エゼキエル書 36:16-38 Jc

For Reading and Meditation:     Isaiah 9:1-7

We continue meditating on the word "pure" as used by Jesus in His sixth Beatitude. I discovered when researching this theme that the word "catharsis" - meaning to cleanse or make pure - is derived from the same Greek root as the word "pure". In psychology, the word "catharsis" is used to describe the feeling of release...

For Reading and Meditation:     Matthew 15:1-20

Today we come to the Beatitude which is considered by many to be the most sublime of them all: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Matthew 5:8). First we ask: What is meant by the term "heart"? According to the general use of the word in Scripture, it...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ephesians 2:1-10

A Hindu once said in my presence: "A man may change his acts but not his character." He was saying that a change is possible, but not a vertical change; there can be improvement, modification, a change of attitude, but no deep radical change. The Christian church is not without a sprinkling of what yesterday I called...

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." Ezekiel 36:25

What an exceeding joy is this! He who has purified us with the blood of Jesus will also cleanse us by the water of the Holy Spirit. God hath said it, and so it must be, "Ye shall be clean." LORD, we feel and mourn our uncleanness, and it is cheering to be assured by Thine own...

A heart of flesh is known by its tenderness concerning sin. To have indulged a foul imagination, or to have allowed a wild desire to tarry even for a moment, is quite enough to make a heart of flesh grieve before the Lord. The heart of stone calls a great iniquity nothing, but not so the heart of flesh.

"If to the right or left I stray, That moment, Lord, reprove; And let me weep my life away, For having grieved thy love"

The heart of flesh is tender of God's...

Prayer is the forerunner of mercy. Turn to sacred history, and you will find that scarcely ever did a great mercy come to this world unheralded by supplication. You have found this true in your own personal experience. God has given you many an unsolicited favour, but still great prayer has always been the prelude of great mercy with you. When you first found peace through the blood of the cross, you had been praying much, and earnestly interceding with God that he would remove your doubts,...

A sublime expression of sovereignty; but let none therefore say, " We must remain as we are until he puts his Spirit within us." For God observes a process in this as in his other works; and in every step of this process he requires the co-operation of man. He shows an individual that he is without the Spirit of God; that he is spiritually dead; excites in him desires after life and blessedness; shows him what he is not to trust in; what he is to trust in; teaches him to pray; answers his...

This stony heart is not what is commonly understood by a hard heart, an unfeeling heart. A person of a gentle tender yielding disposition may yet have what God regards as a stony heart. A heart insensible to the word of God is what is here spoken of The commands, the promises, the invitations all fail to make an impression upon one with such a heart; he refuses to see his sin, his helplessness, his danger, his need, the holiness, the grace, the love of God. The mighty and countless motives...

You do not have because you do not ask.Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. § This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. § If any of you lacks wisdom, let him...

I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. § Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. § If the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the...