Living FreeSample

Prayer: Dear God, open my eyes today to your word. Reveal to me sin in my life that I have been trying to handle on my own. Increase in me, a reliance on your Holy Spirit. God, you are so good. You pursue, transform, and restore our hearts. 

The Soul Solution

What are you proud of accomplishing on your own? We live in a society where independence is championed, so people strive to do things on their own. This is not necessarily wrong, but it can make asking for help difficult because people think it displays weakness. One of my friends grew up on a farm, and his father tried to do a task one day that resulted in a fall and a cut up leg. Afterwards, his wife asked a simple question, “Why would you try to do this all on your own?”

Sometimes we need help. As much as we want to do things on our own, we simply cannot do everything.  As we read in these passages, attempting obedience by our own power will not restore us to who God made us to be. God desires for us to be his image bearers within his creation. Paul reveals that Israel’s inability to obey the law made it crystal clear that evil has hijacked the human heart. The law was meant to expose the wounds in the human heart in need of healing. 

Thankfully, God made a way to find healing. Now his Spirit, who resides in every believer, will give you the same life that raised Jesus from the dead. If we are led by the Spirit of God within us, what is true of Jesus becomes what is true of us. 

In Ezekiel, we can see that God has replaced our heart of stone - a heart that has no desire to obey - with a heart of flesh - a heart sensitive towards the word of God. With the Holy Spirit, we have the healing power to break the shackles and seal the wounds of sin and death in our lives. 

Questions to Ask Yourself:

1. What are things in life you are attempting to handle on your own that you can give to God? 
2. Is there sin in your life you have been trying to handle/defeat on your own? 
3. What are you trying to hold onto rather than let God’s Spirit transform your heart and mind?

What’s Next? 

1. Take time to write out/journal your answers to these questions. Share these answers with a spiritual mentor, spiritual friend, accountability partner. Partner with them in confession and surrender.