The hand of the Lord was upon 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, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” 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 from the four winds, O breath, 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 37:1-10

There is an expression among some of our contemporary prophets that “prophetic words don’t tell the future, they create the future.” That may sound arrogant, but not if you understand how God has determined to do his work in this world through his people. Ezekiel is a prime example and the familiar story above illustrates the principle. In a vision, God took Ezekiel to a valley that had probably been the sight of a large military battle. The dead were not buried but simply left where they fell. They had been there a very long time and the elements had stripped away everything but the bones. In the story, God is illustrating what he plans to do with Israel, which by all measures has become spiritually dead.

God could have easily set Ezekiel on a high cliff overlooking the valley so that he could have watched God’s handiwork from afar and reported what he saw. Instead, God made him a vital part of the process. God had already determined what he wanted to do but, once again, would not do it until one of his prophets declared his intentions. It’s as if God is always ready to run a race and will always win, but he will not leave the starting blocks until one his people fires the starting gun. Our words are the starting gun. God told him the words he was to declare, but would not act until Ezekiel was obedient to declare the word of the Lord over the situation. As he did, the Spirit of God began to move and amazing things happened. Where there was once despair, hope emerged. Where there was only death, life appeared. In what was once a sight of defeat and desolation, an army stood.

Remember God’s word to Jeremiah as he called the young man to be a prophet. “Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer.1:9-10). God’s method is to put his words in the mouths of his people and when they declare that word, he will empower his words to create the very thing that is decreed. God’s original intent was to rule the earth through his representatives to whom he had given authority over the works of his hands (Ps.8). I believe God honors that intent by waiting on those to whom he has given authority to release the word over their rightful dominion before he acts.

Since the Spirit of God lives within every believer, every believer can hear the voice of God speaking to him or her. One of our prime directives should be to listen to God intently to discover the very things he wants us to pray or declare or command over a given situation. We have been taught that prayer is our opportunity to persuade God to do what we want him to do. There is probably a time for that but I’m convinced that the rule of thumb is that we have been placed here to declare the words he puts in our mouths and on our hearts. Jesus is our example and he clearly stated that he only did what he saw the Father doing and only spoke what he heard the Father saying. When we do that, we can have absolute faith that our prayers will be answered.

That doesn’t mean that we never initiate a need or a concern. But after having laid our concern or a crisis before the throne, the best approach would then be to ask the Father how he wants us to pray or what he wants us to say over that situation. I must confess that too often I act as if God is there to represent my interests rather than me being here to represent his.

The truth is that we approach just about every situation or need with a very limited view of all the issues and variables that will affect the outcome. We have no idea of what will transpire six months from the time we decide what should be done in a situation. We usually pray for the easiest road rather than the most beneficial road. We have a very short-term view of life rather than the eternal perspective of the God who has no beginning and no end. It stands to reason then that what he would have us do, pray, or declare would be very superior to what we would try to convince him to do.

All of this is why it is so critical for us to learn to hear the Father and to take time to do so on a daily basis. When he puts his words in our mouth, our prayers and declarations can change entire nations. How much more can they affect the individuals and smaller issues most of us deal with? Paul taught us that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom.8:14). So what does it mean to be led by the Spirit of God? It simply means that we do and say what the Spirit directs us to do and he tells us what he hears the Father saying. That is what makes us sons and daughters of God. You have heard the expression, “like father, like son.” A true son reflects the father in his words, actions, and motives. A father can be seen in a true son so when we pray or declare what the Father gives us, then we are most like him and accurately represent him on the earth. Let’s listen for him before we pray or declare. It is the way of the prophets and the Son and should be our way as well.