From a Heart of Stone

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From A Heart of Stone

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 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. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Ezekiel 36:25-27

While living in Cozumel, Mexico I spent a good deal of time on the beaches. The beaches were covered with large grey stones full of holes and crevices. The intense sun would dry the stones out making it difficult to see the dangerous holes. One day I stumbled across this heart shaped hole filled with beautiful blue, green water. I photographed the heart thinking that it too would dry up and disappear in the heat of the day. What I later realized was that this heart was always visible. The tide would come in each day and wash away the impurities cleaning the heart out and filling it with fresh water. As the day became hotter the color of the water in the heart would turn deeper and richer making it even more pleasing than before.

This picture is tucked away in my Bible at Ezekiel 36 to remind me of the wonderful work that Jesus does in our hearts as we trust Him as our Lord. He washes away the impurities and idols of our heart. It is only because of His Holy Spirit in us that we desire to do His will. It is only because of His Spirit that we are capable of living true to His commands. As we walk with him through our daily trails, through the heat of our day we grow into a deeper, richer and more beautiful relationship with Jesus Christ.

There is great reassurance of His sufficiency in these verses. It says I will sprinkle clean water on you…, I will cleanse you…, I will give you a new heart…, a new spirit I will put within you…, He will even cause me to want to walk in His statues. Never once does it say that I must do anything. Our job is to simply allow Him to do the work in us.

Lord, Thank you for your cleansing and transforming power in my life. Create in me a clean heart, a pure heart. Lord, Scrub me clean. I ask you to help me see the trails of my day as an opportunity to grow into a deeper more beautiful relationship with you. Please give me the strength to allow you the proper place on the altar of my life bringing all glory and honor to you. -- Bill Pruitt is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is now serving as a full-time Chaplain at the Colony

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 29; 2 Chronicles 7-9; John 11:1-29

Dig This Quote: Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness. This is our Lord's will,...that our prayer and our trust be, alike, large. For if we do not trust as much as we pray, we fail in full worship to our Lord in our prayer; and also we hinder and hurt ourselves. The reason is that we do not know truly that our Lord is the ground from which our prayer springeth; nor do we know that it is given us by his grace and his love. If we knew this, it would make us trust to have of our Lord's gifts all that we desire. For I am sure that no man asketh mercy and grace with sincerity, without mercy and grace being given to him first. Juliana of Norwich

Determined Digging: Level 1: Proverbs 11:19; Level 2: Psalm 91:1-4