Today’s Devotion
Topic: Pray This!
Text: 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. Amen
We all know the story of Jonah quite well. How he chose to run from God than to obey God and preach against the city of Nineveh. After the ship and sea rejected him, a big fish swallowed him for 3 days and nights till he repented and got vomited on dry land.
“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.
Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3).
Beloved, upon all their wickedness, the people of Nineveh did not have stubborn hearts. They melted at the sound of God’s word and repented immediately; from the greatest to the least (even their livestock). No wonder God forgave and restored them so quickly even before Jonah would notice.
What about you precious one? What about your own heart? Your stone heart does not listen, does it? It does what it pleases and rebels at the sound of God’s word, doesn’t it? It never accepts faults and has vowed never to repent till the end of time, hasn’t it? Well, if so then you should be concerned because actually, you are not the “tough one” as you have been deceived to believe you are. You are simply headed straight for destruction.
Those who allow the word of God to fix them begin to look like God. Their hitherto stony hearts are exchanged for one that’s full of love and compassion. The old stubborn nature becomes long gone and behold, everything turns new. They become the children of light through whom God reflects His grace, love and beauty.
Repent therefore and begin to pray. Ask that the Lord creates in you a clean heart and renew a right spirit within you. Throw away the disobedience and stubbornness against the word of God and you will gain life, both abundantly and eternally. Think about this!
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