I asked a bro yesterday, when you pray for someone’s salvation what are you expecting God to do? Answer: You are expecting He will convince them of sin, righteousness and judgment: They will be convinced they are lost, and that Jesus is the Son of God and that they need to believe and yield to Him. When you pray for someone’s salvation it means you believe that God has the power or ability to convince them of these things.
He convinced me. No one else convinced me, and i didn’t convince myself.
By the way, the word for “conviction” (Elencho in Gk) means to emphatically convince, without a shadow of a doubt.
He convinced me, and i believed, and continue to believe.
Ian Vincent 
September 27, 2015 at 3:52 am
More of my FB discussion comments on Joseph Prince:
Joseph Prince teaches that the Holy Spirit does not convict of sin.
Is there any chance the Holy Spirit could successfully convict the likes of Joseph Prince over their sins of covetousness, love of money, merchandising the gospel, or causing people to err from the truth?
Not unless Joseph Prince were to accept that the Holy Spirit does indeed convict of sin, as per the word of God.
So, in saying that the Holy Spirit never convicts of sin, Joseph Prince is saying, in essence, that he can’t be wrong. How would he ever know he is wrong, without the Holy Spirit’s conviction? This speaks of a seared conscience.
If a “Christian” claims the Holy Spirit never convicts them of sin then the chances are they are offending Jesus big time but fooling themselves that they aren’t.
If i wanted to be a Christian AND serve my flesh: all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, then the doctrine that there is no conviction of sin would be very attractive to me, cos i could serve my flesh, and money and my pride and still feel great! No conviction! No guilt! What a deal! No wonder so many fall for this delusion.
If the Holy Spirit did not convict us of our sins, we would sin and not think it is sin or even be aware we are offending God. Conviction means to convince. The Holy Spirit convinces you, without a shadow of doubt, that what you’re doing is wrong, and He does it by the word of God.
The Holy Spirit always condemns sin, but He does not necessarily condemn the person. The likes of Joel Osteen often present a false dichotomy, or false dilemma, over this: they equate speaking the truth about a person with condemning a person. So, according to this false dichotomy, in order to be loving you have to hold back any unpalatable truths or truths which may offend. This is such absurd reasoning, for it makes Jesus out to be a fool. And the apostles.
According the false dichotomy, the Jesus we see correcting the church in Rev. 3 is a legalist, doesn’t understand grace… etc..
The NT plainly reveals that unrepented sin was dealt with publicly in the churches, there was discipline, and even more so for leaders.