Editor’s note: Today, we celebrate Pentecost! Holy Spirit fire! If the commemoration of Pentecost is new to you or you just want to remember the falling of the Holy Spirit on Christ’s first followers in Jerusalem, read Acts 2:1-4 and then continue to read how lives were changed when God the Holy Spirit was released…
Advent of Hope
I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. — Ezekiel 36:26 Jesus told a skeptical crowd, who wanted to kill Him for calling God His own Father, that they had missed something obvious in the Scriptures that they held so dear: It is [the Scriptures] that bear…
God Changes Hearts
When grace happens, we receive not a nice compliment from God but a new heart. Give your heart to Christ, and He returns the favor. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” — Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV) Some years ago I underwent a heart procedure. My heartbeat had the regularity of a…
He Loves You Too Much
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 Our neighbor’s dog was a sweetheart, and everyone in the neighborhood loved her. But she had a talent for getting out of the yard. One day…
Transformation
Come to Me just as you are. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I am aware of the many little stones that mar the beauty of your heart. Trust Me to do what you are unable to do: remove the stony bits one by one. Do not expect this work…
Restless Study Week 6 — We Are All People Who Need People
If we’re going to love people well, we’re going to need God’s help! As Jennie Allen writes in the Restless study guide on page 118, Imagine getting to heaven and God saying: Before I laid the foundations of the earth, I thought of you and of the days you would live on earth. I planned out…
God Gives You a New Heart
I will plant a new heart and new spirit inside of you. I will take out your stubborn, stony heart and give you a willing, tender heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit inside of you and inspire you to live by My statutes and follow My laws. — Ezekiel 36:26-27 When we’re born, our parents take care of us,…
I Will Plant a New Heart
I will plant a new heart and new spirit inside of you. — Ezekiel 36:26 (The Voice) The Big Lie in the church today is that you are nothing more than “a sinner saved by grace.” You are a lot more than that. You are a new creation in Christ. The New Testament calls you…