“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…Ezek. 37
When asking God to breathe life into a situation, a relationship, or a disease riddled body we must always remember that our faith and action will play a part. God had already decided to raise this army of dry bones from the valley floor but would wait on Ezekiel to declare his word before the power flowed. Notice that Ezekiel was not declaring his own word or his own will but the will and the word of God.
Our first step in changing an impossible situation is to make sure that what we are asking is aligned with the will of God. Are we praying something or declaring something that has his stamp of approval on it? You would think that principle is a given but I have known Christians who were praying for things far removed from the will of God. For instance, I met with a woman once who was frustrated with God because he hadn’t answered a long time prayer for her “boyfriend” to leave his wife and children to marry her. I’ve met with a Christian whose greatest desire was for a former spouse to die and burn in hell. I’m not sure that follower of Jesus prayed for that particular outcome but I know she hoped for that outcome because she told me so in no uncertain terms. I believe she had prayed for it.
Our first assessment should be whether the thing we are praying for or declaring lines up with the will of God as revealed in scripture. We can always pray, declare and command for the sake of someone’s salvation because we know that God desires that all men should be saved. We can always pray, declare, or command on behalf of a failing marriage, a person in bondage to an addiction, a nation that needs to turn back to God, or for a woman not to choose abortion because we know God’s constant heart on those matters. We already have his unchanging word on the matter. Other issues may be a little trickier so we simply need a “rhema” or direct word from God on the issue. Ezekiel didn’t get his command to prophesy over dry bones from the Torah but from a direct word from the Lord.
The key is in praying, prophesying, or declaring the word of God over the issue. God said, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isa.55:11). When God’s word goes forth it fulfills its purpose. In the case of Ezekiel, God’s word was placed on Ezekiel’s lips and he sent it forth by declaring God’s word over an entire valley of dry bones. Jeremiah experienced the same dynamic. “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). Jeremiah would build and tear down nations by declaring God’s word over them. As I said before, God loaded the gun but his prophets pointed the gun at the target and pulled the trigger which released the power of the Holy Spirit into the very situation God was willing to effect on the earth.
Those patterns of how God works in the earth were given for our learning. Just as Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and a host of others in scripture declared God’s word over a matter, we are to do the same. When God’s word goes forth from our lips, it also fulfills its purpose. That is how we speak life over dead things that God wants to make live again. That is how we tear down strongholds and set people free. The desired result is not always immediate. It takes years to build some things as each prayer and declaration adds a brick and months or years to tear down other things. At times we are laying siege to the enemy and every prayer, declaration, or command releases more of the power of God into the situation we are dealing with. When enough spiritual artillery has pounded the walls of a demonic stronghold, the wall will fall like the walls of Jericho. God wants to build up and tear down and he wants to use us to do both. He uses us by placing his words on our lips so that we might send forth the words of God that in due time will fulfill their purpose.
Next Blog: More lessons from dry bones.
