SANCTIFICATION
AND ITS EFFECT: Devotion for Thursday August 11, 2016
Text:
Ezekiel 36: 25 - 38
Memory
verse: Ezekiel 36:26 – I will give you a new heart
and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your
flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
God promised to restore Israel not only
physically but spiritually as we have in our scriptural reading for today. To
accomplish this, He would give them a new heart for following Him and put His
Spirit within them (Ezekiel 11:19–20 and Psalm 51:7–11) aimed at transforming
them and empowering them to do His will. Doing the will of God would become the
effect of sanctification of God’s people. God said His people should be
ashamed of their sins (Ezekiel 36:31) because the heart transformation (a heart
of flesh) will result to owning up to their faults by being more sensitive to sins.
The people had become so callous that they had
lost all sensitivity to sin. First they had to “remember” their sins, be
ashamed of them, and finally repent of them (see James 4:8–9). If we examine
our lives, we may find that we, too, have lost our sensitivity to certain sins.
To regain our sensitivity to sin we must recognize our sin for what it is, be
sorry for displeasing God, and ask His forgiveness without which we will lose our
salvation. This many finally result in eternal condemnation. It is my prayer that
this will not be our portion in Jesus name. Amen.
You may have been living in sin and highly
polluted, thinking that there is no more way out of it. God offers you a fresh
start today. He wants to change your heart that had been depraved. You can have
your sins washed away, receive a new heart for God, and have His Spirit within
you, if you accept His promise. This will be the beginning of a life of
righteousness; a life that hearkens to God's law, trembling at His threats, and
moulded to comply with His whole will. Why try to patch up your old life when
you can have a new one?
Food
for Thought: Is
your heart right with God? Have you received a heart of flesh that is pleasing with
God?
Prayer: God, grant me the heart that obeys your law and comply with your will in Jesus name.
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