[The following is part scripture, part dialogue, and part reflection on Ezekiel 37:1-14, the Valley of the Dry Bones.]
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. 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. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “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.’” (v. 1-4)
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“The hand of the Lord was upon me….” an “overpowering experience of divine revelation.”
“He brought me out [of my everyday circumstances] by the Spirit of the Lord…”. The Holy Spirit is continually calling me to come away from what my senses experience, and pay attention to his spirit within me. This, too, is revelation.
God “set me in the middle of a valley.” A valley is usually a low place, a place often filled with fertility and population, even busyness. Yet, Ezekiel’s valley was filled with a great number of very dry bones. The people who used those very dry bones had been dead a very long time. In the midst of fullness, there are often places of death. The dry bones represent places of life that used to be, but are no more, unless God speaks.
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“Child of mine, can these dry, dead, “bones” in your life live?”
“Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
I AM THE GOD OF RESURRECTION. I AM the God who brings life to dead places. I AM the God who heals you. Where I AM there is LIFE and Life More Abundantly. Where you see only dry bones of long-ago death, I see potential for new life! Where you hear only silence, I hear fiery whispers and ancient songs of hope. Where you feel despair and emptiness, I know the fullness of my Spirit’s Abundant Life within you!!
In Christ, you are a New Creation and that is what I will do for you. I WILL attach all that you need to those place of dryness to turn them into place of life. I WILL put my Breath of Life into you. You WILL come to LIFE. And you WILL know and proclaim that I AM the Lord.
Prophesy to the dry bones, the broken, bitter, hurting, confused, and dead places in your life: Hear the Word of the Lord!! I AM so I WILL make the breath – the RUACH – the life force of my Spirit enter you. You will come to life.
But, Lord, I am not a prophet! How can I speak?
You do not have to have the office of a prophet to know my Word. Anyone who is in Christ and led by my Holy Spirit can speak my words for me and declare what I reveal. I AM the source of all wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and discernment. When you speak what I give you, you comfort, encourage, and build up the Body of my Church. The words I give you speak Life into my people because I AM the Life-Giver. When you are rooted and grounded in me, you will speak the words that I reveal to you. So, Child, speak to the dry bones! Prophesy life into them!
Ruach Adonai,
Thank you for the strength and power of your Word, and the call to speak LIFE into our circumstances. Today we bring the “dry bones” of our lives to you, and speak LIFE into them.
I speak to the “dry bone” of …. in my life: by the power of the Holy Spirit, LIVE AGAIN. [repeat as necessary]
May your hope and abundance fill us, we pray in Jesus’s name, AMEN.
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10 NKJV)
He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26 NIV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)
But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. (1 Corinthians 14:3 NIV)
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. 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. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
Then he said to me, “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.’”
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. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
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.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
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.’ 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. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 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 37:1-14 NIV)
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. (1 Corinthians 14:1-3 NIV)