Devotionals by Raul Ries

THURSDAY January 8, 2026

A New Spirit Within Me

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Hebrews 8:10

For Israel, there was a need for a new covenant. God made that promise:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah––” (Hebrews 8:8). The Lord went on to describe the difference in the new covenant He would establish with Israel. God wrote His law on tablets of stone, but now He would do a new work in their hearts by His Spirit:

“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:24-26).

God is not finished with Israel, as some people think. No, He has not forsaken His people. He promised to work among them. Think about it.   Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948, after they were scattered over the world. It is nothing short of a miracle to see the nation of Israel reborn. God keeps His promises.

The promises of God in the Bible belong to Israel and to believers in Christ. They are not for non-believers. God promised Israel a new spirit. Incredibly, He gives His Spirit to believers in Christ: ...that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:14). God cleansed Israel from her sin, and He does the same with believers. We are washed by the blood of Christ: But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Amazing! Amazing!

The gift of the Holy Spirit looks full to the resurrection; for then is the life of God complete in us.
~John Wesley~

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