Ezekiel 36:25-27
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
This prophecy refers to the Millennium, when Satan will be bound and thus rendered ineffective in spreading his evil attitudes. At that time, God will repair the damage done due to sin, by replacing man’s human nature with His Spirit. He will work to change man’s heart from a hard, unyielding one to a soft, humble one that will be eager to hear and obey God.
Notice that Ezekiel prophesies that God’s Spirit will cause people to walk in His statutes and to keep His judgments. God’s Spirit provides both motivation and strength to do what is good and right. We do God’s work, which is inclusive of believing, obeying, overcoming, growing and producing fruit, is not by our power and abilities, but by His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). It is free and abundantly available to those who have believed, been baptized, and received the earnest of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. However, that is not the end of the matter.
We must continue to request God’s presence in us (our daily “Bread of Life”), by His Spirit. We must ask, seek, and knock, constantly pursuing God, His Kingdom, and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). If we do this, He promises to add “all these things,” to our daily needs.
Jesus told His disciples just before His arrest, “I am the vine, you are the branches: He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). If we request His presence in us each day and obey Him in faith, we will, by His power, produce astonishing spiritual growth.
