A New Heart

Create in me a pure heart, O God. (Psalm 51: 10)
Photo taken from SeeChelles Photography

Grace and Faith!

I am doing a women's bible study at my church by Kay Arthur.  The study is called, "Lord I Need Grace to Make it Today."  I am really enjoying the study and learning more about grace each week.  In our class our teacher gave us two hearts, one black and one red.  This was to help us understand our bible verse: 

Ezekiel 36: 26-27  "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."

I thought this was such a great symbolism and so easy to understand that I did it with my kids as soon as they came home from school.  I had them all sit down around the table and gave them a black heart.  I asked them what a black heart was like.  Then we read part of the bible verse, "I will remove from you your heart of stone."  What would a heart of stone feel like?  We talked about how it would be a heart that didn't have the Holy Spirit in it.  A heart that did whatever it wanted without thinking about God.  A heart condemned.  A heart without love for others or God.  A heart of stone is a heavy heart.  

Then we read the whole verse about how God will give us a new heart and take out our heart of stone.  He will give us a heart of flesh with his Holy Spirit in it.  Then I gave them a red heart to replace the black one.  When we have a new heart, a heart of flesh with the Holy Spirit, we are able to keep to God's path that he created for us.  We are able to know God, feel his love, and follow him in the ways that please him.  All we have to do is ask God to create a new heart in us.  Ask Him into your heart and he will work this miracle in you.  All you have to have is Faith. Before faith came we were held prisoners to the law and through grace we are free.  

My kids really understood this with the hearts in their hand.  They understood what it meant about having God in their heart and not having a hard black heart.  My little one, 3 years old, wrote her name on her red heart and said that this was the one she wanted to have.  My oldest is 7 and he understood the most about what were talking about and my 5 year old said she wanted the Holy Spirit to be in her heart and then closed her eyes and asked Him to be.  I think this is a great way to share grace with your kids.  It is hard to understand sometimes because we think it is something that has to be earned, but God gives it freely because He loves us.  I hope others reading this find time to do it with their kids or friends or bible study class.