Ezekiel 37 says:
The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”
4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of theLord! 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.
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.’”
Many of our lives are in grave conditions and they are so dead. There are so many dead Christians walking around that are dead inside. They think they are walking right with God, but on the inside there is something that that is missing. What is missing is the power and Presence of the Holy Spirit operating in their lives. They are just walking around with no life and they are caught up in the sins of this world. When the enemy comes upon them, they don’t know how to fight because they are so caught up in themselves and their own lives. They are caught up in their own burdens, but they don’t know what God’s burden is. I was listening to some of the praise and worship songs, that I have selected on youtube, and I find that the ones that bring me into the presence are all about me, and today the Lord was speaking to me, that there is something wrong with this picture. We know it’s all about Him, but how can we can realize the implication of that statement. It takes the Holy Spirit. It’s not just the Holy Spirit hovering upon you, but we have to abide in the Presence of God Almighty through the Holy Spirit. That is what will get us to what is missing in our lives. Sometimes we are so concerned with finances, jobs, getting fit, and other distractions, that we refuse to take time to pray and really seek God and His presence so that His presence is made among us. I mean, this is the God who is more immense than the universe, and He wants to spend time with us. So in this passage of Scripture, it says, that the Lord will bring the people of Israel out of their graves, and He will put His Spirit in them, and He will place them in their own land. All throughout the Book of Ezekiel, you see the Lord emphasizing, “Then they will know that I am the Lord.” All He wanted was for them to realize that He was the Lord. We know that Jesus is Lord, and that was the same thing that He experienced when He came and He was in the town of Bethany, when He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.
Jesus speaks to Martha:
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25)
And then again to Mary:
32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”
Then there is the miracle:
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.[d] And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
Both times in Ezekiel and the Book of John, God was trying to in essence prove that He was God, but they were stubborn to believe. God has actually been proven so many times in the Bible and even in the world today, but people refuse to belief. They have to an act of faith and it is something that you cannot comprehend with the mind or with logic, but it is something beyond that. It is something that the Spirit of God has to remind you.
Doubt is a very dangerous thing. Skepticism is a very dangerous thing. We don’t want to be like Thomas who saw then believed, but we want to be the ones like Abraham, when all things seemed impossible, He still be believed. Jesus said that if we believed we would see the glory of God. We like to get into the presence of God and then we follow the tabernacle example to get into the presence of God, but if we simply don’t believe, if we don’t act out in simple faith and trust God, then the Presence or glory of God, will not be upon our lives. The Bible has warnings for us in the last days, that says that many people will fall away. Even in books like Ezekiel and Isaiah, they say that only a remnant, or a chosen few will be left, so few that a child can count them. It is a warning for us all. If I’m not preaching to anyone else, I’m preaching to myself, that we need to not let anything stop us from believing that Jesus is God, despite what our emotions say, or what our circumstances are. We have to be led by the Holy Spirit, and we must seek Him, until we find Him because we don’t want to be cast away from the One who loves us beyond measure. We have to endure to the end and overcome all the trials and tribulations, because if we don’t there is a threat lingering for us. Sometimes we have become so casual with God, that we lose the awe and reverence of our King. One of the things that God hates the most is pride. It is pride and idolatry, so if we have anything in our hearts that is exalting ourselves or anyone else before God then we need to come to the place of surrendering that idol or that self-exaltation and laying it down before the feet of our King.
Heavenly Father,
We trust and know that You are our King, and that You are exalted above the throne and that no one else is like You Lord God. Let Your Spirit be upon us and take us to that next level of Your holiness, and repentance, and a closer walk of faith and believe that You are the very one who can raise the very dead souls who are in the graves, and let them come forth like Lazarus did, and that You have put Your breath and Your Spirit in us and upon us. Restore us to what we were created for and not to the bondage of curses that have been applied to our lives because of sin. Help us to glorify You in all that we do and not to seek our own fame. Help us to surrender our lives to You each and everyday, and help us to have the God kind of faith that pleases You. Help us to strengthen the feeble knees and the hands that hang down, but help us to walk upright and boldly to conquer every obstacle in our way that keeps us from fulfulling Your plan and purpose of our lives. Help us to be walking breathing living testimonies of Your living power in our lives. Touch our lives right now Lord God, and let Your presence be known among us Lord God. Please protect those that are going under persecution and the Body of Christ in these last days that we are in. I apply this prayer with the precious blood of Jesus.
In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,
Amen.
singingsinglev4 