God Inside
Devotions:
“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:25-27 KJV
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12-13 KJV
In the Old Covenant the law was external. The heart of man was far from God and evil. God gave them the law to show them how evil they were but in His mercy He did not destroy them. He would pronounce judgement upon them when they wandered away from following Him. Those judgements we see repeatedly in the Old Testament.
God has not changed but He has changed the situation. Jesus' death bought salvation for all mankind and through the Holy Spirit, He first draws us and enables us to accept His marvelous gift and then He recreates us. We of course can resist His wooing us and resist His goodness. When He recreates us He totally changes who we are. I am the same but I am different. I was once dead and separated from God but now I am alive unto God and called into intimacy with Him. All because of the new birth. In the Old Covenant God had to us outward measures to get His people to serve Him. In the New Covenant He has given us a heart that wants to serve Him and by His Spirit we are enabled to serve Him with all our hearts. He has given us a heart after Him but we can still allow our flesh to override our spirit and go the way of sin. It is only by the power of the inner life that we walk in godliness.
Recognize that God is within you, if your have received Jesus as Lord and Savior and you are born again. Give His life in you priority. Ask for His leading in every part of your life. You have a new heart. You have a new spirit and the Spirit of God within you to cause us to walk in His ways.