Freely Speaking Audio Devotion

Welcome to Freely Speaking, an OHSOFREE devotional ministry where we share our hearts and trust God for transformation. 

Today’s devotion was written by Liz’a Biswell.

"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." (Ezekiel 36:26 NIV)

I'm pretty rough around the edges. Gentleness is not natural for me and still requires a lot of effort. My sensitive emotions make me feel vulnerable, and I don't like it. To survive, I built strong walls for protection. I project a tough confidence and rarely trust people enough to share my emotions.

In the most loving way possible, God has shown me this is not benefiting me. The strong walls worked well to keep everyone and everything out, but I hadn't noticed they had trapped me inside. 

I couldn’t experience love, joy, peace, or any of the fruit offered as a gift because I had walled myself into a prison of fear, anger, bitterness, hurt, and suffering, refusing to allow it to become my past.

In Ezekiel 36:26, we are offered spiritual transformation: "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." 

This transformation reshapes the core of who we are, softening our hearts and renewing our spirits from the inside out.

When we surrender what we cling to, we receive a new heart along with His spirit. This brings the ability to walk in His ways and experience love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control referred to as the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. 

This spirit or fruit can not coexist with hate, anger, selfishness, bitterness, irritability, frustration, or haste. To receive the one, you must release the other.

Thank you for joining us today. If you would like to learn more about OHSOFREE Ministries, please visit us at www.ohsofreeministries.com.