A New Heart

“The monks of the Abbey of Keur Moussa sing Psalm 146: ‘It is good to sing in honour of our God — sweet is his praise. The Lord, Restorer of Jerusalem! He brought back Israel’s exiles, healing their broken hearts, and binding up their wounds.’

Perhaps there are wounds you would like to bring to God for healing today. As you listen, let God meet you with love, wherever you are.

Today’s reading is from the Prophet Ezekiel:
I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes. 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 upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
~Ezekiel 36:23-28

God has been in the business of restoring since the beginning of time. Lovingly stripping off fake veneers, repairing broken parts and revealing the hidden beauty in each one of us. Today’s passage invites you to enter into the vulnerability of being restored. Take a moment to place yourself in the presence of your God, the Restorer.

God says I will ‘sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean.’ I will give you ‘a new heart,’ and ‘I will put my spirit within you.’ This is God’s gift to you. Are you desiring or resisting this restorative love? Why might this be?

Listen again and delight in God’s desire to restore nations and people.

Ezekiel 36:23-28 is read again

Being restored deepens our relationship with God and others. ‘You shall be my people, and I will be your God.’ It also enables us to ‘display His holiness before the eyes of others.’ How might God be inviting you to display his holiness to those around you today? Talk with God about this.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
World without end.
Amen.”

~From the Pray As You Go app (a free Christian prayer app where one can participate in guided prayer every day)