 |
Dry Bones Live, Journey #2 |
|
|
Posted By: dryboneslive
Our churches should never forget that a true preacher is a man of God speaking to man. He is a man of heaven giving God's witness on earth. He can decode the message he receives from heaven and deliver it in the language of earth. God does want to speak to the human heart. - (A.W. Tozer. The Tozer Pulpit Series, Book 1. Chapter 21, 'There is more to the ministry than being able to talk'
Introduction
When it comes down to it, we have to ask "Why was it necessary for this event to even take place?" - what caused Ezekiel to have to go through this part of his life? What was it that lead up to the situations that caused, first the Israeli people to be in captivity, then secondly, what caused there to be a valley of dry bones?
No preacher was ever sent to a more unlikely congregation then old Ezekiel. Before Ezekiel was a congregation of bones. You know, some of us have churches with some sinew and flesh still around, but some of us have a church full of bones.
God loves to use preachers, which we must not forget, but the trouble with Gods people is that they tend to leave everything to the preacher - they like to say "That's the preachers job; let him get on with it!" Well, no Sir, every believer is a servant of Jesus Christ. Each of us have to get on our feet and do some work!
It was this laziness that caused the people of God to be captured. They took their eyes off their God and put it onto themselves and false gods.
Thankfully when God really does a work in a man's heart he becomes a soldier of Christ; he becomes a follower of the Lamb. These kind of men do not say to themselves "leave it for others", rather they take the fight to the streets and actively engaged in intercession and redemption!
Ezekiel was one preacher - and was given a valley full of bones. Think of it as a very big congregation that have no desire to do anything. A cold church.
Oh that God would give us a vision for the multitudes, not just a trickle of the blessing. How many of us have lost - or never had - a vision for the masses? How many of us look to God for the small miracles rather then the impossible?
We must capture a vision for the multitudes, for that is the impossible!
The hand of the Lord
Charles Wesley use to say, "O that the world might taste and see the riches of his grace! The arms of love that compass me would all the world embrace"
Oh that the world might see the valley of the lost - that there are souls that need Jesus Christ. The world is full of deadness and the church is full of dryness. What we need is a wilderness of flowers and flowing water! But the church has no vision - we have forgotten that God can do the impossible.
How much power do you think God could exercise today if we but looked to Him to move? God does not get weaker and weaker - the world may be headed for destruction, but God has a plan and a purpose, and that includes His power to perform the impossible. It is we who have gotten weaker and weaker. It is we who have forgotten that God can do the impossible. But that does not mean that God has lost the ability to do the impossible - it simply means we have lost the challenge.
You see God challenged the prophet Ezekiel - and we need God to speak to us, to challenge every one of us, and say to each of us, "Can these dry bones live?"
Can God save your family? Can He save your neighbors? Can He reach across to the other side of the world and save a family in need? Of course He can!
God challenged Ezekiel to preach to a bunch of bones. And preach is exactly what Ezekiel did! It is the preaching of God's word and the power of the Holy Ghost that will change the world. It is when each man and women finds within themselves the life of Christ - and His passion - that God will begin to move. It is when each of us look not to the valley of dry bones, but when we look to the well spring of Life - the Giver of Life - that we can find assurance within ourselves to know that God can do the impossible!
Life Renewed (aka: revival)
You know, when the prophet Ezekiel preached, something happened!
When revival comes there will be a noise from heaven! There will be a stirring in the soul of man - that shouts of God's power moving in the lives of men. We need to be shaken to the very depths of our souls. God needs to blast into the church!
Revival comes when God's people are only interested in the Glory of the Lord - that is when revival comes. If you're praying for revival to fill your church, God will never send you revival. If you're praying for revival so people will people say "you're a revival preacher", God will never send it. But when you are only interested in the Glory of the Lord, and cry out to God to do something, then He will send you revival! He'll do it for the Honor and the Glory of His Great Name.
There is a unity when God starts breathing. Ezekiel started off with bones and then he had a bunch of corpses - but there was no life in them. There is only one thing that can make a corpse live - and that is the breath of God. We need to say "Come in all Your mighty power, as a mighty rushing wind, and breathe again, Oh God!" As Ezekiel prophesied, the breath moved forth and life entered into the corpses! Halleluiah and amen!
The Cost Of Separation From God's Plan
History shows us how clearly important it is to not divide ourselves from the Lord. Less than a century after King David's reign, Israel divided into two nations: Israel and Judah. This resulted in drastic and devastating consequences for the people of God. The Assyrians conquered Judah in 720 BC, and then Israel fell to the Babylonians in 587 BC. From that point on, and for the next two millennia, their land was in the possession of various different empires: Babylonian, Persian, Greek Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine, Islamic and Christian Crusaders, Ottoman, and British.
This clearly shows us that when God unites us together, any divination from His plan can have serious consequences.
What has happened within our churches is we have separated ourselves from one another. We have caused this great divide to exist between those who have no other real desire then to sit on a pew week after week, and those who have decided to not even sit in the pews anymore. We have caused the once live bones to become like flesh and sinew - unattached and no longer alive and performing their duties.
History Shows Us A Valuable Spiritual Lesson
The Assyrians were responsible for the lost ten tribes of Israel. By invading the land of Palestine, the army of Nineveh swept ten of the twelve tribes of Israel out of the pages of history, plunging them into captivity so deep that only the power of Jesus could rescue them from permanent anonymity.
How common this has happened to the Child of God even today! We see the Children of God falling likes dead ticks as we allow ourselves to be separated from the Love of God because of our inability to stay focused on God's plan for our lives. We have hundreds of thousands of people who call themselves "the unchurched Christians". People who have left the church yet claim to have not let the faith. As many of the put it, "we have simply gotten tired of a dead and dry church that is doing nothing to move forward the kingdom of God... so why should we even go?"
I, for one, cannot refute nor find any cause to condemn nor criticize those who have become unchurched Christians. I see it happen nearly every day of my life. As the church becomes more and more focused not on the impossibly acts that God desires to perform, but rather on the tradition of trying to keep everybody happy, we simply have to understand that more and more people - good people, Godly people - are going to keep leaving the church and begin to find themselves in obscurity like the ten tribes of Israel that the Assyrians attempted to wipe off the face of the earth.
Over 80% of Jacob's descendants disappeared in one swoop by followers of a false god. How many people do you know - your friends, your neighbors, and your own family - that have been swallowed up? What have you done to fight back? What did you do to keep it from happening? Did you forget that God says some things must be fought for? Have we forgotten that there is a constant battle between man and their minds and faith?
But distress not - for with God nothing is impossible! I know I have been saying this statement throughout this journey entry, but it is because we must get this engrained into our minds once again!
One hundred years after the northern tribes fell to the Assyrians, Nebuchadnezzar led the forces of Babylon into Jerusalem and carried away the last two tribes (Judah and Benjamine), transporting them to the banks of the Euphrates where they were held in bondage for seventy years.
Staying Prepared For The Lord To Carry Us Away
Ezekiel Chapter 37 verse 1 states that God carried out Ezekiel in the Spirit of the Lord and set him down in a valley of dry bones. Two verses later we find him saying to the Lord "O LORD GOD, thou knowest."
I would tend to think that if Ezekiel had not been prepared he would have probably not had the faith and assurance that God actually could bring life to a valley full of dry bones! But we know Ezekiel was prepared by his very act of obedience to God. How many of you know that often times when we do not obey God's plan and direction for our live it is because we were not ready for God to tell us to move in a different direction! How many times have you found God saying to you it's time to do something and you find yourself saying "I'm not ready for that Lord!" Perhaps you pull out some excuse like Moses did when he told God "Hey, I'm an old man and am not an good speaker... go find someone else to go before the pharaoh and demand the child of God be set loose!" Perhaps it's not even something that big and drastic. Perhaps it is something as small as spending a few more minutes in prayer, in fellowship with Him. Yet you find yourself unprepared for God to want to deepen your relationship with Him.
You see, we must always stay vigilant for the thief in the night. As we can see all around us now, under the influence of Lucifer, Christianity is beginning to fail. The mortal wound inflicted by Christ on paganism has begun to heal. World government, and even the church itself, have begun to abandon Jesus. We must stay focused on Christ and God's power. History has proven what happens when men do not do so.
There are impossible miracles that God desires to perform on earth - in my life and in your life, in the life of your family, friends, neighbors, and those around the world! He is but waiting for a group of people to stand forward and await the call. To find and have assurance that He - the Creator of all - truly can do all that we have been praying and crying out for Him to do.
Do not loose faith. Do not give up. Remember the twelve virgins who were preparing for a wedding and only those who were prepared and awaiting Him were able to share and partake of the wedding feast!
Thank you for reading.
DryBonesLive
permalink
Posted: 08/29/06 9:32pm - Total Views: 1,212 - Category: Christian Life
View: Backlinks
Similar Blog Entries: A Sniper's Journey : The Truth About the Man Behind the Rifle,
Let Christ live in You,
My Journey,
Holy is the Lord by Chris Tomlin (Live),
Beginning Journey Part 1,
Blog Tags: dry bones live,
dryboneslive,
ezekiel,
ezekiel 37,
revival,
twelve virgins,
|
|
|
|
|
|
Membership Required |
|
|
Login to be able to view all the comments for this blog! If you are not already a member we invite you to become a member... it's free!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quick Profile |
|
|
Nickname: dryboneslive
Gender: Male
Age: 38
Blog Entries: 3
Blog Comments: 0
Read more about me!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Member Biography |
|
|
After nearly 12 years in Christian ministry I found myself outside the doors of the church for personal and spiritual reasons. It could be said I left the church but not the faith. If you are like me than I invite you to join me on a journey to refind...
view more
|
|
|
|
|
|
Donate & Support ChristianBlog.Com 
ChristianBlog.Com is a ministry of 4CM Network.
life comes at you fast so you better be prepared. for those who are not, life is hard.