Dry Bones

When something is broken we discard it- everything is disposable these days.
In the old days…”little house on the prairie days.” Or even just 40 years ago…...people valued things more…they restored, mended, fixed, kept almost everything.
Now a days if we don’t like it ….it must go! I’ll buy another! Everything is disposable! Paper products and the invention of plastic changed the way we think, changed the way we value things. Convenience became a greater desire than quality and less effort to fix or change something became more important than the cost to buy something new.
Mend a sock?? No! Buy a new pair. Things are not made as well as they used to be but it doesn’t really matter because no one really keeps anything as long as they used to.
I took Mrs. Brigadier Churchill to the Dr, the other day and she handed me her coat. She then proceeded to tell me that she bought the coat in 1963. I told her the coat was older than me! And As I held this coat, as I looked at it, I could not believe that it was in such good shape. That something like a coat would last that long. That is when I realized thought patterns in our society have changed……. when her lining ripped, she had it repaired and the coat was good for another 20 years. It wouldn’t even cross my mind to have fixed the lining. I would have thought….I got a good 12 years our of it…buy a new coat! But there really was nothing wrong with the coat…it needed to be fixed, change had to happen…there was no need to throw out the whole thing.
How does that flow over into other areas of our lives….When we see that something is broken or in need of repair, when it is obvious that there is need for improvement or need for a change…..do we throw it out or do we see the possibility of repair?
Interestingly enough in God‘s word we will find that…….God throws out very little.
His word says “to throw off the sin that so easily entangles” …It says that “he throws our sin into the sea and remembers it no more.” But really the only thing God throws away …is our sin…
Everywhere else you will find that he is a God who restores and mends, He is a God who promises to binds up the brokenhearted.
When God says take off the old and put on the new …he is referring to our old sinful nature, our old habits, …to take them off and put on new habits an a new nature -- that comes from His Spirit!
He doesn’t throw out the person… he renews, he restores and He “works out all things for good, for those who love him and are called according to his purposes.” Even those things that we would throw away in our own lives, moments that we are ashamed of, he can turn around and redeem!
When God gave us the New Testament…a new law that would be written on our hearts instead of on tablets of stone………He did not discard or abolish the Old Testament. Jesus himself said “I came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it.”
God gives value to what he has already established even if it is in need of repair.
In Ezekiel’s vision we come to a valley….a Valley of dry bones. This Valley represents the nation of Israel…. They are desecrated………for no one of Hebrew decent would leave the dead unburied. It was disgraceful . The bones are disassembled…. They are scattered and they are dry…very dry. Beyond the point of restoration, beyond the point of repair.
Imagine Ezekiel looking at this vast field of bones. They had to have been there for some time to be as dry as they were. God was saying to the people of Israel that he would restore them…this is what he had prophesied through Ezekiel before. But it had been so long and they could not see an end to the Babylonian captivity. ……the possibilities of restoration was beyond their comprehension.
We become overwhelmed with the state of things as we see them. We set our eyes on what is before us. The problem looks too big for our God. Best solution……get rid of it all. Clear out these bones….clean up this field and lets start all over again! Out with the old …in with the new! But God is more powerful, More able, more resourceful and He is faithful to his people…….Our God will see something through…through to the end …..no matter how bad it gets! God is faithful he can not disown himself…( 2 Timothy 2:13)
What does God do with these valley of bones??? He tells Ezekiel to prophesy to them. To Prophesy is to speak the word of God …this was the command (Ezekiel v4)…So he does and the reaction of the bones is that they come together…..and God uses the same bones, the same structure, the same frame that was scattered across the open valley, He does not choose another nation, He does not let death and dryness stand in the way of greater possibilities ….The word of God is spoken over them and God….not man, God pulls them all together! Not just bone to bone but they are also given muscles and flesh. Yet they still have no breath in them (Ezekiel v8) So then the next command to Ezekiel is speak to the Spirit….call upon the wind…call for the breath. The words wind, breath and Spirit are all the same word in Hebrew. Ezekiel was told to pray for the Spirit, the breath of God to come and to breath life into the valley of corpses. When he does (Ezekiel v10) and the breath came into them and they lived, and they stood on their feet, an exceedingly great Army…a vast Army. Alive, together….ready for battle…filled with the Spirit …filled with the very breath of God.
What cause the change? What caused the valley of dry disassembled bones to rise up into a might Army?
The two commands God gave Ezekiel were:
1. To speak the word of God to them
2. To Call on the Breath of God, the Spirit of God to fill them
Our God is faithful, He does not throw out that which He has established….He is a God of restoration, a God of resurrection and God who mends, binds, builds up and breaths new life into us or any situation we may bring to him.
What is your Valley of Bones?
What are you ready to give up? Throw out? Dispose of? Wrap your mind around this Truth: Our God is bigger than we think. Nothing is impossible for Him. The God who brought life to the valley of bones - Ezekiel’s God, is our God….
Speak the word of God over your situation
Speak the word of God over the impossible
Watch Him bring it all together………..Then pray, call upon the Spirit of God. To breath new life into it. Our God is a God of power, a God of resurrection. A God of renewal, A God of Revival.
Pray now , call out as Ezekiel did, for the very breath of God to fill us with new life, to cause us to stand on our feet, a mighty Army- He wants us to know that He is God! He want to show us His power.

Streams

“Forget the former things;
Do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not
perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland”
Is. 43:18-19

Two years ago the Lord gave me this verse. Recently, God has given me some pictures in my mind, in answer, to my prayers. He has also reminded me of some visions that he gave me while I was overseas.
Oswald Chambers says “we can not attain to a vision; we must live in the inspiration of it until it accomplishes itself! Waiting for the vision that tarries is the test of our loyalty to God.”
The waiting is hard. I don’t always feel faithful to the vision. I get discouraged and doubt leaks into my brain. Why do I doubt the ONLY ONE who CAN make a way in the desert? Sure, I occasionally feel like someone has kicked sand in my face and we are far from any OASIS! But a promise from God, a word from the Lord is a WORD from the LORD! The verse above promises “streams in the wasteland!” Not a stagnant pond, not a lake or the Dead Sea…but streams.
Active, moving, flowing and refreshing.
I could use a stream.....................even a babbling brook.

What if you are standing in the wasteland and God ask… “Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
What should we do on days when we don’t see it? When the wasteland, the desert seems vast and overwhelming?
I believe Lord, Help my unbelief!
I don’t want to miss it! I look and I recognize possibilities of refreshment. But maybe my idea, of the complete fulfillment, of my vision is not what God intended. Maybe I have imagined what I want it to be.
God doesn’t promise to remove the desert- He promises to make a way IN the desert. God doesn’t promise to remove the wastelands but he does promise there will be streams IN the wasteland.

I have been confronted with hard places recently. Water goes over or around hard places and over time, moving and active water can change the roughness of a hard place…..make it smooth.
God reminded me in prayer that He is the God who formed the Grand Canyon. He can change the face of the land, He can remove hard places.
He reminded me that The Grand Canyon was carved by HIM.
He who carved the Grand Canyon can move the hard places. Nothing is to difficult for HIM.
A river runs through the Grand Canyon. A river that is strong, active, still moving and still changing. From the top of the Grand Canyon it is hardly seen. It is hard to tell, it is there, or to believe it carved its way through the land to such a depth.
Give us a depth Lord, give us streams in the desert, and give us eyes to perceive and a faith to believe.

The Key to Life is Obedience!

I am teaching a seminar on balanced life and ministry next week. Which is very funny to some!!! While preparing, I found this picture and it reminded me of what someone once said to me. They told me that I was the kind of person who would scream "there is an elephant in the room!" While others would try to just walk around it.

Well, this picture kind of captures what I think most of us are trying to do in our life and ministry. For starters....you have to admit, it is impressive! Then think of the training and skill involved for the elephant. It really is, in a lot of ways, what we want. We want to be skilled in what we do, talented, gifted, impressive! BUT PEOPLE...it's an ELEPHANT on a little ball! How long can he really stay like that??? Think of the strain on his body, his family. At some point he needs to eat, sleep and can I say.....go to the bathroom.

I don't believe we are called to balance like the elephant. I don't believe we are called to be impressive. My husband once wisely reminded me we are not even called to be blessed, just obedient. That is what God has asked of everyone he has called- Obedience.

One of the passages of scripture we will be looking at in the seminar is about the call of Moses.

Exodus 3:1-4. Moses sees a burning bush and God calls him through the bush. The bush is really a better picture of how our service to God should be. On fire for God! Burning yet not consumed! So many people in service seem "burnt out" or they seem to be "burning the candles at both ends" maybe in an attempt to balance life and ministry.

Are we striving to keep it all up in the air like the elephant??? Or are we Burning for God!? Living to be obedient for His purposes.