There is a lot of hopelessness out there at present, but we Christians mustn’t lose hope. The Bible says that ‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for.’ If we lose hope then we lose our faith and this doesn’t please God. It’s faith that overcomes the world. Without hope we become like salt that has lost its savour and are then just ‘Oxygen Stealers.’ Not much use for anything, trampled under foot by the enemy. Did you know that any thought in your mind that doesn’t inspire hope isn’t from God?
“The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me,
“Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Ezekiel 37:1-3
The Prophet Ezekiel was taken in a vision to a valley that was once a battle field where many soldiers had died and it was full of dry bones.
God asked him a question there. “Can these bones live?”
The logical answer would have be ‘NO,’ but when God says something like this it’s not because He doesn’t know the answer. We are dealing with the Almighty here. It stretches us, inspiring us to think bigger thoughts and dreams. The logical, rational answer to this question wasn’t the truth when God was in the equation. God goes on to tell Ezekiel that he needs to prophecy to the dry bones and gave him the words to say.
“Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.” Ezekiel 37: 4-10
He told Ezekiel to prophecy to the bones and life soon came into them and they were raised up into a mighty army. Have you ever thought of speaking to your old tired bones and speaking life into them? Did you know that you can rebuke arthritis and joint pain with the words of your mouth? The word says that we should have strong bones.
“This (word) will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” Proverbs 3:8
“Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!” (Message)
Yes we can talk to dead things, Ezekiel did, and those bones were very dry. Moses spoke to a rock in the wilderness and water came out and you can’t get much ‘deader’ than a rock. The book of Corinthians says that there was a rock that followed them in the wilderness which was Christ. We can also talk to those who are dead in sin and see them come to life as well.
As I said there’s lots of death around us at present, hopelessness and despair stalk the earth. Things are getting ‘worse and worserer.‘ We too can be infected by this hopeless mindset if we’re not careful. I know we need to be real and not bury our heads in the sand, but on the other hand we need to remember what the word says about the situation. We are Children of Light and are from another Planet - Heaven. Our Kingdom is growing and forever expanding. We are told to pray - ‘Thy Kingdom Come’.
“There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”
Isaiah 9:6-7
It’s easy to look at what’s wrong around us instead of all that’s right. and see things through God’s eyes. We need to use our faith for this world. “Can these bones live?” God is more powerful than immorality, homosexuality, sickness, debt and recession. He’s even bigger than sin - amen. We need to convince ourselves of this truth and shake off the spirit of despair. We often think that the current problem is bigger than God - It’s not true. The government is trying to push God out but He’s not going to leave. He doesn’t say that He will listen to the unbelievers instead of the Christians that are praying. If you knew how much influence you have with God you’d pray much more than you do. God can cause the bones to live.
Numbers 13 speaks of the Children of Israel coming up to the Promised Land. Spies were sent into the land but 10 of the 12 came back with a bad report. The question God asked them wasn’t to see if they could take the land or not, but where they should go up. The 10 spies got it all wrong. They gave a negative report and said that they were like grasshoppers in the sight of the giants. They were wrong and their low self-esteem determined their world view. When you are small in your thinking then you think everyone else sees you as small too. They thought they were grasshoppers but it wasn’t true.
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” Luke 5:13-14
God likens us to light and salt. We are to bring light to this dark ‘sin sick’ world. That means we are to give them revelation (light), as well as being salt to preserve them from destruction. In Bible days they never had refrigerators so they used copious amounts of salt to preserve their food. After a while the salt took on the flavour of the food and was thrown out onto the streets. The rain melted it and it became their pavement – trodden under foot.
As God’s salt and light we are to pray that we would be effective here on the earth as it is in heaven – ‘Thy kingdom come.’
As salt we should be making people thirsty for God and not judging them.
How do you know if salt has lost it preserving power? By tasting it, you can tell if it’s not OK if it tastes like the fish it’s meant to be preserving. If so then it needs to be thrown out as it’s lost its savour. We too can end up tasting like the world we are meant to be preserving. The Bible says that God is looking for Intercessors to save the world from destruction. He sent His Son to die for the world and not just for the Church.
"I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.” Ezekiel 22:30
As Salt and Light we are the hope of the nations. We pray for His Kingdom to come and for all to know the Lord, for all flesh to realise that the Spirit is poured out upon them. The trouble is we push this event into another time zone and don’t take responsibility for it ourselves, as we should.
For some Christians these ideas and revelations are just too good to be true, they just don’t get it. They say that you shouldn’t get folks hopes up in case they are dashed to pieces. They speak negative about everything and end up become a self-fulfilling prophecy, talking themselves to death.
When the Children of Israel walked around Jericho they had to be silent for 7 days and then shout. They weren’t allowed to speak any negative words for 7 days. If we can’t speak words of hope in a difficult situation then we need to duct tape our mouths and circle the situation for at least a week before speaking. We need to speak words of faith instead of negative words.
There are some Christians out there who just keep looking for things to get depressed about. I am not saying that we pretend that bad things are not happening around us but if all you see is death and problems then you will always respond to those things out of frustration and anger.
We need to do is ask God what we should do in difficult situations and only say what God says, prophesying against the spirit behind the situation. Instead of shouting against the darkness, turn on the light.
We are meant to be salt that preserves the nations and not those who are speaking judgement upon all the sinners to be slain. ‘Yes’ these bones can live. We need to shut our mouths and remember that we are here to preserve the world until Jesus takes hold of their hearts.
You may ask ‘How do you know if it’s not now time for God to destroy a city?’ Only when the Angels come to take you out, otherwise we are to remain in the city and preserve it with salt. Sometimes God says He is going to destroy, just to see who are the ones who call for mercy. God said to Moses that He was going to destroy the people, but Moses interceded for them and God said “OK I won’t.” He did it for him and He can do it for you too. Jonah eventually obeyed God and look at what happened. All of the city of Nineveh got saved. If He could do that for Jonah who was rebellious, then how much more can He do it for you.
I like to think that we are called to be Thermostats rather than Thermometers. A Thermometer senses what is going on around them and declares it, the facts.
A Thermostat however senses what is going on but knows what the Master wants and uses God’s power to change the situation. We too have the power to change every dry situations into the gardens of the Lord. We can prophesy over the dry bones, but you have to know the word of the Lord, what His will is so that you can speak it out.
“I believe therefore I speak.”
In Isaiah 35:1 (KJV) it says that the wilderness shall be glad for ‘them’ and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose. Who are the them? The ‘them’ are the thermostats the salt of the earth, the preservers.
“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” Isaiah 35:1