When I was in middle school I was a given an assignment by one of my teachers to select a book to read from the library and do a report.  At that point in my life I had started to become more interested in sports, so when I say a biography on Walter Payton I swooped it up.  

My habit is to check the number of pages in a book before I read it.  This might be an indication that I’m not an avid reader!  On this day I made the mistake of checking the number of pages later that night when I sat down to read it.  It was a lot more than I wanted to do or even thought I could do. 

The next day I brought the book back to school deciding that I would simply talk to my teacher and show her that this was more than I could handle.  Then I would go to the library again and pick a new book…that was shorter…and maybe had some pictures in it!  To my chagrin, my teacher did not have the same mind.  She handled it quite differently, and although I don’t remember her words exactly, they amounted to: “Paul, I know you can do this!  Go ahead and keep reading.”

I am not self-sufficient.  I need outside help all the time, especially to motivate and direct me toward what is good.  And this is what makes this last promise so special.  Read again the passage from Ezekiel we’ve been considering the last three days.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put with you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).  

God promised to put His Spirit with us, after He had cleansed us and given us new hearts.  Think on that just a moment.  God made it so He could DWELL inside of us!  Jesus points out how great this is when we said, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).  And He said earlier of the Spirit, “for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).  J.D. Greear says it well when he summaries all this in his book title: “Jesus Continued…: Why the Spirit Inside You is Better than Jesus Beside You.”

The Holy Spirit of God has been poured into all who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Each person that looks to Jesus in faith, believing that He alone has saved them from eternal death and given them new life, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you.  And He leads us in lives of holiness (“and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”).  He directs our hearts toward people that need help.  He comforts us with reminders of God’s word.  He takes the objective word of God and applies it specifically to us and leads us daily.  We are not alone.

What God has set before you today, may be too many pages for you to read.  But not for Him.  And He is in you.  May this encourage you today!