August 25

And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances. — Ezek 36:27 BSB

This is far more than receiving a new heart—it is having a heart filled with the Holy Spirit, the Divine Spirit who empowers us to walk in God’s commandments.

This is the greatest crisis in a Christian’s life—when God Himself comes to dwell in the heart that was renewed in conversion, making it His permanent home and holding it by His power in holiness and righteousness.

After this, one might expect to feel a heightened sense of hope and joy, but the prophet gives a different picture. When this happens, we will loathe ourselves in our own eyes. The revelation of God brings with it a deep awareness of our own nothingness and unworthiness, laying us low in humility.

The coming of the Holy Spirit displaces and humbles the self forever. The highest holiness is found in walking in continual self-denial.