Journal Entry ~ 01/18/18

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. - Ezekiel 36:26-27

Our hearts were created in the image of God’s own heart. We were designed to seek after God and desire to glorify Him, He made us to love His ways and serve Him, to seek peace with others and righteousness. But He also designed us with free will, which means our heart can choose whatever it desires. God wants us to choose Him, but our hearts often fail. We choose to serve our own needs over others or Him. When we continue to choose our own paths, our rebellious hearts become hardened and turn to stone. A heart of stone cannot repent, it cannot love Him or glorify Him, it can not seek Him. 

We desperately need a new heart, but we don’t have the ability to change our hearts on our own. This passage tells us God gives us a new heart and a new spirit. It is this new Spirit that He places within us that causes us to walk in His ways, to obey His laws, to seek Him and glorify Him. When He gives us a new heart and a new Spirit, our desires change. We behave differently. By the power of the Holy Spirit, our focus shifts from our own desires to God’s desires. 

Increasingly, we desire to please Him, but make no mistake about it - the desire only comes from the Spirit dwelling with us. Until He reaches down to grab a hold of our hearts, we cannot see Him or follow Him. With new hearts, we are declared righteous before Him, and increasingly we are humbled to truly understand the power of that gift. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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