Two Hearts in One Believer
Illustrating a Truth of Our New Identity
When we accepted Jesus as our Savior, something strange and wonderful happened. Not only did God our Father forgive us for our sins and fill us with His Holy Spirit, He also transformed us into something entirely new, so new that we are rightly called "new creations." Well, we asked to be changed, right?
How did God do this? Our Father placed a new heart and a new nature within us--just as he said He would long ago through His prophet Ezekiel.[i] By a stroke of heavenly genius (or re-genesis), we are already just like Jesus deep down at the core of our being! However, this new spiritual life that began with an entire surrender of our heart and life to Jesus, can only continue in the same way. What began with trusting God, continues by trusting God.[ii] The person we are now needs to keep choosing to stay surrendered, submitted and committed to the Lord for that new creation to be raised to the surface; otherwise the heart of the old nature takes over.[iii]
When the old man (our former Self) comes back to life, we end up living stressed-up and grace-less, far below our true inheritance. Falling back into the life-less ways of our fallen nature comes so naturally to us that we can do it without even thinking about it. But just let your new heart lead the way. Surrender all things to Jesus at all times and watch in amazement as that little David--the new creation you fortified by Christ in you--takes down the Goliath of your old ways and your old nature every time.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 ESV
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. Ezekiel 36:26 ESV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
I have been crucified with Christ... it is no longer I who live, but Christ... lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20 AMP
Prayer
Father, as a new creation I cannot define myself by anything less than who I now am in Christ without damaging my self-image, security, sense of worth and purpose. I will therefore accept no lesser definitions of who I am: I am a new creation with a new heart and a new spirit. I will no longer regard myself according to the flesh--by believing that any of my old ways are the real me. But I will need Your help recognizing and resisting my old ways that don't match up with the new me. Some of them are giants! Grant me the courage and faith of David to take those Goliaths down as I repent, call on Your Name and look to You to lead me into the new life.
Endnotes
[i] Ezekiel 36:26-27: 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.
[ii] Ephesians 2:8: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
[iii] Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
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Run to Home Base
Illustrating our refuge of strength and safety in our Father's Heart of love.
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