Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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New Life and spirit through Christ

Bible Reading:   Ezekiel 36:24-36

Key Verse Vs 26

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” – Ezekiel 36:26
 
DEVOTION

In Ezekiel 36, God speaks to a people who had failed Him. Israel had turned away, sinned, and faced the consequences of exile. Yet in the middle of their brokenness, God makes an incredible promise of hope—not based on their merit, but on His mercy. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” (Ezekiel 36:26). This promise reveals the heart of God: He is not merely interested in external reform, but in deep, inward transformation.
God makes it clear that restoration will come “for the sake of My holy name” (v. 22). Restoration begins not with our goodness, but with God’s grace. He is the One who gathers, cleanses, removes the heart of stone, and replaces it with a heart of flesh. God does not merely improve behavior; He transforms the heart. A heart of stone is hard, resistant, and spiritually lifeless. It may know what is right yet lack the desire to do it. God promises to remove that hardness and replace it with a heart of flesh—soft, responsive, alive to Him. The result of this renewal is visible fruit. Ruins are rebuilt. Barren land becomes fruitful again. Lives once marked by emptiness begin to reflect God’s abundance. When God restores us, it is not only for our benefit but so that His name is honored through our transformed lives.
Ezekiel’s prophecy finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus makes new life possible. The cleansing God spoke of in Ezekiel is accomplished through the blood of Christ. The new spirit promised is realized through the Holy Spirit, who now lives within believers. Christianity is not about trying harder to be better; it is about receiving a new life empowered by God’s Spirit.
Ezekiel 36 assures us that no heart is too hard and no past too broken for God’s renewing power. Through Christ, we receive cleansing. Through the Spirit, we receive new life. Through grace, we receive a new beginning.

PRAYER

O Lord, restore us to the joy of your salvation.  We pray for forgiveness of our innumerable sins on account of your great mercy and unfailing love. Help us to live with a clean heart. 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

“God brings men into deep waters not to drown them, but to cleanse them.”– James H. Aughey

Anila Thomas
Mar Thoma Church of South Florida

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