A Heart of Flesh"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26
Several years ago I did an extensive study on the word "heart" in the Scripture. It was a fascinating study. There are numerous word pictures related to the heart: clean heart, pure heart, cold heart, divided heart, hardened heart, and many more.
Dr. Henry Blackaby in his devotional, EXPERIENCING GOD Day by Day (Broadman & Holman) describes the "heart of flesh":
From our hearts comes our response to God. Apart from the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are extremely deceitful (Proverbs 19:7). David prayed that God would cleanse him from the ravages of sin and purify his heart (Psalm 51:10). God's great desire is that His people love Him with all their hearts (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus said we are blessed if our hearts are pure (Matthew 5:8).
Sin hardens the heart (Matthew 13:4, 19). The more sin we allow to pass over our hearts and through our lives, the more resistant we become to a word from God. The sin of unforgiveness stiffens our hearts. We cannot continue to resist the prompting of the Holy Spirit without becoming hardened against Him.
Exposing ourselves to evil and ungodly influences desensitizes us to God and His Word. Over time, our hearts become life stone, unreceptive to a fresh word from God. We become anesthetized to sin.
Has your heart grown hard toward God? Do you feel as though nothing could soften it? God has a solution. He will separate you from the influences that are destroying you (Ezekiel 36:24). He will cleanse you from all filthiness and remove everything that has taken His place in your affections (Ezekiel 36:25). He will remove your heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh, tender toward Him and His word.
If your love for God is not what it should be, ask Him to renew your heart and restore your devotion to Him.
I add my prayer to this challenge: if your heart has been hardened, brother, please return to Him. He is waiting for you to come home! -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK
Dig This Quote: (continued from yesterday)In laying off your burdens, therefore, the first one you must get rid of is yourself. You must hand yourself and all your inward experiences, your temptations, your temperament, your frames and reelings, all over into the care and keeping of your God, and leave them there. He made you and therefore He understands you, and knows how to manage you, and you must trust Him to do it. Hannah Whitall Smith
Determined Digging: Level 1: Nahum 1:7; Level 2: Psalm 139:13-16
Determined Praying: That which God abundantly makes the subject of his promises, God's people should abundantly make the subject of their prayers. -- Jonathan Edwards
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