A New Heart – Stepping in the Light

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:26-27

The Israelites had hardened their hearts against God for many generations. Numerous times they bound themselves into a covenant with God where they solemnly promised to worship and obey Him. Each time they promised, they went back on their word. As we follow the history of Israel in the Bible, the people continued to drift farther and farther from the way that God wanted them to live. They ignored the feasts and Sabbath days. They began to bring sickly and blemished animals for their sacrifices and eventually stopped making the sacrifices altogether. They began to worship other gods and set up idols in groves throughout the land. They eventually desecrated the temple itself by bringing in false idols and making sacrifices to them instead of to the true God. They displayed a blatant disregard for everything God said, and they mocked, persecuted and even killed the prophets that He sent to them. Israel had a heart problem. As a people, they had a heart of stone. God told Ezekiel that He was going to give the people a new heart so that they would change their attitudes and begin to obey His commands. How would you characterize your attitude toward the things of God? If you have strayed from His will, submit to His Word and ask Him to give you a new heart.

Morning: Ezekiel 35-36

Evening: II Peter 1

About This Site

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105

If you were to find yourself walking down a path in the dark of night with only an old-fashioned lantern to light the way, you wouldn’t be able to see very far ahead. You would be able to see just enough of the pathway to know which direction to take your next step and enough of the ground to choose the best place for your feet. When it comes to our daily lives, God’s Word is a lot like that lantern. It will not show us the whole path at once, but it is exactly what we need to help us decide how to take the next step.

The Bible is our source of spiritual light, and if we consistently seek God’s direction as we read from its pages, we will always have enough light for our next step along the pathway of life. It is then that we are, in the words of an old gospel song, “stepping in the light.”

The goal of this devotional guide is to encourage you to spend time in the Word of God each day. Reading the passages listed at the bottom of the page will take you all the way through the Bible in one year. The devotional thought for each day is taken from a text within that day’s reading, so even that small daily portion of reading will take you on a journey through God’s Word. It is my prayer that this guide would help you to walk closer to the Lord and that you will find yourself taking each step in the light of His Word.