He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Ps.91:1

In my last blog we looked at the first part of this verse that is followed by so many promises of care and protection. David begins by saying that he who dwells, stays, continues, remains sitting, or abides in the secret place of the Most High will rest. Most High is translated from the Hebrew elyon. It conveys the sense that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is above all and over all. His majesty, his power, and his wisdom surpass all others. That description is then coupled with Shaddai which is translated Almighty which reminds us that God is not only higher, more majestic and wiser than any other but also wields immeasurable power.

David begins his psalm with a reminder of who this God is in whom he trusts. It will take a God of that magnitude to deliver on the promises contained in the rest of this Psalm 91. It is always good to begin our prayers and our praise with a rehearsal of the nature of our God in whose hands were are placing our future. He who intimately remains in the shelter or hiding place of the Most High will rest in his shadow. The word translated rest means to spend the night, to abide, or to relax. IN our vernacular, we could say that he who abides in the secret place of God lives stress free and finds that peace or that stress free life in the shadow of the Almighty.

For those who hid out in the burning wilderness of the Middle East, a huge rock that cast a shadow was a welcome place. It provided comfort and protection from the heat and enemies. This verse reminds us that our God casts a big shadow. In that shadow we are sheltered from the storm, the scorching heat of midday and from the prying eyes of the enemy. Because our God is our Rock and our Strong Tower we can rest, relax, and spend time in his shadow.

David never viewed God as the one who would keep us from all battles but rather the as the one who would give us victory in the midst of battle and times of rest and renewal in between our battles. Too often we have interpreted salvation as God’s promise that we will never struggle, never face crisis and never find ourselves in a battle. God has never promised that. What he has promised is victory and deliverance in the midst of those things.

David goes on to declare, “I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. (Ps.91:2-7).

Notice that David trusts in the Lords deliverance in the midst of battle and in the face of trouble. We can never learn to trust until we have to trust. If God were to keep us from all conflict and calamity we would never have need of faith or trust. I only discover if I can trust someone when I absolutely need him or her to come through for me – when I am absolutely dependent on his or her faithfulness and ability to save me from the calamity I face. We live in enemy territory for now so must expect some trouble along the way but the key is faith in God and the condition is remaining in his presence.

In the face of life threatening circumstances David makes some exalted and, perhaps, seemingly outlandish claims of God’s care and deliverance. Ten thousand fall at your right hand but you are spared. Angels will surround you and defend you. You will trample on the lion and the cobra. Are these poetic exaggerations and can we expect that kind of deliverance from our God? We will consider that question in my next blog. Until then…be blessed.

Psalm 91 has caught my eye lately and has been emphasized for me in several different contexts. Several months ago I was rereading Francis MacNutt’s classic on spiritual warfare entitled Deliverance from Evil Spirits. In that book, he mentioned that quoting or reading certain scriptures during deliverance could be effective in tormenting spirits enough that they would leave. One of the scriptures he recommended was Psalm 91.

Then during one of our latest Freedom Weekends, in which we minister deliverance to many individuals, we had a young woman with a strong spirit of witchcraft in her that had come down generationally. Our team had spent several hours commanding this spirit to come out but had not quite driven it from its stronghold. One of our team members began to read Psalm 91 over the young lady, personalizing it for her, and the reading of that scripture broke the stronghold and she was set free.

In just the past few days, I was scanning a little book on crafted prayer by Graham Cooke. In that book, Cooke mentioned that several years ago, the Lord had instructed him to study Psalm 91 for nine months – no other scripture, only that psalm so that he would get every truth in that section of scripture buried deep in his heart. Well, God hasn’t told me nine months but he has been bringing it up over and over so I want to spend a couple of blogs looking at it – for my benefit as well as yours. So let’s begin:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. (Ps.91:1)

The word or phrase translated “He who dwells” can mean a number of things: to sit, to sit down, to remain sitting, to dwell, to marry. The word carries the idea of both permanence and intimacy. It reminds me of scriptures that call us to “Be still and know that I am God” and of Jesus’s command to “abide or remain” in him as a branch connected to the true vine. The promises about to be revealed in Psalm 91 are not for the casual Christian or even the highly committed, super-busy Christian who is constantly in the kitchen banging the pots and pans like Martha but who rarely sits at the feet of Jesus like Mary. To know the heart of the Father (or the Son) we have to abide in his presence, to spend time speaking and listening, and to seek intimate connection.

The promises then are for those who dwell, abide, or remain sitting in the shelter of the Most High. The word translated shelter is also an interesting word and can be translated: shelter, hiding place, covering, protection, or secret place. David calls us to dwell in a secret place or a hiding place with God that provides both protection from enemies and from the storms of life. To me, this calls us to find a place with God that is secret, personal, and unknown to others. I think he is telling us that the place to dwell with God is not in a corporate relationship but in a very personal relationship that is ultimately unknowable by others.

It is like a relationship between husband and wife. Many can know about the relationship but not know the deeper things of the marriage which remain secret to the couple – pet names, intimate moments they have shared together that are for them only, embarrassing incidents that will remain known to them but untold to others, and the deepest hopes, dreams and fears of their hearts. Those will always remain hidden or secret to all others because they are so personal that they are only to be shared with a loving and trusted spouse.

That is the kind of relationship God wants to have with each of us. Again…God is calling us to spend time with him – personal time, transparent time, talking, dreaming, hoping, and sharing our hearts with him and his heart with us. Psalm 91 make it clear that all the promises of victory and protection that follow flow out of that kind of relationship so developing that must be our first goal and we must be willing to pay the price of time and intentionality.

In my last blog I talked about the great cultural distraction of busyness. Nothing competes with an intimate relationship with the Father (or a spouse, children, friend, etc.) like busyness. That will have to be dealt with first. Then the sitting, the seeking, and the openness will feel so threatening to many of us – especially men. But that is where the promises are to be found. The question is how badly do we want all that Jesus has for us?

One more interesting implication of this first verse is the suggestion that we meet with God in a secret place. Undoubtedly David was thinking of places where he had hidden from Saul while Saul hunted him. This verse suggests that there are times when we are so snuggled up to God that Satan can’t find us or see us. That is an incredibly safe place to be. You may want to contemplate that a bit as you begin to read Psalm 91 over and over for a few days.

More from Psalm 91 in my next blog.

Remember the old saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop?” I’m not totally sure what that means but the idea is that staying busy kept you out of trouble – so stay busy. I have discovered in my own life that busy hands are also the devil’s workshop for believers.   It’s not that the “busy hands” are involved in sinful things, but rather they leave no margins for the deeper and more important things of God.

The “drug of choice” of our culture seems to be busyness and constant interaction. The more we do, the more significant we feel – productive, included, achieving, connected. Our children are most prone to the busyness and feel the pressure of it. The Midland School system had a rash of teenage suicides several years ago. Most of these young people were not abuse victims, they weren’t strung out on drugs, and they weren’t from “bad families.” Several were popular, high -achievers in their schools. Interviews later with kids at risk for suicide discovered that these elementary, junior high, and high school students felt so much pressure to perform, to be part of the “in crowd,” and to “do everything” that they were contemplating suicide rather than face a life of that kind of pressure and busyness.

Think about it. Even when adults get together its not long before they start comparing their weekly or monthly itineraries – the job, the early morning meetings, the evening meetings, the basketball, volleyball or baseball games they had to attend or travel to. Christians get the throw in all their ministry commitments on top of that. Its as if being way overbooked in your life is a badge of honor or an indicator of worth. God’s injunction to David to “Be still and know that I am God” is still quoted but is typically something we aspire to do rather than something we actually do. Even when the preacher quotes it, everyone winks in their heart knowing that he isn’t all that serious because right after the sermon he will be asking his people to commit to serving an additional night of the week in some ministry.

There is something in our fallen nature that wants to work. Maybe it gives us the illusion of self-sufficiency or gives us a reason not to do any introspection or evaluation of our lives. God didn’t have to command his people (for the most part) to work, but to take a day off from work every week. Obviously the Sabbath was created to honor the Lord but also to bless God’s people. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. We need the rest. We need the margins in our lives.

How many times do we turn down a “divine appointment” to speak into someone’s life, to disciple someone, to share our faith with a friend at the office, to have a hurting friend come stay at our house for a few days, etc. because we know that to do so would demand time and relationship capital that we don’t have because we are already “all booked up?” I fear we often miss the most important things (myself included) because we have no holy margins in our lives for significant time with God or for those little detours he wants us to take to touch a life, to plant a seed, or to water what someone else has already done.

I’m afraid that someday we’ll meet Jesus and point out all the hard work we did for him and everything we built in his name. He’ll smile and tell us how much he appreciated our efforts. He might even tell us that what we built was impressive…however, it just wasn’t what he wanted us to build because we got so little direct input from him. We can be like a builder who builds an amazing house for a client without having any real conversations about what they are looking for or without consulting them in the process to see if he is on track with their vision and desires. That’s a pretty risky way to build a house. I’ve known builders who were just too busy to have those ongoing meetings with their clients and in the end there were always some problems. If we are too busy to meet, we can be like that as builders of God’s house on the earth.

I’ve always been impressed with the focus of Jesus on a few primary things in his life that always took precedent over everything else. He kept his small group to twelve. Bigger isn’t always better. He turned down invitations to hold month long healing conferences even when he was trending. He often stole away to spend quiet time with the Father when there was so much that “still needed to be done, and he had time to take detours on his way to some town because the Father showed him someone who needed a touch on the way. If Jesus had operated on highly scheduled agendas, I think he would have had far less impact on the world and would have walked in much less power than he did.

Jesus, Paul, and the other great men of the New Testament seemed to live by God’s agenda for their lives rather than the world’s agenda, cultural norms, or even by all the demands of the church. In review, their lives seem sort of ragged and even ill planned, at times, but look at the impact.

The world will not relent. Satan will not relent. Everywhere you turn someone will ask for your time and it will all be good things. We need to establish some holy margins, a Sabbath principle, in our lives so that we have time for God and time for those little detours that bear so much fruit. We’ll need to pray and will have to decide to stop living at a crazy, spirit killing pace. We’ll have to prune some things, but pruning always produces more fruit in the end. We’ll have to be a “bad guy” to our kids to trim their schedules but our lives cannot be driven by cultural norms but should be driven by kingdom norms. By definition, Christians must be counter-cultural. If we are like the culture then we loose our power to change the culture. God will have to show you which parts to trim but my guess is that we all need to trim some things to create margins for us to hear and obey God. Anyway…think about it…if you can find the time. Blessings.

Remember the old saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop?” I’m not totally sure what that means but I think the idea is that staying busy keeps you out of trouble – so stay busy. I have discovered in my own life that busy hands can also be the devil’s workshop for believers.   It’s not that the “busy hands” are involved in sinful things, but rather they leave no margins for the deeper and more important things of God. It’s amazing how many believers do not have time for the things of God because of so many commitments to “other good things.”

As I survey my own life and the lives of many other believers I know, the “drug of choice” of our culture seems to be busyness and constant connection. The more we do, the more significant we feel – productive, included, achieving, connected. Our children are most prone to the busyness and feel the pressure of it. The Midland school system had a rash of teenage suicides a few years ago that left everyone breathless. Most of these young people were not abuse victims, they weren’t strung out on drugs, and they weren’t from “bad families.” Several were popular, high -achievers in their schools. Interviews later with kids at risk for suicide revealed that these elementary, junior high, and high school students felt so much pressure to perform, to be part of the “in crowd,” and to “do everything” that they were contemplating suicide rather than face a life of that kind of pressure and busyness.

Think about it. Even when adults get together it’s not long before they start comparing their weekly or monthly itineraries – the job, the early morning meetings, the workouts, the evening meetings, the basketball, volleyball, and the baseball games they had to attend or travel to. Christians get to throw in all their ministry commitments on top of that. It’s as if being way overbooked in your life is a badge of honor or an indicator of significance. God’s injunction to David to “Be still and know that I am God” is still quoted but is typically something we aspire to do rather than something we actually do. Even when the preacher quotes it, everyone winks in their heart knowing that he isn’t all that serious because right after the sermon he will be asking his people to commit to serving an additional night of the week in some ministry.

There is something in our fallen nature that wants to work. Maybe it gives us the illusion of self-sufficiency or gives us a reason not to do any introspection or evaluation of our lives. For the most part, God didn’t have to command his people to work, but to take a day off from work every week. Obviously the Sabbath was created to honor the Lord but also to bless God’s people. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. We need the rest. We need the margins in our lives.

How many times do we turn down a “divine appointment” to speak into someone’s life, to disciple someone, to share our faith with a friend at the office, to have a hurting friend come stay at our house for a few days, etc. because we know that to do so would demand time and relationship capital that we don’t have because we are already “all booked up?” I fear we often miss the most important things (myself included) because we have no holy margins in our lives for significant time with God or for those little detours he wants us to take to touch a life, to plant a seed, or to water what someone else has already done. I’m afraid that someday we’ll meet Jesus and point out all the hard work we did for him and everything we built in his name. He’ll smile and tell us how much he appreciated our efforts. He might even tell us that what we built was impressive…however, it just wasn’t what he wanted us to build because we got so little direct input from him. We can be like a builder who builds an amazing house for a client without having any real conversations about what they are looking for or without consulting them in the process to see if he is on track with their vision and desires. That’s a pretty risky way to build a house. I’ve known builders who were just too busy to have those ongoing meetings with their clients and in the end there were always some problems. If we are too busy to meet, we can be like that as builders of God’s house on the earth.

I’ve always been impressed with the focus of Jesus on a few primary things in his life that always took precedent over everything else. He kept his small group to twelve. Bigger isn’t always better. He turned down invitations to hold month long healing conferences even when he was trending. He often stole away to spend quiet time with the Father when there was so much that “still needed to be done,” and he had time to take detours on his way to some town because the Father showed him someone who needed a touch on the way. If Jesus had operated on highly scheduled agendas, I think he would have had far less impact on the world and would have walked in much less power than he did.

Jesus, Paul, and the other great men of the New Testament seemed to live by God’s agenda for their lives rather than the world’s agenda, cultural norms, or even by all the demands of the church. In review, their lives seem sort of ragged and even ill-planned, at times, but look at the impact.

The world will not relent. Satan will not relent. Everywhere you turn someone will ask for your time and it will all be good things. We need to establish some holy margins, a Sabbath principle, in our lives so that we have time for God and time for those little detours that bear so much fruit. We’ll need to pray and will have to decide to stop living at a crazy, spirit-killing pace. We’ll have to prune some things, but pruning always produces more fruit in the end. We’ll have to be the “bad guy” to our kids to trim their schedules but our lives cannot be defined or driven by cultural norms.

By definition, Christians must be counter-cultural. If we are like the culture then we loose our power to change the culture. God will have to show you which parts to trim but my guess is that we all need to trim some things to create margins for us to hear and obey God. Anyway…think about it…if you can find the time. Blessings.

In my last blog I quoted extensively from Dr. Caroline Leaf’s recent book, Switch On Your Brain (Baker Books), from a chapter in which she talked about the myth of genetic determinism in our choices. In another section, she raised an interesting question about the intergenerational dysfunctions (or sin) in families.

There has always been a challenging scripture in Exodus that this may speak to. “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Ex.20:5-6, emphasis added).

I have always puzzled somewhat about the meaning of “punishing the children to third and fourth generation” – especially when God says in another place, “The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him…The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son” (Ezek.18:18-20). So…in light of this passage what does Exodus 20 mean?

I have always understood Exodus 20 to mean that the consequences of the Father’s sins will effect the children through four generations if they are not dealt with spiritually. For instance, unrepented sin by a father (especially idolatry) might give Satan a legal right to afflict a family and that right will continue through four generations unless it is dealt with by the children acknowledging and renouncing those sins and serving God. Also, we know that unrepented sins establish behavioral patterns in families that can be passed on from generation to generation.

In her recent book, Dr. Leaf says, “Science has demonstrated how the thought networks pass through the sperm and the ova via DNA to the next four generations” (p.57). That got my attention. She went on to describe the scientific explanation for that but essentially science is discovering that the thought patterns we choose to follow are written in our very DNA like a program on a computer chip. Those may be uploaded into the mind of the next four generations as genetic tendencies or predispositions that can be turned on and become operative if the mind of that generation comes into agreement with the predisposition. Leaf says, “the sins of the parents create a predisposition not a destiny” (p.59). Free will is always at play.

That agreement turns on the program and so the program may be duplicated, along with the consequences, generation after generation. That “genetic expression” can pass on, at a DNA level, both positive and negative results. However our mind (thought patterns that we choose) can turn on that genetic tendency or turn it off. We have power over the genes, not the genes over us. She sums it up this way, “Our choices (the epigenetic signals) alter the expression of genes (the epigenetic markers) which can then be passed on to our children and grandchildren, ready to predispose them before they are even conceived. So our bad choices become their predispositions.”

This reality does not negate the spiritual dimension but adds a dimension to it and gives us even more reason to make good choices – not just for us but also for generations to come. This presents an additional dimension of cursing ourselves and our children when we ignore the truths of God’s word about guarding our hearts, taking every thought captive to Christ, and being those who speak blessings rather than curses. The thought patterns we choose that are contrary to the word of God get written into our very DNA and effect us spiritually, emotionally and physically in very negative ways. Aligning our thoughts and words to God’s truth, however, writes blessings into our very DNA and can be passed on to generations. Think and speak the good things of God today.

I wanted to give you a little culture correction moment as our culture continually pressures us to turn our backs on biblical truths in the name of Science. I want to share a lengthy quote from Dr. Caroline Leaf, a top neuroscience researcher who, along with many others, is doing cutting edge research on the brain.

We have been living under a myth called the gene myth, which locates the ultimate power over health and mental well-being in the untouchable realm of genes, relegating them to the level of gods. This myth has bound the mental and physical health as well as the peace and happiness of too many people for too long. Almost daily, another headline pops up with the highly fashionable concept of a gene for this or a gene for that. You are an alcoholic or depressed or battle with learning disabilities or whatever. Genes may create an environment within us in which a problem may grow, a predisposition, but they do not produce the problem; we produce it through our choices …

Genes have been made out to be responsible for feelings, spirituality, beliefs, even things like the enjoyment of music – all human behavior, to the extent of determining human affairs, human relation ships, and social problems. In fact, genetic predisposition has become entrenched in popular culture to the extent that phrases like ‘she has good genes’ and ‘he was born that way’ are commonplace. This thinking removes choice and accountability from the equation and is scientifically and spiritually inaccurate. You control your genes, your genes do not control you. Genes may determine physical characteristics but not psychological phenomena.

Outstanding research has been done by Dr. Gail Ironson…at the University of Miami. She found that the most significant factor that made a difference in healing for those with HIV was their choice to believe in a benevolent and loving God. Her study ran over four years…those who did not believe God loved them lost T-cells (powerful cells that attack diseases) three times faster, their viral load increased three times faster, and their stress levels were higher, with damaging amounts of cortisol flowing.

Dr. Ironson summarizes her research by saying, “If you believe God loves you, it’s an enormously protective factor, even more protective than scoring low for depression or high for optimism. A view of a benevolent God is protective. But scoring high on the personalized statement ‘God loves me’ is even stronger.” (Dr. Caroline Leaf, Switch on Your Brain, p.51-52).

The newest research is showing that what we choose to believe and say, altars even our genes and DNA. Renewing our mind with the word of God (Rom.12:12) and coming into alignment with what he says  about us and who we are is even more transforming than many of us ever thought – not just at a spiritual or emotional level but even at the core of who we are physically.

It turns out that mind (what we choose to think and act on) has substance that, like the tongue, truly has the power of life or death. Contrary to culture, the newest science is confirming God’s Word at every turn – not making it irrelevant but more relevant that ever. By the way, Dr. Leaf is a strong believer in Jesus as well as being a brilliant researcher.

On a personal note I want to apologize for missing my last two regular blogs. My goal is to post a blog each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but I got to enjoy the inside view of hospital room for five days last week and finally said goodbye to a gall bladder that had been with me for decades. The skies look exceptionally blue and the sun exceptionally bright after being in a hospital room for nearly a week. I few more days at home and then I can get back to the office and a couple of weeks after that I can start playing bad golf again.  My apologies, however, for missing those blogs. The upside is that I’ve had some time to pick up some new reading and I hope that the surgery also cured my slice.

I’ve been looking at a little book or booklet by Graham Cooke entitled “Crafted Prayer.” I like Cooke because he challenges my programmed thinking on things and then I usually end up agreeing with him. In this book he gives us a definition of prayer that is almost counter-intuitive for most believers. How would you define prayer? Most of us have defined prayer as taking a laundry list of needs and concerns to the Father, lifting them up with passion and persistence, and then trying to persuade God to see things our way. Of course, we always throw in a “ Thy Will Be Done” in order to keep from sounding selfish or presumptuous.

Cooke defines it this way: “Prayer is finding out what God wants to do and asking him to do it.” My automatic response to that is, “Well, why ask him to do what he wants to do because he will probably do what he wants to do anyway! I pray to get God to do what I want to do!” That’s honest but the truth comes out that I’m praying to get God to do things my way rather than joining him in what he wants to do.

Remember when Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does” (Jn.5:19-20). That sounds a lot like Cooke’s definition of prayer. His approach is to pray about a situation by asking the Father what he wants to do and then waiting to hear or sense what it is the Father has already determined to do. Then as we pray into that, our prayers release the power and will of the Father into the situation. Remember that our Father wants to do things with us and not just for us.

In addition, it is sometimes important not just to know what God wants to do but how he wants to do it. Naaman, the leper, came to Elisha in search of healing (2 Kings 5). It wasn’t enough for those who loved Naaman to know that God was willing to heal him but they needed to know how God wanted to go about that. In Naaman’s case, seven big dips in the Jordan did the trick. Think of how often Jesus healed people in unique ways: mud on the eyes, spit in the eyes, spit in the ears, in the midst of crowds, leading people to private places, with a word or with a touch. Jesus did not use formulas but healing seemed to be crafted to the needs of the person or to the needs of those near the person. I don’t know that Jesus always knew the “why of the Father” but he knew the what and the how.

The power of Cooke’s definition is that it fits what Jesus modeled for us. It forces us to believe that God is already aware of every issue and already has a solution that is in the best interest of his children. Once we hear from the Lord about what he wants to do, then we know with certainty that we are praying according to his will. Then the only question is when will God pull the trigger on the answer that we are totally assured of.

This approach to prayer challenges us but consider it. If you want to pursue the concept I would encourage you to get Cooke’s book from Brilliant Books at $7.00. Be blessed in Him today and for a start simply ask the Father what he wants you to pray about, wait on the Lord, and then pray for whatever comes to mind that is consistent with the written Word.

See how it feels.

We have just spent my last four blogs looking at Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones. I want to connect that text with prayer. The apostle Paul tells us, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom.15:4, ESV).   In other words, when we study Old Testament scriptures, they have been included so that we might learn something significant for ourselves and our spiritual life. What we learned from Ezekiel 37 is that the Word of God has power to produce life even when it is declared by human tongues.

Too often we have defined prayer as simply asking God to do things we cannot do but there is more. Prayer is also a time for praise and worship, a time for sharing the thoughts of our hearts, a time for asking God what is on his heart, and a time for joining the Father in accomplishing his will by making declarations of faith and authority over people and situations that need his touch.

What is dead or dying in your personal universe? I want to encourage you as part of your prayer life to begin to declare the Word of God over that situation using the very words of Ezekiel crafted to fit your prayer. For instance, let’s say you have a son and daughter-in-law whose marriage is on the verge of failure. You might begin to pray and declare, “Dry bones of Ben and Marie’s marriage… hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to this marriage: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will restore love and life to your marriage and make it live again. I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O Spirit , and breathe into this dying marriage, that it may live.”

Ezekiel tells us that after his declaration of God’s word over the desolation of the valley the following was the result. “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.” Praying and declaring the very word of God over a person or a situation is very powerful. Sometimes results come in a moment but in most instances persistence will be needed.

I want to quote from Dutch Sheets book, Intercessory Prayer, to make this point. “ John Killinger tells about an interesting method used in the past to break a wild steed by harnessing it to a burro. The powerful steed would take off across the range, twisting and bucking, causing the burro to be tossed about wildly. What a sight. The steed would run away, pulling the burro alongside, and they would drop out of sight – sometimes for days. Then they would return, with the proud little burro in charge. The steed had worn himself our, fighting the presence of the burro. When he became too tired to fight anymore, the burro assumed the position of leader. And that’s the way it is many times with prayer. Victory goes to the persistent, not to the angry; to the dedicated, not to those who can provide great demonstrations of emotion and energy. We need committed, determined, systematic prayer, not once on a while fireworks.” It’s not that righteous anger and fireworks aren’t appropriate at times, but consistent, faith-filled, dedicated, on-target prayer wins the battle more often.

I sense that there are a few who read this blog that have given up on a situation of “dry bones” close to them. I want to encourage you to begin again. You know what God’s will is for the situation, so begin to pray and declare God’s word over that situation believing that when God’s word goes forth it fulfills its purpose. Believe. Declare. Persist. We are often thrilled at the exploits of men of faith in the Old Testament as they waded into battle and won great victories against overwhelming odds – David and Goliath, Gideon, Jonathan and his armor bearer, and so forth. These were furious fights that lasted for a few hours or a day. But many other battles (probably most) were won by laying siege to a city, cutting off supply lines, and attacking one section of wall day after day in strategic intervals until it crumbled. Persistent, systematic prayer cuts off the supply lines of the enemy and brings down walls that a furious fight for a few hours can’t topple. Begin again and be blessed in Him.

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 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. (Ezek. 37:1-10)

I want to take a few more lessons from Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones before moving on. This is about God giving life to those things that are dead by all natural measures. In the beginning of Ezekiel’s account, God took him out and led him back and forth through the scene of desolation and then asked him if those bones could live again. Ezekiel had viewed the impossibility from every angle and undoubtedly the natural man would have given these bones no chance to live again. Even acknowledging the sovereignty of God, the natural man would have concluded that if God had wanted these bones to dance again, he would not have let them die in the first place. Death seemed to herald God’s final verdict because, after all, it is given to man once to die and then the judgment. No resurrection. No reincarnation. When a thing dies, it’s time to bury it and move on. It would have been easy for Ezekiel’s reason to come into agreement with that view and if it had, his answer to the Lord’s question would have been, “No way, Jose.”

But Ezekiel did not let the natural man rule the day. In essence his response was, “God, if you want these bones to live again they will because nothing is impossible for you and my faith comes into agreement with that truth rather than what is possible or impossible in the natural.” That is the always the mindset of faith and the mindset that brings victory over the impossible.

Secondly, Ezekiel was told to prophecy over the bones and they would come to life. As he began to prophesy he saw something amazing – bones twitched, moved, and reattached while muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Nothing happened until he began to declare God’s word over the situation and, as he declared it, God’s power was release. Amazing stuff started to happen. I’m certain that Ezekiel’s heart raced and his faith soared. But then it stopped. Everything looked good but when Ezekiel had finished prophesying there was still no life in the bodies. How often have we prayed, gotten excited about something that looked like progress, only to watch it stall out so we decided that our prayer was not going to be answered after all.

However, God told Ezekiel to continue to prophesy but with a different twist. He was no longer commanding bones but the Spirit himself to come and breathe life into these corpses. Sometimes the answer to prayer is a process rather than an event and as the process unfolds we may need to pray or declare with a different emphasis. If we have prayed for God to make an unbelieving husband into a great man of God, our first prayers and declaration must be for the Spirit to birth faith in the man or for the man to have an undeniable encounter with Jesus. After he has come to faith, our prayers or declarations need to change. Salvation is no longer the issue but growth, discipleship, and sanctification.

We need to be sensitive to the process and to ask God what we should be praying for or declaring in the present. Hearing from God in those moments is critical because we may be unaware of the new believer’s greatest need for growth while we pray for something that we perceive as the greatest need. When Ezekiel didn’t see the bones jumping to their feet, he didn’t give up nor did he start declaring what he thought was needed, but waited on the Lord to tell him what was next.

As he declared Part 2 of the prophecy, those bodies began to breathe and stood up as mighty army. God then gave his reasons for raising the dead. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord” (Ezek.37:12-14).

Just because something or someone seems dead and beyond all hope, it doesn’t mean that God is through with the person, the marriage, or the situation. It is in those moments that God shows himself to be the true and living God. Do not come into agreement with unbelief. Do not stop praying and declaring life over someone or something. Keep going, even when progress seems to stall out or ground seems to be lost, and ask God how you need to be praying or what you need to be declaring in at moment of the process. After all, dead bones can live again – just ask Lazarus and, by the way… Jesus.

“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.