Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 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. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:26-28 NKJV)
Behind the Word – and cause – (Hebrew) – ‘asha (pronounced aw-saw’) – to produce, to make, to accomplish with effect, to ordain, to bring about.
God sent these commands knowing the predicament in which I would find myself – willing to obey, wanting to obey yet unable to fully obey. Was this a flawed strategy on the part of a flawless God? Hardly! It was a strategy designed to get the precise effect God intended. Paul wrote to the Galatians -- Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (3:24) God knew He had to first prove beyond all doubt to me that I was incapable of willing myself to live a sinless life.
Christ came and died and I found Him (really He found me) and so found relief from the weight of my sin. Then God sent His Holy Ghost to my heart that had received Him by faith in Jesus, and His language changed. The Old Covenant, The Law, The Commandments came with the – if you language, but through Ezekiel and Jeremiah, my loving Father changed His New Covenant mood and tense saying -
I will give you a new heart…
I will put a new Spirit within you…
I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh…
I will give you a heart of flesh…
I will put My Spirit within you…
I will cause you to walk in my statutes…
When I became a Christian, I had a well tuned swearing tongue. I tried everything I could to quit swearing and failed. Abruptly one day the Holy Spirit confronted me. I confessed immediately that I had proven myself incapable to stop swearing. I had tried many times but I had failed. The Lord said to me, You are right. Now release all that effort and receive the power of My Spirit. Immediately and effortlessly, my thirty year career as a high level cursor was over. Unlike the iPad, I didn't receive help from a new improved Holy Spirit Mini. I received help from the original full sized Holy Spirit. He's not new and improved. He can't be improved. He's perfect. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Fully capable of causing sanctification where we have failed to cause it.
The fullness of the New Covenant arrived with sufficient power to accomplish what God intended. The Holy Spirit resides in my inner being. He is continuously coaching, counseling, witnessing, and generously empowering.
I will put My Spirit within you…
I will cause you to walk in my statutes…
God does not leave us as unarmed and unprotected warriors in our battle with sin. He will cause us to be sanctified once we are His children. Righteousness is an imputed blood bought gift.
But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11 NKJV)
I cannot commit the sanctification of my life, but I can submit to it as I submit each day to the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart.
The spirit is willing.....
But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11 NKJV)
I cannot commit the sanctification of my life, but I can submit to it as I submit each day to the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart.
The spirit is willing.....
Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com
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