Date: Saturday, 27th July, 2024
Text: Ezekiel 36: 24-28
Author: Pastor Adedeji Fadehan
Exhortation:
Candle is solid at room temperature. But when exposed to heat it becomes soft and eventually melts into a liquid. Similarly, metal is solid naturally and cannot be easily bent. When heated to more than 930OC, it is easily bent and formed into any shape by the blacksmith.
In the same vein, fire is equally very important in softening hardened hearts. The word of God is fire. In Jeremiah 23:29, the Lord told the prophet, saying, “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”
After the resurrection of Christ, the Lord appeared to the disciples and taught the word of God and later vanished from their sight. They commented on this as follows, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” Luke 24:32
The more exposed we are to the word of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit the more soften, willing, yielded and obedient we become. The opposite is also true- the less exposed we are to God’s word, the more hardened, unwilling, stubborn and disobedient we become.
The Lord has promised to do spiritual heart surgery for sinners whose hearts are damaged beyond repairs. In today’s text, he promised saying “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
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.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:25-27
By all means make sure you do away with any form of hardened heart.
Prayer Nugget: Jehovah God let your word always be like fire that softens and melts my heart in Jesus name.