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"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." Ezekiel 36:26
We have
entered a brand-new year, and you may have made some
resolutions about those things you know you have to do or
need to do. The problem with resolutions is that while
we resolve to do certain things, our resolve soon fades
because we really don't have the power to keep them.
And it doesn't have to do with our will power, but rather
because circumstances beyond our control happened.
And so, as we enter this New Year, it is an opportunity for
a new beginning, which starts with a new or renewed heart
and spirit. We read the promise from the passage
above, how the Lord said, "I will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of
stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."
(Ezekiel 36:26-27)
The Lord is talking about a
sppiritual heart transplant, because He knows we need a "new
heart" or a renewed heart. Having such a new heart
will give us the wondrous awareness that somebody else is
inside us - Jesus, the Christ. So let's begin this
year by asking God to do some spiritual cardio-vascular
surgery to get our hearts pumping once again with that life
giving and life saving blood of Jesus Christ that makes new
and renews.
But beyond a new heart, God also wants to
put a new spirit inside of us. God gives us the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of power, the very breath of God.
He gives us a new spirit - a new breath of life to assist us
in our time of need.
So if 2025 has left your heart a
bit cold and hardened and your breath seems a bit short,
this can change We can change! But we cannot
change on our own. Change comes from within. And
so, as we start this New Year, let's do so by asking God to
give to us a heart that is new or renewed, a heart that has
been cleansed through confession and forgiveness, and then
ask the Lord for a renewed spirit through a genuine Holy
Spirit revival in our lives and in the life of the church
for this New Year.
Adapted from:
https://www.christiangrandfather.org/2025/01/01/a-new-years-devotional-a-new-beginning/
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