A New Heart
November 22, 2016
Devotions:
“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
Ezekiel 11:19-20 KJV
Here Ezekiel is prophesying about the New Covenant that God was going to establish with Israel. We are a part of that covenant through Jesus. In salvation Goid has taken out our stony heart and given us a heart of flesh, a heart that is sensitive and responsive to Him. He has given us a new spirit in the new birth, a spirit of righteousness that wants to do His will, to walk in His statutes and keep His ordinances to do them. This is not something that we have to conjure up or strive to do but we must understand what God has done in us and for us. Many Christians are unaware first of all that they are a spiriit and that their spirit has been made righteous and holy by the new birth. This is a permanent work of God for all those who have received Jesus. Then more we proclaim this about ourselves the more we will see the fruit of our salvation. People turn away from God and walk in sin because they do not believe in the goodness of God for them. In love He made us a new creation with a heart of flesh and a new spirit that wants to do His will.
He ends it by saying that we would be His people and He would be our God. That is He has obligated Himself to us to watch over us, keep us, and provide for us physically and materially. He is a good God. Our salvation is not us trying to keep all the rules and ordinances in order to keep our salvation. It is not about our hold on God but God's transformation of our being, we are a new creation, that we would walk with Him. He changed our desires and the more we come into His manifested presence the more we experience His transformations, the more these truths become a reality in our day to day life.