Watchman Nee explains that the Spirit, ‘is like a light; it will flood and illuminate the interior’ (Nee 1990:326).

Karl Barth supports this stating:

‘there is no more intimate friend of sound human understanding than the Holy Spirit’
                                                                                                                                 (C.D. IV.4:28).

Barth also writes that:

‘What God does in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is exclusively His action…Let us be grateful that there is a necessary and firm connection between God’s action and ours, between ours and His!  Let us be grateful that we are liberated and summoned by the divine change to make the corresponding and ensuing human decision!

Let us do this in the gratitude of obedience, nothat we have to effect the divine change along with God, that in, with and under our work- the work of our faith, love and hope, the work of our service – we have to do the work of God Himself! Our human work has to acknowledge the work of God, to bear witness to it, to confess it, to respond to it, to honour, praise and magnify it’ (C.D.IV.4 1961:72)

Without the conviction of the Spirit I could not acknowledge my need for a saviour or my brokenness.

Nee writes, ‘the basic condition of a sinner’s salvation is not belief or repentance, but just honesty of heart towards God’ (Nee 1990:327). This is because the basis of a sinner’s salvation is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

The work of conviction initiated by the Holy Spirit frees us to be honest with God. Conviction can be found in the loud, quiet,  subtle or repetitive.

God’s provision through the Spirit has had a significant impact on my journey of faith in Jesus Christ.

I agree with Nee.

He rightly affirms that the ‘Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh, to bring to pass in us the conviction of sin, repentance, and faith’ (Nee 1990:324).

Without the work of the Holy Spirit, we would not be open to the counsel, or the comfort God. The Spirit intercedes on our behalf.There is hope here. What God has done is provide significant provision. It is enough.

‘Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words’
                                                                                                                        (Paul, Rm.8:26, ESV)

The Holy Spirit empowers me to bring my brokenness before the cross.

There the depth of gracious conviction permits me to bring my whole forgiven self to worship, rather than a vain, artificial image of who I think I am.

References:

Barth, K. 1961 Church Dogmatics.IV.4 1961 Hendrickson Publishers

Nee, W. 1990 Evangelism in Foster, R. 1990 Devotional Classics