Devotionals
"BREATH UPON THE BODY" - EZEKIEL 37:11-14
Then He said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house 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: O 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.
This was a word of restoration for the nation Israel. Today it is a word of resurrection for the Body of Christ.
Ezekiel was among about 10,000 people who were exiled to Babylon, around 597 BC (2 Kings 24:14) when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon sent a strong army against Jerusalem and subdued it. In 588 BC, the city of David was burned and the temple of the Lord was destroyed. This marked the end of the temple worship, and the end of the monarchy in Israel. God had been warning the people of Israel for many years and had called them to return to Him. He had spoken to them through the prophets, and told them that they would experience His judgement if they continued to disobey Him and go after the deities of the other nations. Now here they were far from their home and far from their city and their temple. They thought they were far from God and 'cut off' from the hope they had in Him, but God was not far from them. God was reaching out to them. He was still speaking to them through the prophet Ezekiel right where they were in a foreign land! He was promising to raise up a discouraged and dispirited bunch of people and bring them back once more to the land they loved and longed for. They had lost their temple and all the rituals of worship, which to them represented God. But God was reminding them that worship was all about Him, and that He would still be there when their hearts turned back to Him!
God said to Ezekiel that the bones he saw in his vision represented the people of Israel. They were saying 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off'. Their negative confession was an expression of their hopeless perception of their state. They knew they had been judged by God for their rejection of Him and their rebelliousness and disobedience. They knew they were exiled in a distant land and would be there for many years. They were burnt-out, depleted and defeated. They had been taken against their will to serve a ruthless nation who had robbed them of all their rights. They had lost all hope, but God is the Lord of the second chance! They could only see the darkness of their captivity, but God's heart was to bring them back into the light. He wanted to restore them and build them up to be a strong and mighty force - His very own people, chosen and set apart for His glory. He wanted to bring them back close to His heart. His plan was that those dried up bones would be raised to life and filled with His Spirit to be an example and a testimony to the nations of the world. A people walking in power and in the might of God Jehovah.
Precious people, God is speaking to us, the Body of Christ today. He is raising up a new generation. A people anointed with His power to stand up and be mighty warriors in His name. Unlike in the first part of Ezekiel's vision (Ezekiel 38:1-10) which we looked at over the last two weeks, we see today that the bones were not only dead but buried in graves. God was saying that He would open sealed graves and bring the bodies out of them. He would breathe life into those dead and dried out bodies and cause them to live and walk according to His plan and His purpose. He was talking of the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit making the impossible happen. What is normally seen as a final and permanent end was to be completely reversed and made new! Romans 6:23 tells us that "the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord". Sin has brought death to the hearts of people. It has distanced members of the body of Christ from His love and His presence. It has made them cold to the reality of God, and hardened against His convicting Word. However, today God is making the same promise He made to the alienated people of Israel who were far from their home - that they would return to their own land and return to Him. From dead bones God is raising up a radical generation who will be passionate about Him. People who will be hungry to hear His Word and worship Him. Men and women filled with the Holy Spirit and restored to His favor and to the Lordship of Jesus over their lives once more. Hallelujah!
There are many hundreds of believers around the world who want to see revival and restoration in our churches, and the power of the Holy Spirit raining down on thirsty ground. We are praying to see transformation and new life rising up from the cold ashes on the altar. There are intercessors praying for restoration and turn-around in their cities and in their nations, and for people to come back to their God and Creator. Many of us have been praying for loved ones ones who seem to be spiritually dead and in impenetrable sealed graves. This message is for you!
1) Know that God wants to bring restoration to individuals, to ministries and to the church at large. He is the Lord of the second chance! In these last days, God is raising up the dead. There is no person, nation or ministry too hardened for His Spirit to bring to life.
2) Change your confession - As God instructed Ezekiel, prophesy life. Prophesy that the spiritual graves will be opened and ministers, ministries and communities will be brought back to life and back to Israel - true heart worship and the reality and revelation of Yeshua, the Lord and Savior of our souls. Israel also signifies the special covenant relationship God wants the church to return to. The closeness and intimacy which is possible when we surrender our hearts and lives completely to Him.
3) Surrender to the Holy Spirit - As God the Holy Spirit moves over our own hearts, He will begin the revival which will overflow upon the lives and hearts of those we are interceding for and prophesying over.
4) God has spoken and He will do it - We are called to pray, believe, and prophesy. God does the real work! He has said it, and He will bring it to pass according to His Word flowing through His children upon the earth. We will see the power of God raising those dead bones and acknowledge that surely He is Lord!
May you believe God's Word, and see it fulfilled in your life and around you. May you prophesy dead bones to life, and may you see the power of God bringing to pass what He has spoken, in Jesus' name, Amen!
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