Revival in the Valley of Dry Bones

  

Ezekiel 37 (New American Standard)

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley ; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley ; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live ?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." 4 Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.' 5 "Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 'I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive ; and you will know that I am the LORD.' " 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded ; and as I prophesied, there was anoise, and behold, a rattling ; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to thebreath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.""' 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Spiritual collapse places us in the "Valley of Dry Bones," a situation in which we experience hopelessness and helplessness. God, however, has provided a way out.

We must be willing to listen to the Word of God. When in a "dry place," a place of no hope and no apparent answer to life's dilemmas, we must accept God's Word that begins the process of deliverance from disorder.

We must be willing to respond in obedience to the Word of God. It is our willingness to act on what is spoken by God that continues this deliverance from our "dry bones" state of existence.

We must be sensitive to the movement of God's Spirit. God's Word gives us order, but the Spirit gives life. The Holy Spirit provides the power to bring the truth of God's Word to fruition.

When we hear of despairing situations in our nation, state, city and personal lives, are we listening to the prophetic Word of God, or do we have our own agendas?

Once we connect the Word of Truth with God's Spirit, we can be delivered out of our hopeless situation and experience revival.~ Alternative View

I know that God is ready to do something amazing in our midst.  The question is, are we ready to sacrifice things to experience revival?  We all say that we want an out pouring from God onto our lives, but we don't give Him the time needed to give us what we ask!

 So many times our prayers sound like this:" Lord please give us an out pouring of your spirit". "Bring revival to your people".  After these prayers, we go back to life as we know it and nothing changes. 

Is it because God does not want change in our lives?  NO!!    It is because we want all that God can give us , and do for us, without giving Him anything in return! Why won't the church respond to a call of prayer? Why won't we sacrifice our time to work in a ministry that God is calling us to? Why are we consumed with ourselves, instead of others?

If we truly want revival, we will start being obedient to the word of God. We will listen to what the WORD has to say to us. We will be sensitive to God's spirit moving among us. If these "dry bones" will live again, it will be because we sacrificed things to allow God to move in our lives.

Lastly, let's all pray that God will reveal to us the things in our lives that prevent the spirit from moving. We should all pray that God would show us the things that keep us from a deeper relationship with Him. 

Are we willing to give things up in our lives, in order to let God REVIVE us?