11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord,when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”
Ezekiel 37:11-14
These days I've been struggling quiet a bit in the Spiritual. I have friends who are struggling also. It's like this is the time of Spiritual struggling, but even in this time I feel that God wants me to write about this.
Lately I've been feeling really stressed and a bit let down. I am now in my valley of dry bones. And when you are here you don't really see it. You think everything is going alright till you get thirsty. I got thirsty and I saw this valley. Spiritually I'm not as strong as I was before. I've lost my focus on the Lord even though everyday he shows me where to go and what to do, I've lost my path.
The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
Ezekiel 37:1-3
In this verse God asks the prophet if these bones can live. If there is any hope? The prophet answers in the only way his faith can allow him. Only the Lord can know. Our hope lies in Him.
So as I sit here in this valley all my hope can be only found in Him. I guess just like a desert, God allows us to come into this valley where its all dead and creepy to show us his great power and grace.
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
Ezekiel 37:4-10
God spoke to the prophet and told him to prophesy unto these bones. Tell them to come to life. God is talking to us today. As we struggle in our faith in a world filled with temptations and difficulties, God is calling us to speak out his word to the world. To call out to the dead hearts, the dead spirits. To lift them up and show them that there's only hope in Him. But also to speak to our own lives, our own dead hearts and our own dead spirits.
For us who are struggling I realized that we struggle when God wants us to reach a higher level. He wants to use us but in a greater way. He doesn't want us to stay in this comfortable routine we call "Christian life". God loves to shake things up. Take this as a time to think what God is trying to teach you and learn it. Ask him to open your eyes and heart and let Him show you the next step.
We are becoming like these dry bones. Lifeless. Spiritless. World hunger dominating, people are homeless, hopeless and sinful. Just like in this verse we are in a valley filled with dry bones. Its time to prophesy unto them. Call them out to com to live. The army of God will rise against the works of Satan and his demons. As Christians we are already in His army, we must be strong. He trains us in these struggles to reach higher levels, he teaches us strategies on how to defeat Satan and come out victorious. He has already defeated him, he knows how to and he is willing to share it with us. Lets take time with him, lets learn from him. Lets prophesy unto our own dry bones. Lets restore our hope. Lets work on our faith.
The prophet had a strong faith, he didn't prophesy with disbelief. He didn't go after what he saw. I hear a lot from Christians saying that this world is hopeless, that they don't belong here anyway. NO! I mean yes of course we belong with our Father. We are not OF this world but we are IN this world. Our treasures aren't here, but God sent us here to be the light and salt of THIS world. We have to care more. Like I said in a previous post, lets not be just "Sunday Christians". Lets show everyday what God has done in our lives and who he is.
Today I want to encourage you to prophesy unto your valley of dry bones. In that hopeless place. Prophesy life, that God will bring his breath of life. Maybe you are struggling in the physical stuff, like financially, maybe with school, maybe with your parents or children. Prophesy LIFE.
You are the prophet, the Lord is talking to. You are Israel. You are his people. Prophesy his breath of life in your valley of dry bones. And rise up. Come out and do his works. Fulfill your calling. Everything you have ever been through is part of your testimony. If you must forgive, do it! If you have to let go of things that happened and hurt you in the past, take them as a lesson and not as something bad that happened. Lets rise up again and again.
God is calling us to a higher level, answer His calling!
Be blessed and be a blessing to those around you. You are the light and salt of this world. Prophesy unto these dry bones and they will come to life!
