“"I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” Ezekiel 36:24-27

The word, “I,” is used six times in these four verses, referring to what God has promised that He would do. While the primary message was directed to the descendants of Abraham, living in a land of exile, they are words that also apply to us. He will gather us from the nations and bring us into the land of promise, the kingdom of God. He will cleanse us with water, and remove our stubborn, rebellious heart. He will give us a new heart; the heart of the Spirit, which enables us to walk in obedience to Him and His ways.

The point in all this is that God initiates, and calls us to cooperate and participate. He does for us what we could never do for ourselves. This fact should be deeply humble us, and be the source of great rejoicing.

This picture of what God does for His people is summarized well in what Peter instructed the responsive to do when they were cut to the heart as they heard the gospel message: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” Acts 2:38.

The older I get the more keenly aware I am of just how little any of us can do concerning our spiritual condition. Our best efforts to “improve” result in failure. Good intentions rarely translate into effective action. If all our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), then our best course of action is to follow the prompting of inner Holy Spirit. The way of true righteousness is submission and obedience. In essence, don’t try harder; yield more.

Our Father wants us to succeed; enough so that He has provided all the necessary resources to do so. As Paul could confidently assert regarding a much-less-than-perfect church, “you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Corinthians 1:5-7. And so it is with us.

The directive for the day - and every day - is that we live humbly confident of the work of God through Christ in us.

Be sure to also see Amazon ebook & print devotional and podcast: New Day Dawning.