One of the greatest revelations of life is, if you don’t control your mind, if you don’t master it, it is going to master you. In other words, we don’t have to just think about whatever falls into our mind. Now God is concerned about the human soul, which is our inner man. Our inner life is what we think about. Part of God’s design of the human soul is free will. That free will carries with it the opportunity to obey or disobey God, as did Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:11).
God desires that we choose to love and obey Him. When we stubbornly refuse to follow God, our hearts, which were designed to communion with God, are hardened. God compares rebellious hearts to stone (Zechariah 7:12). A heart of stone finds it impossible to repent, to love God, or to please Him (Romans 8:8). We desperately need new hearts, for we are unable on our own to soften our hard hearts. In Ezekiel Chapter 11, God is addressing His people, promising to one day restore them to the Promised Land and give them a new, undivided heart (verse 19).
In Ezekiel 36:26-27 God promised that “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.” The result of their receiving a new heart will be obedience to God’s commands: “Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11: 20).
He can take a mind that is broken, impure, or failed and turn it into a heart that is whole, pure, and purposeful. God wants to see you pure, so he takes an active role in creating your new heart and bringing order to the chaos of your life. God can create something from nothing. Our job is to submit to his sovereignty, humble ourselves before him, and ask for his help. Ezekiel’s mention of the people of Israel someday getting a “new heart” is a foreshadowing of the change that takes place at salvation. Ephesians 4:24 and 2 Corinthians 5:17 refer to it as “new man” and “new creation.” For the Israelites of Ezekiel’s day and for those of us living today, only one criterion must be met for us to acquire a “transplant.” In other words a change of heart toward God requires a supernatural transformation.
Jesus called it being “born again” (John 3:3). The sooner you get a new heart the better." God is very plain in telling us no good can come out of these corrupt, degenerate hearts that we all have by nature. That’s why the first word Jesus uttered in His earthly ministry was repent. Repent means to change the way you’ve been conditioned to think. When we are born again, God performs a heart transplant, as it were. He gives us a new heart. The power of the Holy Spirit changes our hearts from self -focused to -God-focused. When God is in the heart, then we think right, live right, do right. When God is absent, we think wrong, do wrong, and live wrong. To be continued…………
