EZEKIEL 36:22-32 22
“Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord. For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
“And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God. I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops of grain, and I will send no more famines on the land.
I will give you great harvests from your fruit trees and fields, and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land for its famines.
Then you will remember your past sins and despise yourselves for all the detestable things you did. But remember, says the Sovereign Lord, I am not doing this because you deserve it. O my people of Israel, you should be utterly ashamed of all you have done!
STUDY AND REFLECT:
Read James 1:21-22. Just as we are saved when we trust in Christ, it’s equally true that we are being saved more and more each day from the person we used to be. This transformation is called sanctification—the process by which you are molded into the image of Christ. Yes, Christ is doing this work in us, but we still need to exert some effort by inviting God’s Word to influence everything in our lives. Then, the Word works with God’s Spirit to grow us and shape our actions. As this happens, you’ll sense internal nudges prompting you to do things that align with Christ. This is called conviction, and it’s God’s way of helping you put on the breastplate and guiding you in righteousness. Look at Ezekiel 36:26—what does it mean when God says, “I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart?” How can we actively receive God’s Word and allow it to transform us? When was the last time you sensed conviction about something very specific in your life? What was your response?
PODCAST:
https://grace-marketing2018.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Forge_Podcast_Week_3_-_Landry_Petersen.mp3