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The Sign of the New Heart, June 2
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you an heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26
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One of the most earnest prayers recorded in the Word of God is that of
David when he pleaded, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
Psalm 51:10
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God’s response to such a prayer is, A new heart will I give you. This is
a work that no finite man can do. Men and women are to begin at the
beginning, seeking God most earnestly for a true Christian experience.
They are to feel the creative power of the Holy Spirit. They are to receive
the new heart, that is kept soft and tender by the grace of heaven. The
selfish spirit is to be cleansed from the soul. They are to labor earnestly
and with humility of heart, each one looking to Jesus for guidance and
encouragement. Then the building, fitly framed together, will grow into a
holy temple in the Lord.
The youth especially stumble over this phrase, “a new heart.” They do
not know what it means. They look for a special change to take place in
their feelings. This they term conversion. Over this error thousands have
stumbled to ruin, not understanding the expression, “Ye must be born
again.”
John 3:7
.
Satan leads people to think that because they have felt a rapture of
feeling, they are converted. But their experience does not change. Their
actions are the same as before. Their lives show no good fruit. They pray
often and long, and are constantly referring to the feelings they had at
such and such a time. But they do not live the new life. They are deceived.
Their experience goes no deeper than feeling. They build upon the sand,
and when adverse winds come, their house is swept away....
When Jesus speaks of the new heart, He means the mind, the life,
the whole being. To have a change of heart is to withdraw the affections
from the world, and fasten them upon Christ. To have a new heart is to
have a new mind, new purposes, new motives. What is the sign of a new
heart?—A changed life.
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