Friday, December 16

A NEW SPIRIT

Ezekiel 11:19-21

Here is our text for today: "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 I will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads."

God's one and only desire is that His entire human creation would be completely and wholly submitted to Him, without having any other gods in our lives—only and always just Him! In the midst of a strong prophetic word concerning the Babylonian exile, the Lord reveals of glimmering piece of hope—if His people would be faithful, He would always be with them. Ezekiel prophesied that He would give the people a new heart and a new spirit—IF they would really see their need for it. They would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live according to God's laws and statutes, if they, and of course, we, would let Him in to do the inward work. God promises to be our God when, and as long as, we let Him be God over our daily lives. Before we are saved, the natural man, or the self-life, is on the throne of our hearts and absolutely refuses to give it up. The problem is that there is only room for one "king" on the throne of our lives, and it needs to be Him—not us!

Jeremiah 31:33 speaks of the same truth in a very similar way—"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." He makes this amazing promise first to the Jews as they surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but it also extends to the Gentile, as he or she does the same thing—the focus is always surrender to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. It is not just a matter of a cleaned up life on the outside, but a powerfully changed heart on the inside—which will certainly affect and change the whole life. We need to come to embrace the fact that, "…all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world." (1 John 2:16) And as such, is of Satan, and therefore, is to be totally avoided. Verse 21 in our text clearly states that God will judge, as a "sinner", all that are not one of His righteous ones. God never has, nor will He ever, dwell in an unholy place. God is Holy, Righteous, and Just, and as He lives in His people, they will separate from all that is contrary to Him.

Do we want God's Holy Presence to depart from us because we refuse to let go of "self"? Or do we finally admit that we are not "good", nor will we ever be, without submitting to God's calling? May we let Him put that new spirit within us—repent, submit, and let God be manifested in and through our lives for all to see. Let God Reign Forevermore!

~ Nancy Faust