DEVOTION – DAY 123

Ezek:36:25-27 “Turning Hearts From Stone To Flesh.”

 

Ezekiel 36:25-27 “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart  and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my Laws.”

 

The prophet Ezekiel was writing to God’s people in exile that God would return them back to Israel in vs.24. God would cleanse His people of their sins and He will give His people a new heart, one that replaced their hardness with a heart that is open to His teachings and His laws – a heart that is described here as a heart of flesh. God would also give His people His Spirit that will help His people to live a life of obedience. This is what God promised He would do to His people. It is all the work of God, not the work of man because man cannot change his own heart because it is hard, like stone.

These verses give me much hope. There are people in my life who seems to far from God. They are either free thinkers, or worship idols or are just not interested in spiritual matters. In other words, they seem to have hearts of stone when it comes to God. Some even tell me they do not want to discuss religion because we might end up in disagreement and ruin our relationships with each other. Or they change the topic when I want to talk about Jesus to them. I am reminded by passage like these that my role is to point people to Jesus by the way I conduct myself, and to show Christian love to them because they too are made in God’s image. I will still look for opportunities to engage them to think about Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

Then, I will leave the next step to the Lord for this is the work of God. Only He is able to change a person’s heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Only He can cleanse someone of their sins. I can only share the gospel to others but the Holy Spirit will have to convict their hearts of the weight of their sins and their need for the Saviour. And on my part, I will pray for their salvation and I shall wait patiently in expectancy.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to partner with you in sharing the gospel and pointing people to the Lord Jesus. Help us to boldly tell others about the Lord Jesus so that they may be saved. In the name of the Lord Jesus we humbly ask. Amen.

 

Questions

  1. Who are the people in your life that seems to have a heart of stone towards the gospel of Christ?
  2. What efforts have you done to tell them about Jesus? Share.
  3. What hope do you get arising from this devotion with regards to someone’s salvation?
  4. How will you now continue to help your non-Christian friends and family know about Jesus?