Hardened Hearts

 ““You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.” Acts 7:51, 54 NKJV

Naturally, except at the instance of hardness, the Holy Spirit convicts every heart that responds appropriately to the goodnews. For example, the audience of Stephen were privileged to be exposed to a great disclosure of the historical perspectives on the mercy of God upon the Israelites. But at the end of his scriptural revelation like their fathers did, the Holy Spirit revealed their resistance to the goodnews. Even today, hardened hearts do readily scorn and spurn all scriptural disclosure of the mercy and grace of God through resistances to confession and forsaking of all forms of unrighteousness. Therefore, believers are encouraged to be consistent in their pleadings for the spirit softening, even up to the possible endurance of oppression and persecution to death. Thankfully, Stephen gave us an example of the import of the spirit softening on hardened hearts; like Saul who became converted after several havoc against the kingdom of God. With consistent exposure of hardened hearts to the influence of the Holy Spirit, God is still in the business of softening and changing hearts toward His glorious transformation.


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