By: Arnie Cole and Michael Ross
Today's passage
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.
Reflect
-How does God enable my human spirit to do His will?
-God has given me a new heart, but am I allowing my heart to follow His will, or am I resisting in some way?
-Am I letting God move me or am I acting according to my own will?</i>
No matter how egregious our sins or how far we have fallen, God forgives us again and again, creating in us a new, clean spirit and offering us a fresh start. Then He goes a step further and breathes His own Holy Spirit into us, to serve as a Counselor and Guide and to lead us along the right path. The key, though, is that God also gives us free will, which allows us to decide whether we will follow His Spirit and His will, or whether we will act according to our own motives and desires. Just because we have a new heart, a "heart of flesh," and God's very own Holy Spirit residing in us doesn't mean we will always make the right choices. God prepares us to follow His will, but in the end, the choice is ours. What choice will you make today?
Respond
Ask for Change: Lord, thank You for giving me grace in abundance every day, for forgiving my sins, and giving me a fresh start and a clean heart. I pray that I will follow the prompts of Your Holy Spirit and do Your will.
Consider what's real: God lavishes grace on each one of us every day, no matter what our transgression or how terrible our sin, but He also gives us free will to choose exactly how we will act on that grace. Don't forget, both Judas and John were imbued with a clean heart and the power of the Holy Spirit, but both chose to act in very different ways. One chose God's will, the other, his own.
Additional verses to consider: Jeremiah 25:4-7, 2 Corinthians 1:18-22
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