Holy Spirit the Helper

"I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the stony heart from their bodies, and replace it with natural heart, so that they will live according to my statutes, and observe and carry out my ordinances; thus they shall be my people and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 11: 19 – 20)

Many years ago, I read a moving commentary on the above scripture from Catherine Marshall's book, The Helper. I hope she would not mind my sharing it here.

"The prophet Ezekiel foretold the two steps that must always take place before anyone of us can have the ability to cope with the evil in our world and to possess power for service:

First step is readying and cleansing process.

'A new spirit will I put within you.'

That is, God will, through the Spirit, renew and refresh our attitudes, convict us of sin, begin to teach us about obedience, change the thrust and climate of our inner beings. Thus he will be readying us for the crown and glory of his plan.

The second necessary step was clearly foretold by Ezekiel:

"And I will put my Spirit with you."

(The Helper, Catherine Marshall)

Catherine was the wife of Peter Marshall. Below is what Peter wrote on divine guidance:

"If God is to use us as His hands and feet and voice, it is just as necessary for Him to guide us geographically as in any other way. It does matter to God where we are at any given time."