On Sunday there was a prophetic word in our church service based on Ezekiel 37 about dreams that had died. We have all had ambitions, plans, visions, dreams about what we hoped to achieve, but oftentimes the harsh realities of life have robbed us of these dreams and we’ve given up on them. However, God was saying to us that He wanted to revive some of those dreams we thought had died. But let’s get to the Scripture…
When God speaks to Ezekiel, the nation of Israel is in exile in a foreign country as slaves of their captors. Their home country lies desolate with few inhabitants and the capital city Jerusalem has been demolished. The temple – the focal point of their religious life, has been destroyed by fire. The dreams of the nation had died. Whilst they are crippled and immobilized by their hopeless situation, God shows Ezekiel an amazing vision of a valley of dry bones and gives them the promise that he will return them to their homeland.
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 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. 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. (Eze 37:1-10)
Perhaps as you consider your circumstances, they look like a valley of dry bones – there is little hope of revival. But God is asking you to consider the question, “Can these bones live?”. Maybe you're tempted to be like Ezekiel who casts the ball back into God’s court and says “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” But despite Ezekiel’s non-committal answer, God nevertheless chooses to use him in the process of reviving the dream; He tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, to speak to them and say, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord… I will make breath enter into you and you will come to life…
Just as God chose to use Ezekiel as an agent in the process of reviving the dream, so I believe God wants to use both your words and mine as powerful expressions of faith which release the very power of God. The Scripture tells us that, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue… (Pro 18:21NKJV)”. We need to speak life over our dead dreams if they are to be resurrected. God is a “God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” (Rom 4:17) We need to operate the way God does – not speaking death and negativity, but life and opportunity.
This prophetic word spoke very directly and specifically to me because I have been fighting a bone cancer called “Multiple Myeloma” for the past 5 years. Doctors deem it to be “treatable but incurable”. So just as God asked Ezekiel the question, “…can these bones live?” I felt He directed the same question to me about my medical condition asking, “Philip, can these bones live?” I’ve thought about it, and yes I believe they can, so my new mantra is, “These bones can live!” The other day whilst exercising in the gym I was speaking to my bones, speaking breath and new life into them. Speaking cleansing of cancer and new wholeness and health into them. Some may see this as a foolish, fruitless exercise, but I believe that faith needs to express itself and that one of the ways it does so is through words. It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, (2Co 4:13)
No matter what dream seems to have died, I want to encourage you today to start speaking it back to life again. Listen to the Holy Spirit as He gives you further instructions on how to prophesy into your situation. Perhaps there will be some practical steps you will need to take to get things back on track? Two things I know about God are that He loves you and that He has great plans for your life.
God bless. You can catch me on my website: www.philiprobson.co.za
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