I will give you one heart and a new spirit; I will take from you your hearts of stone and give you tender hearts of love for God, so that you can obey my laws and be my people, and I will be your God.
Ezekiel 11:19-20 Living Bible (TLB)
Ezekiel, whose name means "God strengthens," was a priest and prophet through whom God spoke to Israel. The amazing grace of Scripture is that God speaks to us through Ezekiel today. When we begin to think that God's Word spoken in the past does not apply to us today, we need to remember that the world we live in now is the same world God created in the beginning. We are the newbies. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. His Word is eternally true. Ezekiel is an example in the Old Testament of the Bible of just how long God has been strengthening His people. And He is still providing that same strength. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of this promise of God through His prophet.
When we accept Christ as our Savior and Lord, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts. We are commanded in God's Word to not grieve the Holy Spirit by behavior and attitudes displeasing to Him (Ephesians 4:30). Our Creator sacrificed His only Son to clean up our hearts as He knew that our efforts to do so were futile. God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us keep our hearts clean and tender, enabling us to be obedient with hearts of love for Him. He fulfilled His promise.
As we follow Jesus with one heart filled with love for God, the new Spirit we have been given will help us to obey God's laws. Through Christ, we are now God's people and He is forever our God and no one can ever snatch us from His hands. Hallelujah!