Listen:
“And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put in you!And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
(Ezekiel 36:26)
Reflect:
In my childhood, my family was part of a faith community that gave a lot of attention to the devil and his demons. For example, if the children were disobedient, it was because the devil on their shoulders was whispering in their ears to do so…
I remember that my mom, who was part of a different faith community, would always shout: “No, out of the heart of men comes…!!”
I looked up the verse my mom was referring to and it was Jesus’ own words in Matthew 15: 19 saying: “Out of the heart of men comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”
Isn’t it shocking to see what can happen from within our own hearts!? No wonder that David cries out to God: “Create in me a clean heart, O God!” (Psalm 51:10)
Here is the good news: God is not in the “repair business”, but He makes all things new! And God does not do “improvements” on our hearts, but completely changes our heartAnd yes, it is from beginning to end GOD’S work… even beyond transformation!
God moves us to ask Him for that new heart, to see and acknowledge our brokenness, and to come to Him with our request, “ Lord, remove my frozen, cold, stony heart, and give me that warm, compassionate heart!”
I read this last week, posted by a dear friend:
“If an egg is broken by an outside force, life ends. If broken by an inside force, life begins. Great things always begin from inside.”
Prayer of Response:
“Lord, we all need You to recreate us to “the core”! Help us to be humble enough to give up our old heart and receive Your new heart.”
—Submitted by Mathilde Companjen
(Mathilde lives with her husband of 45 years, Barth in the Netherlands and has been involved in missions for 30 years and active in Lifesprings for 15 years!
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