Crack open Ezekiel 37 for a minute. It reads:

The hand of the LORD was upon me,

Friends, we want the Lord’s hand to be upon us. We must ask for this in prayer, consistently. It shows humility and dependence.

and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.

He chooses our seats. The place where you currently are, He allowed. And sometimes, it’s flat-out weird.

And he led me around among them,

Whoa, hold it right there. It’s one thing to see something strange in the distance. But to walk amidst it?! To be led by the Lord to get right in the belly of this thing? Shiver!

and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.

If they are on the surface, you can see all of them. They weren’t partially buried. They were fully exposed. Enough that he could tell how dried out they are. As you look in the mirror, can you tell how dried out you are? Can I?

And he said to me,

I never take for granted when God speaks to me. It’s so sweet, so personal, so intense.

“Son of man, can these bones live?”

God, of course, is asking good questions. Sounds just like Jesus. I love good questions. Questions direct our focus. Why did he ask this? Was he testing Ezekiel? Or was he directing his focus? If I’m Ezekiel, I’m not wondering if the bones can live. I’m wondering what happened here, who did it, and what hidden meaning there can be in this strange circumstance. But God wanted Ezekiel to look where He was looking. God intended to bring the dead to life. Something unexpected. Something good. Something utterly miraculous.

And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.”

Ok, Ezekiel, that’s a safe answer. Not a lot of faith on the surface of that answer. It’s a good Sunday school answer. “Jesus!”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

WHAT!? Can you imagine hearing this? Now, creation didn’t happen this way. Or did it. I mean, we know that God took a bone from Adam and fashioned Eve. And we know there was the breath of God mentioned. So it’s almost like He’s creating again.

So I prophesied as I was commanded.

Ezekiel obeyed. That’s what God is after. Obedience pleases God.

And as I prophesied, there was a sound,

YES! Now, we don’t always sense an immediate response, change, or shift. But it would be biblical to expect it. Remember the whole, “say to the mountain…and it will be thrown into the sea” thing? Life or death are in our tongue.

and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.

Even Jesus had to pray more than once, at least that one time in Gethesemane or with the blind man who was healed "in stages." He was probably just making us feel better and encouraging us to keep praying when we don’t immediately see something change. Like, it's ok to pray the same thing more than once. To contend. Or as Jesus says, “ask and keep on asking...”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”

I don’t fully understand this. But we know that when there’s no breath, there’s no life. And God knows what is needed to bring life, so whatever He says to say, we say.

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

An exceedingly great army. Just let those words sink in. Say them slowly under your breath. As we speak and sing what God commands us to speak and sing, what is needed to complete God’s purpose in our lifetime will show up. As many as are needed, as much as is needed, as great as is needed. He will provide. His voice (that breaks the cedars) commands it.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’

Have we not felt that? Dried up? Hopeless? Left alone? We need the perspective and voice of the Lord.

Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.”

Filled with the Holy Spirit of God, fully alive, and at home! But right now, if I’m honest, although I very much like this idea, I don’t know if I can do it for my life. It’s so hard, standing in a valley of dry bones, differed hopes, long dreams, challenges, exhaustion. BUT in Jesus’ name and strength, I will!

You might wonder what it means to “prophesy.” According to the Strongs concordance, to prophesy means “to speak or sing by inspiration.” Here's my little memory trick. Until I just looked this up, I never knew the difference between the noun and the verb. The noun is spelled prophecy, with a c. But the verb to prophesy is spelled with an s, because you say or sing it. Hence the s.

I don’t know why they included the singing part, but I love it!

Here’s the takeaway: We have thoughts all the time that God is NOT having about us and our lives. Identify them, shoot them down like an Iranian nuclear site (too soon?), and then ask God what to say or sing (to prophesy) over your life, your family, your team, your church, your work, your world. And watch the life come back into everything He desires!

-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)

ps. On Sunday, I preached a message on this… in Spanish. You can listen below.

Skeletons In Your (Head) Closet (Nº 437)

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