“Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.” So I prophesied as I was commanded… (Ezekiel 37:6,7)
This is where many of us miss it. We indeed prophesy, but not as commanded. We prophesy in alarm. We take one look at the stretch of dead dry bones before us, and even before the Spirit prompts our conscience, we blast out praying and prophesying. The bible says the righteous will not panic or act hastily – and that includes praying (Isaiah 28:16).
Many of us pray and prophesy based on sight, fear, opinions, social media trends, gossip, people’s reaction/ behaviour towards us, what God said yesterday, what God told the other person, what we imagine God is saying…. Praying amiss – quoting scriptures, taking communion, bathing the anointing oil – like Pharisees all torn asunder; performing spiritual exercises in error.
Ezekiel got positive results because he was attentive and obedient to divine instruction. His own words, thoughts, ideas and imaginations meant very little, in fact, meant nothing to the state of affairs before him. The miracle he needed was only going to be found in the word that came to him from the Lord, for that situation, not a word he received previously or one that God had given to any other prophet around him.
So I prophesied as I was commanded…
The LORD commanded Ezekiel to be vocal. It was not just going to end as a wish in the priest’s heart or another prayer request for him to ponder upon. As silly as it sounded, Ezekiel was instructed to speak out to bones; to ‘say to them’. He was commanded to add a voice to his prayer; an oration to his desire; a proclamation addressing his predicament. The voice of faith must always be the last voice standing. After all reasoning, reality and naysayers have done their legal bit, the voice of faith must not be silent. Indeed it must speak louder and above the din produced by them all.
The LORD also commanded him to call them what they were – dry bones – not what he hoped they would be. It is okay to try to cover up your issues before men, depending on how delicate they are, but when you are before God, do spell it out as it is. Is your spouse unfaithful? Are your teenagers rebellious? Are you failing at school? Have you received a troubling diagnosis? Call them by their proper names so you can properly address them to hear God’s word. The time of prayer, is not the time of sugar-coating what is rotting away. Faith is not denial; it is saying: ‘Hey situation, I see you but I also see a God who is bigger than you!’
Thirdly, Ezekiel did not just blab; the word of the LORD formed the content of his prophecy. His declaration was God’s word first spoken to him. It contained specific instructions from God to the situation. Those dry bones were only going to respond to ‘Thus says the Lord…’ because that was what contained the life that was able to stir them up – not fear, reports, news, history or opinions of men.
What are the bases of your prayers and declarations? Are you panicking or praying? There is always a word relevant for every circumstance. If you keep your heart in a 'Thou knowest' position , the Spirit of God will drop it there. Thus says the Lord… O bones, you may not know who I am, you may never have heard my name before, but I come in the authority of the name of the Most High God, I am an emissary of his quickening Word, an ambassador of his holy Kingdom and this is what the Lord GOD says….
One of the most interesting and exciting things, in my opinion, about this prophecy was that it was orderly and systematic. It was an informed prophecy, if you like. That is what you get when you do not pray panic-driven prayers. First, he called forth breath to enter the bones – causing their marrows to quickly fill up again where there was once a hollow space – suddenly blood rushes in. And then these bones having received breath, are commanded to connect with other matching bones, fitting together to form perfect human skeletal structures. Even though that alone was a miracle, it wasn’t good enough.
He then called forth sinews (muscular tissues) to cover the bones; flesh to cover the sinews; skin to cover the flesh, and finally, breath upon the completely formed humans. What could be more intentional? Every stage of formation was taken care of, step by step, none skipped and none jumbled up. The One who formed the first Adam led Ezekiel through the process of recreating thousands of men from dead bones lying in a forgotten valley, by the word of his mouth. When we pray in the spirit, he leads us to pray informed prayers. The words Ezekiel spoke to the dry bones to hear were purpose driven words; aimed at a target and on a mission.
Finally, the whole purpose of this miracle was so ‘You shall know that I am the LORD’. The purpose of man is to establish the glory of God upon the earth. Everything that God does through us, he does to propagate his glory. If the end result will not glorify God’s name, then it’s hardly from him.
Ezekiel prophesied as he was commanded and a situation which seemed impossible to man became possible with God. Who/what is putting words in your mouth; Faith or facts, truth or reality, the Word or the world? When you find yourself in the valley speak spirit words, sing spirit songs, pray spirit prayers.
The best part of this is that for new testament believers, we enjoy a double deal, because not only do we have the word of God on our lips to declare as commanded, we also have the Word made flesh – Jesus the son of God, dwelling in us by his spirit. In the Revelation of Christ to John, Jesus is described as having a sharp double-edged sword protruding from his mouth (Revelation 1:16). Hallelujah! How can we ever pray wrong if we bend our ears and hearts to hear him?
Dead bones only hear God’s word, not man’s voice. What have you been speaking? Selah!
- Sista Mercie
N/B: This is a sequel to Quickening Flames
＃TheWordOfTheLord ＃TheVoiceOfGod ＃Ezekiel37 ＃RiseAgain ＃LiveAgain
Comments