If you’ve ever smoked meat, getting a fire going and maintaining it is critical. Because it’s been a colder than normal winter for us, dried out wood has become difficult to find. The wood I purchased was still somewhat green, which made it difficult to keep burning. I found myself blowing on it, stoking it and doing everything possible to keep it going. It reminded me of one of my pastor’s recent sermons using 2 Timothy 1:6. Paul told Timothy to fan into flames the gifts that were given to him. As I’ve been fanning my gifts into flame, God has been reawakening gifts and promises that I thought were dead.
In Ezekiel 37, God takes Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones of people who had been dead a long time. In verse 3 God asked, “Can these bones become living people again?” (NLT) I’m sure Ezekiel was bewildered by the question knowing the answer, but also wondering why God was asking. Wisely he responded, “You alone know the answer to that.” God then told him to prophesy to those bones of what God was going to do. Ezekiel did it and the bones, sinews, muscles and flesh came back together. God wasn’t asking Ezekiel to bring them to life though. He was simply asking him to have enough faith to speak to them to come alive.
Romans 11:29 says, “For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” That means that the gifts He’s given you are still yours. They may look dry and feel dead, but God has not taken them from you no matter what you’ve done. In an act of faith, you need to speak to them, stir them up and fan them into flame once again. God is wanting us to be prepared for the coming of His Son. He is looking for a Church that is ready. It’s time to revisit those promises and gifts. It’s time to start operating in them and using them. Don’t look at them with your human eyes. Look at them with the faith of Ezekiel and call them back to life. What looks dead and gone is ready to come alive.
Photo by Ihor Malytskyi on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 
Amen 🙏