New 2

Ezekiel 11:19-20

One of the biggest problems we have around the house involves batteries. It seems that whenever my MP3 player loses power there aren’t any batteries available. If we try to use the TV remote when the batteries are low our channel surfing and volume adjustment becomes very erratic. Batteries are taken out of one device to be used in another leaving us with flashlights, clocks, remotes and music players with no power. Without an energy source at the heart of them most of our devices are pointless.

Likewise, if we do not have a heart for God we may become fairly useless too. But Ezekiel has a message of hope and new life for the children of God. What will God do? How will the believers behave then?

Just as batteries eventually lose their power, we too can sometimes have our vibrant and energetic attitude toward God fade. Without intending to we can lose that passion for our Lord. Our souls and spirits can grow dull, missing that spark of devotion that moves us forward in our faith.

Now and then we need to revitalize our spiritual situation. Now and then we need to re-commit ourselves to God, revive our dying spirit and focus again on our Lord.

God can help us in this process. It is likely that Ezekiel was prophesying to the Israelites who were living in exile in Babylon. They may have come to tire of their absence from the Promised Land. Their devotion and faith may have flagged a bit.

But God promised them He could remove their divided hearts, hearts that tried to straddle that fence of faith and culture, hearts of stone, uncaring hearts. He would replace them with new, vibrant, holy hearts, making them all people of faith.

If we feel our own faith begin to grow weary or to wane, we can turn to God to revitalize our spirits and give us new hearts of new affection.

DAILY CHALLENGE: Do you need new spiritual batteries?