March 2012 - Awaken!

The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”  So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”

Again He said to me, “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: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”’”  Ezekiel 37:1-6 (NKJV)

I have been thinking on the theme of “awakening” for a few weeks.  I looked through many Scripture passages thinking about it.  There were many I could have used to bring this pondering to you but I felt lead by our Father to bring this one to you.  It speaks to appearances and circumstances.  It also speaks prophetically to outcomes.  The Word of God released overrides circumstances and brings forth God’s desired outcomes.

I began speaking a series of messages on the implications of the New Covenant.  I felt lead to do this because I believe we have to awaken to God’s prophetic outcomes.  If we are to become the church that God intends us to be, if you are to become the fully alive Christian that Jesus intends you to be, if we are to have the impact on our community that Father intends us to have, then we have to receive the Word spoken to us and over us completely, gladly and without reservation.  What He intends for us is not what we are living—can we be satisfied with less?

Ezekiel 37 is so appropriate for us.  Many circumstances in our church and in our individual lives would say that the promise of God is never to be fulfilled.  Even where that Word has been effective, it may have only been partially so.  Ezekiel prophesied as commanded by God, and yet the breath did not come until after him prophesying a second time.  We need to continue to speak God’s Word and words over ourselves and our church.  I truly believe we are becoming what has been prophesied over us.  Don’t sleep waiting for the day to come, for the day is upon us.  Awaken!!!