Scripture:
Ezekiel 37:9-14 NKJV
[9] Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” [10] So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. [11] Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ [12] Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. [13] Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. [14] I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’ ”
Observation:
I had been somewhat torn over what to write about this morning. In fact, I began writing, and the Holy Spirit redirected my path. Yesterday was a full day; to be honest, it’s been that way for the past week or so. The Bible says when the oxen are stuck, you get them unstuck. So over the past week or so that’s been my effort. This can lead to a little fatigue in areas, and that needs to be guarded against. Now, as to why I have been led to this particular set of scriptures, I’m not exactly sure, but I feel like we are all about to find out. Ezekiel was a prophet of GOD. It seems the most popular set of scripture that he is known for is right where the Holy Spirit brought us this morning. Having a vision, he stands over a valley of dry, dead bones. Bones that at one point were an army. They were not just any old dead army. These bones represented Israel. They represented spiritual death. It seems that GOD’S chosen people had gotten away from HIM therefore HE chose Ezekiel to say something to them. Bringing him to this point HE gives him a vision and some very important instructions prophesy to these dry bones. Call the breath of life from the four winds and tell in to come and breathe on these dry bones. As Ezekiel began to do what the LORD had told him. Something amazing starts to happen. What was once dead began to come back to life; this army began to stand as ligaments and tendons began to form. In his vision, the LORD continues to speak to Ezekiel, saying, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they will say, ‘Our bones are dried up, in other words, they are worn out from the battle, the spiritual war they had been fighting had become a lot, and they had grown tired, they were exhausted. It seems that GOD had brought Ezekiel just in time. As Israel saw themselves as dead dry bones with no hope the prophet called the Son of man was brought to speak life over them. The directions from the LORD continued, “Say to them, thus says the LORD GOD: Behold, I will open the grave and raise you from your graves, O My people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD. So at this point it would seem that Israel was on the brink of giving up, they had fought and fought, but it all seemed hopeless, and they felt like it was time to just lie down and die. But GOD had a different plan. HE sent Ezekiel to show them exactly who HE was. Placing in them HIS Spirit if you look at the way this set of scripture ends you can see that it’s a promise, “I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.”
Application:
Longevity is taxing. It seems like the longer you follow Jesus the more tired you get on the journey. Sometimes you just need someone to speak life over you. But what if everyone around you has grown just as tired. When the walk becomes more of a trudge then a journey, and you feel like it has all come to an end. Maybe it’s time to pass the torch. Can I tell you something? The longer you walk and the more spiritual battles you fight the easier it is to become worn out. Sometimes its difficult to continue to press on. But this is not over. GOD will breath life into you at just the right moment. He will cause what you feel is over to have a renewed vigor. That passion and fire you once had for the LORD does not have to burn out. Sometimes its our responsibility to fan it back into flames. I remember when I was a kid. My uncle was remodeling a house down the street from where we lived it was summer time and we had nothing to do, so we went to see him. The day before he had burned all the lumber that he had taken out of the old house. It was a pretty big fire when it was burning. But it had dwindled down to coals just a few hot embers in the center at the bottom. All my uncle did was blow on it slightly and the fire came back to life. It didn’t take much just a little breath and a few more pieces of wood and that fire was burning to it full strength in a matter is second. I a little fanning of the flame. I want a fire in me that does not go out. A fire that will continue to burn until my LORD comes back and takes me home. The longer we wait for that the more we will have to fan the flame. HE wants a church that is not lukewarm. Not a church that is just going through the motions. Getting up and going because its Sunday. Its time to ask GOD to breath HIS breath of life back into us. Can I ask you an honest question?? Are you tired, does it seem like this is all too much, are you growing weary of well-doing, are you spirituality dehydrated? Today I want to speak life over you. I want to tell you that GOD is not finished with YOU HIS plan is to breathe life into you, to revive your spirit to set you on fire for the HIM. Some people need your testimony. They need to hear what HE has done for you. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 11 tells us that we overcome by HIS blood and the word of our testimony. Fan the desire to serve HIM into flames of its dwindling. Join me in prayer for revival.
Prayer:
Father, this morning and every morning we look to you. We know that you see all and know all. You know how hard it is to keep a fire burning. We do not want our lamp to go out. So we ask this morning that you forgive us for where we have not tended to our spiritual maintenance. We ask that you would breath into us your breath of life that would ignite a fire in us fill us with your Holy Spirit, place on us a fresh anointing, renew the fire, bring life back into these dry bones. We do not want to forget our first love, nor be found lukewarm. Help us to be alive and active, using the gifts and talents you gave us to grow your kingdom. Your are our KING you are our LORD you are YAHWEH, the GOD of more than enough and we praise you. Bring a fire in us that can be seen for miles around. Its in the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen.