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Jesus First: 40-Day Challenge · 24 of 41

Day 23: A new heart

God does not ask you to fix your own heart. He promises to give a new one.

Disappointment can harden a heart slowly. Cynicism creeps in. We stop expecting anything, from the church or from God.

You cannot fix that by trying harder. Today’s passage is a promise God made to a scattered, disappointed people, and almost every verb in it is His. Count them as you read.

Notice especially who causes the obedience at the end. Your part is to come and say yes. The changing is His work.

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Check in

This is where you will look back at yesterday. For today, just notice how you are coming into this.

An honest prayer

Pray this as it is, or in your own words.

God, I cannot make my own heart soft again. Take the stone out and give me a heart that wants You. Put Your Spirit in me and move me to obey.

Read

Ezekiel 36:24-28 (OTB)

24For I will take you from among the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you back into your own land. 25I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26I will grant you a renewed heart and instill a fresh spirit within you; I will take away your unyielding heart and provide you with a responsive heart. 27And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My decrees and be careful to observe My laws. 28Then you will dwell in the land I gave to your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.

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Three questions

  1. What does this say about God?
  2. What does this say about people?
  3. If this is true, what would I do today?

Today, I will

One line

Scripture quotations are from the Open Translation Bible (OTB), used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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