<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="mt+15:1-20">Matthew 15:1-20</span></span></p><p>Today we come to the Beatitude which is considered by many to be the most sublime of them all: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="mt+5:8">Matthew 5:8</span>). First we ask: What is meant by the term "heart"? According to the general use of the word in Scripture, it has reference to what goes on in the core of our being. The heart is more than just the seat of the emotions; it is the fount from which everything proceeds. In our reading today, our Lord put it thus: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality '" and so on (v. 19). Dr Oswald Chambers said: "If a sinner really wishes to understand his heart, then let him listen to his own mouth in an unguarded frame for five minutes." Luke put it this way: "' the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks" (<span class="scriptRef" ref="lu+6:45">Luke 6:45</span>). It has been pointed out that the gospel is a religion of new things. It offers us all a new birth, a new life, a new hope, a new happiness, and, at the end of time - a new name. However, out of all these fascinating new things which Christ offers His children, none is perhaps more intriguing than His offer of a new heart. The promise is first given in the prophecy of Ezekiel: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="eze+36:26">Ezekiel 36:26</span>). Quite clearly, when it comes to spiritual things, the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. Christ's offer of changing our hearts is one of the greatest promises of the Bible. Be encouraged: our Lord is not content with tinkering about on the surface of our lives - His goal is to purify our hearts. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">My Father and my God, slowly but surely I am coming under the sway of Your "beautiful attitudes". But I see You have more for me to discover. Hold me close as I go through Your spiritual heart surgery. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+51:1-10">Psalm 51:1-10</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+19:12-13">Psalm 19:12-13</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+79:9">Psalm 79:9</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What was the psalmist's prayer?</li><li>Make it your prayer today.</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean'." (v. 18) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+2:1-10">Ephesians 2:1-10</span></span></p><p>A Hindu once said in my presence: "A man may change his acts but not his character." He was saying that a change is possible, but not a vertical change; there can be improvement, modification, a change of attitude, but no deep radical change. The Christian church is not without a sprinkling of what yesterday I called "horizontal" conversions. Many historians have called attention to the fact that when Christianity swept through Europe, there were many genuine conversions to Christ but many horizontal ones too - people taking the Name of Christ for political or economic expediency. They were converted horizontally but still in need of a vertical conversion. When I was about fourteen years of age I was "horizontally" converted. I was a mischievous young man, and one day in church I made up my mind to be "a good boy." I tried hard to give up such things as swearing, stealing, and so on, but it didn't last. Although I felt religious, there was no great inward change. On a horizontal level I was converted, but not in relation to God. About a year later, sitting in the same church and under deep conviction of sin, I made a complete and total surrender to God. I was vertically converted. I walked out of that church feeling as if I had been turned inside out. From that moment my life was changed, old habits began to disappear, and my whole being was flooded with light. I tell you with all the conviction of my being, the vertical was much different than the horizontal. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O God, help us not to be converted to the things surrounding Christ - religious rituals for example - but to Christ Himself. For if we don't touch Him we don't touch life, and there will be no deep inward change. In His dear Name we ask it. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="tit+3:1-5">Titus 3:1-5</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eze+36:26">Ezekiel 36:26</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+3:3-7">John 3:3-7</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1pe+1:23">1 Peter 1:23</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>How is the change in a person described?</li><li>How is it accomplished?</li></ul></div></div>

"... God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions ..." (vv. 4-5) 

<p> A heart of flesh is known by its tenderness concerning sin. To have indulged a foul imagination, or to have allowed a wild desire to tarry even for a moment, is quite enough to make a heart of flesh grieve before the Lord. The heart of stone calls a great iniquity nothing, but not so the heart of flesh. </p><p> "If to the right or left I stray, <br> That moment, Lord, reprove; <br> And let me weep my life away, <br> For having grieved thy love" </p><p> The heart of flesh is tender of God's will. My Lord Will-be-will is a great blusterer, and it is hard to subject him to God's will; but when the heart of flesh is given, the will quivers like an aspen leaf in every breath of heaven, and bows like an osier in every breeze of God's Spirit. The natural will is cold, hard iron, which is not to be hammered into form, but the renewed will, like molten metal, is soon moulded by the hand of grace. In the fleshy heart there is a tenderness of the affections. The hard heart does not love the Redeemer, but the renewed heart burns with affection towards him. The hard heart is selfish and coldly demands, "Why should I weep for sin? Why should I love the Lord?" But the heart of flesh says; "Lord, thou knowest that I love thee; help me to love thee more!" Many are the privileges of this renewed heart; "'Tis here the Spirit dwells, 'tis here that Jesus rests." It is fitted to receive every spiritual blessing, and every blessing comes to it. It is prepared to yield every heavenly fruit to the honour and praise of God, and therefore the Lord delights in it. A tender heart is the best defence against sin, and the best preparation for heaven. A renewed heart stands on its watchtower looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus. Have you this heart of flesh? </p>

This timeless classic from Charles Spurgeon will help to both start and end your day with wonderful insight into God's Word.

Charles Spurgeon's Morning & Evening

"And I will give you an heart of flesh." - Ezekiel 36:26

Evening Devotional

<p>This stony heart is not what is commonly understood by a hard heart, an unfeeling heart. A person of a gentle tender yielding disposition may yet have what God regards as a stony heart. A heart insensible to the word of God is what is here spoken of The commands, the promises, the invitations all fail to make an impression upon one with such a heart; he refuses to see his sin, his helplessness, his danger, his need, the holiness, the grace, the love of God. The mighty and countless motives of the Bible are lost upon him. He perhaps flatters himself that he has a great deal of sensibility. He weeps at a tale of distress; and the more fictitious it is, the more he weeps. He perhaps is religious, in his own and others estimation. Israel, of whose stony heart the text primarily speaks, was exceedingly devout and imagined itself blameless in all the ordinances of the Lord. </p><p>In the physical system of man the heart sometimes ossifies. The most fearful and also the most shameful condition into which a moral being can fall, the lowest depth that he can reach, is that in which his heart becomes unable to distinguish the voice of God. Around him are ten thousand utterances; an angel would be ravished with the harmony: all the day long in one way or in another, God speaks; but he hears not. What an expanse of promise there is in this one word - "I will give you a heart of flesh". You will sail over it long and find no limits. All the fruit of the Spirit, all Christian graces with all their manifestations, all triumphs of faith, are comprehended in it. When this promise is verified, immediately the entire word of God puts on its appropriate power. From Genesis to Revelation, everything starts into life. In giving us the heart of flesh, God gives us everything that he has made. The heavens begin to tell us his glory, and the firmament to show us his handiwork; the lily addresses our faith and the wind whispers of the Spirit; and we look upon all things as made by Him and for him and for us who believe in him. </p>

A daily devotional written by a Baptist Missionary to India, Reverend George Bowen (1816-1888) over 150 years ago.

Bowen's Daily Meditations

" I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." - Ezekiel 36:26. 

<p>I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. § Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, to such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.<br><br>That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.<br><br>I … beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness … endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.</p>

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 

<p>That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.<br><br>God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you … for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. § Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. § Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.<br><br>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. § God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.</p>

 He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world … 

<p>Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. § If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.<br><br>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. § Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump. § The new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.<br><br>You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name.<br><br>Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. § Since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?</p>

Evening Daily Light

 Behold, I make all things new. 

<p>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.” … Thus says the Lord God: “I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them.”<br><br>If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.<br><br>Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have what- ever he says.</p>

 Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons;and concerning the work of My hands, you command Me. 

<p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">26 </sup>I will give you a new heart   and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone   and give you a heart of flesh.   </span></p>

I will give you a new heart<cr>1</cr>  and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone<cr>2</cr>  and give you a heart of flesh.<cr>3</cr> 

Ezekiel 36:26

 26 I will give you a new heart   and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone   and give you a heart of flesh.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

<p><span class="bible-text ">I will give you a new heart   and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone   and give you a heart of flesh.   </span></p>

 I will give you a new heart   and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone   and give you a heart of flesh.  

Bible Verse of the Day

April 23, 2023

Ezekiel 36:26 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

More on the web

Group of Brands