. You want to say, hey, will this bring me joy? Will this help me to bring love to someone else? Is this going to make me Be a little bit more gentle. So if I jump up for joy and someone is sad, will it, will it help? Convict yourself. Like, go ahead and just see it and write the vision through it all to kind of see how it will, you know, play out. Because the Holy Spirit has a mind, it has will, it has It has emotions. So when you think about love, a mind of love, when you set your mind on loving God with all your, your mind, your will, and your, your intelligence, that is the Holy Spirit convicting you. And you do not want to grieve that the loss of any type of sin or intimacy or sadness. You don't want to grieve that, um, or, you know, any sin. You know, if you— even if you committed a sin, that's the beauty of the, the blood of, of Jesus, because it helps you to not grieve. It just— Take a deep breath in, ask the Holy Spirit, how do I produce love Or whatever type of fruit you're trying to be fruitful. You want to plant seeds everywhere. So if it's even a smile, how do you smile even when you want— even when you're sad or with a loss or, or you're, you know, any type of grief? You want to smile through it, but you have to figure out how to convict yourself to smile through it. And the, the Holy Spirit will— he's the leader into all the, you know, all truth. So, and the truth, that's why the meaning, the truth will set you free. Because once you openly say, I, I, I did this, or I am doing this, or I will do this, I won't do that, I did, I feel this way, or you just openly Let the Holy Spirit guide you into that truth and go through that conviction. It sets you free. So you have to accept the person of Jesus because it sets you free to say, okay, he died for my sins. So even if I do feel this way, it's it's okay. But let me convict, you know, get the conviction now before someone else convict me, and they may not even, you know. Want to convict you, but convict yourself so you can overcome and be free before you face anything else. You want to tap into and accept that Holy Spirit and the Advocate. Let him advocate for you. Like, okay, I guess I, I committed this tragedy, and I guess I was, I was sad. I was I was upset. I was. I did that, or you know, just let him advocate for you, and let the Holy Spirit just let you become free in who you are. And that's why we we say Paracletos, which is the Comforter, because. He's a comforter. Even when you're when you're alone and you need a good word, or you're fearful, or you're a little bit timid, you know that that's not the power. Back to the energy that we were talking about. That's not the power that he gave. You know, he gave us that power in our in our mind. He did not give us a fearful mind. He told us we're fearfully and wonderfully made. He did not say um. Your will be done, but his will be done. And he did say be fruitful and multiply. So that's saying share a lot of love. There's a lot of love out there. There's a lot of kindness out there. There's a lot of gentleness out there. So there's a lot that brings comfort under. Jesus. So it's time to really just get you— when I say the weight, your weight up, it makes— it means to not— when we eat for comfort, we do this for comfort, anything that you do for comfort, replace it with a different type of weight. Because if it weighs— if it weigh on your heart To love harder, if it weighs on you to be more joyful, um, even if it's something different, he will comfort you and open and release the power of that and accept the Holy Spirit. So that's when you're expecting good from God, you have to expect to accept the Holy Spirit because the Holy— you could tell when you have the Holy Spirit because you become a little bit more gentle. You're like, ah, okay, this feels a little bit different. Usually, you know, usually I do this, so usually I do that. Now it's just more of, look, the Holy Spirit convict me. That was— that thought was not my, you know, your, you know, that was not God's thought, you know. So bring it into captivity and, you know, And to the obedience of Christ and say, hey, this is not right. It's okay to say it's not right because you want to convict yourself and say, hey, look, that's not, that's not what I was trying to say. Like, that's not what I was meaning. So you definitely want to sketch it out. That's the vision. Wow. The vision, make it plain as far as conviction, you know, as far as how to receive the Holy Spirit and step into your comfort and that comfort is the Parakletos, which is the part of, you know, the advocate of the Holy Spirit is the Comforter. So you want to wrap yourself up under that comforter and say, Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Yes, feel the atmosphere. Holy Spirit, you are welcome. Oh, y'all gonna get me to start singing. But, um, so just listen to the Holy Spirit. Let him fill you and just feel the love, feel the gentleness. And, and I pray that it brings a smile, a piece of calmness, of, you know, Also give your worries over to him because it's one thing to be hiding under the the comforter with a lot of worry and the Holy Spirit trying to come in and you you just you have so that's that's if you hear someone say leave your baggage at the door that is what that means leave that baggage at the door and receive the Holy Spirit and let the Paracletos comfort you so. Yeah, sketch it out. Just take some time and meditate on his word and convict yourself. It's like, I've been convicted. What you been convicted of? Um, well, I lost my temper the other day and I was trying to reel it on in and I didn't want to go, you know, this way or that way, but the old me took over, you know, took control, and I, I was fighting, I was fighting, I was fighting, and I was Now, you know, I'm just learning to just say, Holy Spirit, you are welcome here, and just pray that he fill the atmosphere with love, joy, and, you know, we receive that, that peace. So you won't just, you know, snap or, you know, lose control of your mind, your will, or your emotions. So Remember, today's word is conviction when you're expecting good from God. Thank you guys for listening. I'm Sharnita Gates with The Word Project. Who are they to say?
