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FLESHY HEART, NEW SPIRIT

  • Writer: Olufunmilayo Adekusibe
    Olufunmilayo Adekusibe
  • May 10
  • 4 min read

Today’s reading:

Ezekiel 11:1-25 

“Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh.”                                      (v. 19)

The human being is said to be made up of soul, spirit and body. This is biblically confirmed in 1 Thess. 5:23. Another essential part of the human is the “heart”, which is physically located within the body in the middle of the chest, between the lungs, slightly to the left of the centre. Spiritually, the heart represents the seat of a person’s entire inner being, encompassing their thoughts, emotions, desires and will. It is said to be the core of a person’s inner self and the source of all actions taken by them. It is the “real you”! It is where thoughts, emotions and desires originate, thereby influencing the person’s choices and behaviour. It is where spiritual matters, such as faith, love, obedience to God, etc, are processed. On the other hand, it is the seat or source of both good and evil actions, also the seat of man’s affection.


The “spirit” of man is that which connects him with God, which enables him to perceive and respond to spiritual things. In Prov. 20:27, it reads that the spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts/depths of the heart. The scripture makes us know that there are different types of hearts belonging to man – “fleshy” and “stony”. A heart of flesh or fleshy heart signifies a renewed, tender, yielding and obedient heart, which is receptive to God’s love, instructions, guidance, etc. A stony heart signifies a hard, unresponsive and unrepentant heart, which is impervious to God’s love and truth, and unable to obey or love or please God. It is essentially rebellious.

 

The scripture also differentiates the spirit of man into – alive and the dead. Before conversion, the spirit of a man is dead to God. However, after being born again, it comes alive and is connected to God through the Holy Spirit, the third in the Trinity. The man begins to relate to God and things of eternal value. It is pertinent to highlight that God is very particular about the heart of man, because of its functions, which are either good or evil. The scripture confirms in Gen. 6:5 that God, right after the fall of man, observed that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. This led to the destruction of the Earth with the flood. Subsequently, man hardly improved positively in his heart’s functions as confirmed by scripture. The recorded activities of the then people of the earth, especially the chosen Israelites, confirm this. David, in Ps. 51:5, wrote that man is brought forth in iniquity, and conceived by his mother in sin. Jeremiah in Jer. 17:9 wrote that the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. When God was instructing Samuel on the choice of the first king of the Israelites, he said that while men look at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). God searches the heart, knows the secrets of the heart, examines or weighs the heart (Ps. 44:21, Prov. 21:2).


God is perfect, purposeful, pure in all his ways and does not condone evil and wickedness. Since He is intentional in perfecting mankind, He always works towards purifying the heart of man and keeping the spirit connected to him. No wonder that in Today’s reading in v 19, God sent the prophet Ezekiel to the children of Israel who were in captivity due to their sins. He intended to give them hearts of flesh, to replace their hearts of stone. After the Israelites settled in the Promised Land in Canaan, due to their disobedience to the commandments, statutes and judgments of God, given through Moses, they eventually developed a stony heart, and their spirits became dead to God. In His loving kindness as the covenant-keeping God, He from time to time spoke through the prophets about how he would rescue them. On this occasion, he proposed to do a “spiritual surgery” on them, by taking the stony heart out of their flesh and giving them a heart of flesh. To complete it, God would put a new spirit within them.


Examine yourself and find out if you need a replacement of heart and spirit. God is ever willing to perform the necessary surgery so that you can come back to him fully. Christ died for this cause.   

                                                                                    CHRISTIE KUPOLUYI



To surrender your life to Christ, say this prayer. “Father, I acknowledge my sin against You. I repent and ask for forgiveness, in the name of Jesus. I surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. By the power of Your Holy Spirit, take control of my heart and lead me in Your path of righteousness. Thank you, Lord.”

If you said the prayer, Congratulations! You are welcome into the body of Christ. Prayerfully look for a living church and meet the resident reverend, pastor or priest.



                                                                               

Prayer:

  1. Oh, Father of all creation, thank you for creating us in your image.

  2. Precious Saviour, thank you for your redemption that brought us back to God.

  3. Lord, thank you for the hearts of flesh and new spirits bought for us by you.

  4. Father, help the church to bring souls to the kingdom of light, so that fleshy hearts can be put into them and also new spirits.

  5. Father, send revival to our nation, and help the leaders to surrender to you, and you begin to lead them from then on.

 
 
 

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