Hosea 5:4
“Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of infidelity is within them, And they do not know the LORD.”
This could be compared to an unconverted person. Maybe not to that degree, but it says they don’t know the Lord and their spirits aren’t inclined to go to God. Unless the Lord assists we all have trouble serving Him. Our spirits aren’t inclined to do so.
I think of Peter in the garden of Gethsemane. He picked up a sword and fought for Jesus. I think it was noble, but Jesus stopped him. He was disoriented and ended up betraying Jesus. That night Jesus said to him in Luke 22:32, “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Peter was saved then, but Jesus hadn’t died for sins yet and he didn’t have the empowering Holy Spirit.
Today we are in the New Covenant. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” This is half of it. God gives us a new heart as we are born again. We want what He wants. We no longer have a spirit of infidelity.
We can say with David, “O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water”, (Psalm 63:1). What a blessing and what a difference. We are new people. We want others to know Him and we share the good news.
The second part is He gives us the Holy Spirit. Luke 24:49 says, “And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” The Holy Spirit empowers us to live for Him. He gives us power over sin and our old ways.
People through out time and all over the world have been religious. But without the new heart and His power, it’s not possible. We can’t do it. If one is sincere God will lead Him to salvation.
A hinderance to our new life in Christ is our fleshly nature which hasn’t left. Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” We need to stay in His Word and sow according to the Spirit.
The world is contrary to our faith and shames us and seeks to draw us away from God. “The cool kids aren’t doing that”. Those lies have an effect. That’s why we need to stay in His Word. Going to church and staying in fellowship is a great antidote to the world.
The last problem is the devil and his demons. They actively fight against us. Ephesians 6:16 says, “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Those arrows are evil thoughts and temptations. They can trip us up and lead us astray.
We are adopted by God. John 1:12 says, “but to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” We are part of a new family, the family of God. So cool.
Lord, thank You for the new heart, the Holy Spirit and being adopted into this new family. What a wonderful life.