A New Heart

Ezekiel 36:24-28 I will take you from the nation's and gather you from all the countries and you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to our fathers, and you shall be my people and I will be your God. 

When you read this does your mind not go straight to Jesus and what He did for us on the cross?! Mine certainly does! John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. This word does not tell us which side the soldier pierced, but I like to believe in my heart that it was His left side. Why? Because that's the side where our hearts are.

Ezekiel says I will sprinkle clean water on you and you'll be clean from ALL uncleannesses and from all idols. In Ezekiel, sacrifices had to be done over and over again for this to happen, however, with Jesus, it was once and done because He was the perfect Lamb. The perfect sacrifice! The water flowed from His side to cleanse us!

God promised them that He would give them a new heart. When we accept Jesus, He gives us a brand new heart. His heart, I believe, was pierced so that our hearts, hearts that were once stone, could be made flesh. Sin, unforgiveness, guilt, our past, tends to harden our hearts and turn them to stone so that we don't allow anyone in, we don't forgive, we don't care. But! When we ask Jesus into our lives, He gives us a change of heart! His Spirit begins to live within us and begins to break up those areas of our heart that needs healing.

He also promised them a new spirit. When we accept Christ as our Lord, the Holy Spirit comes to take up residence in us. The person of the Holy Spirit, yes, He is a person, is our comforter, our advocate, our teacher. You know that "nudge" that you get when you "feel" like you're to buy someone lunch, give someone a call or encourage someone? That's the person of the Holy Spirit living within you!

Bottom line....because of what Christ did on the cross, you have a new heart and a new spirit!