I was taking some time to recollect over the last months of very busy activity. The process of rereading sermon notes, conference notes, prophetic words and scriptures I have encountered has been good. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the Valley of the Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37. Maybe because I have walked through seasons of life that felt so much like those dry bones – or even the dust of bones – I resonate with the call for the Spirit of God to pour breath into our lives. Sometimes living today can feel like we are in a season of “dusty bones.” It may seem like Jesus’s Church has lost its life force. But I don’t believe that’s how God sees us.
Pastor Johnny Enlow posted this prophetic word that I quote in part:
“Church, here is the narrative of the day. This is not a day when evil triumphs. This is not a day when Jesus returns to rapture us. The rapture is/was never a rescue operation; to believe so is to believe that God has scripted a losing storyline – He has not. Whatever the rapture is, it is not a reward for losing the planet – despite being the overwhelming majority.
“Jesus did not say, “I will build My Church and then pull them out before the gates of Hell encroach upon it.” No, He said, “…I will build My Church, and the very gates of Hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). That is the correct narrative of the day. The Church is His Ekklesia, the called-out ones who must challenge the gates of Hell, wherever those gates are.
“Where are those gates of Hell? Those gates of Hell are positioned at the tops of the Seven Mountains: at the highest places in media, the economy, in government, in education, in family structures, in arts and entertainment, as well as in structures that call themselves “church.” If you are part of a church that is just a “reprieve” from all that is going on in the world, you are not part of the Church; you are part of a “Christian social club.” …
“Come on, Church. Rise up. Rise up and be all I have foretold that you would be. Rise up as creation groans and travails for you to be My gates-of-Hell-challenging Ekklesia. Rise up as I orchestrate a great day of deliverance for you and for the nations of the world.
“Arise and shine with courage, with conviction, with clarity. Leave your lukewarm Christian social club if its effect on you is lukewarmness. …
“My finest hour upon the earth is coming, and it is intended to be yours as well, as you move in alignment with Me. Carry Me; carry My presence; carry My storyline. The best is yet to come.”*
So, today, I (we) pray for all God’s people in all places – his Church – to be emboldened, to rise up, and to be renewed by Holy Spirit so we can fully live out our calling as Christ’s ambassadors to the world.
Sovereign Lord,
Praise be to the Lord God, who alone does marvelous deeds; may the whole earth be filled with your glory. Thank you for the amazing ways you work in this world, in your Church, and in our individual hearts. Thank you that when your voice resounds, Lion of Judah, that you hold nothing back; your voice thunders in marvelous ways beyond our understanding. For the sake of your holy name, Holy God, we pray you would continue to revive, reform, and renew your Church. Where she has been dead, revive those dry bones and breathe your Spirit into them so they may live. Cleanse her/us from all unrighteousness, impurities, and idols. Give us renewed hearts of love and renewed spirits to follow the leading of your Holy Spirit. Help us to move in your decrees and to keep your laws. May your Body, the Church, come to life, renewed for such a time as this. As we seek you, may the individuals and the Church be made more fully into the image of Christ, our Savior, in whose name we pray, Amen.
“Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.
Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.” (Psalm 72:18-19)
“After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back.
God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.” (Job 37:4-5)
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘when I am proved holy through you before their eyes. For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:22-28)
“[The Sovereign Lord said,] “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 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.’ … ‘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.’ 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 37:4-6, 9-10)
(adapted from post published January 21, 2021)