Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

6 September 2024

Reading From Ezekiel 35-37

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 

 –Ezekiel 36:26-30

     The coming of the New Covenant is foretold in this prophetic message from Yahweh delivered through the Prophet Ezekiel.  When a person decides to place their faith and trust in Jesus, repentance is implicit in that choice.  In order to turn toward God, we must turn away from our old way of life.  If we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, we are born again.  An individual goes from being spiritually dead in their transgressions to being alive in the Spirit. 

     A heart of stone is a picture of the cold, desensitized spiritual condition we find ourselves in without the warmth and love of God.  In the New Covenant, the Lord puts a new heart within us and fuses our spirit with His, making each of us unique temples but also united together by His Spirit.  As we become more and more like Jesus through our journeys of sanctification, we are growing closer and closer to each other whether we are cognizant of that.  We are united spiritually as a magnificent Temple of the Living God. 

     Ever believer is spiritually wealthy in the Lord.  He has blessed us with everything we need for life and godliness and so much more.  As we learn more about Jesus and His Word with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we unpack more and more truth and discover an amazing new identity, strong sense of belonging, and exciting identity in Him.  In Jesus we lack no good thing and in the New Heaven and the New Earth, our joy will be made complete when no sin inhibits our relationship with Him and our enjoyment of the abundance to come.

“Thank You Jesus for Your blood that was shed for our sins, bringing us into the New and Everlasting Covenant.  You purify us from all unrighteousness, Your love inspires us to obey You, and Your Spirit enables us to follow You in strength and victory.  Bring us into greater understanding of who we are, who You’ve called us to be and what You’ve called us to do.  In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.”

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

–Hebrews 8:7-13