Tag Archives: valley of dry bones

December 20, 2022 · 5:43 AM

Reviving Your Future

I shared with a friend recently about a time in my life when I had lost all hope. My dreams were over, my future was shot and anything that was important to me seemed to be leaving my life. It was a dangerous place to be. With no hope and dead dreams, my mind began to devise plans that were no good and would put me in prison the rest of my life. I remember thinking, “What does it matter if I go to prison? I have nothing to live for outside of it.” Fortunately God broke through in that time. He sent word to me from someone I didn’t know. He said, “What looks like an end is really a beginning. You are not alone. I’m with you. Where I am taking you, you will experience more joy than you’ve ever known.” In that moment, hope returned and my future was revived.

In Ezekiel 37, Israel had been captives in Babylon for a long time. They had given up hope of returning to their homeland. Their future seemed dead as they looked at their current situation. That’s when God took Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones. God asked him if the bones could live again. I’m sure in his mind, he was thinking there was no way, but he responded that only God knows. God had him prophesy and speak life into these dry bones that represented Israel’s future. Suddenly the bones started rattling and coming together. Sinew and muscles wrapped around the bones and then flesh. An entire army of people stood before him that came to life when he spoke to the four winds to breathe into them. Then in verse 11 God said, “Mortal man, the people of Israel are like these bones. They say that they are dried up, without any hope and with no future” (GNT). He then revived their future by promising to take them out of captivity and back home.

Lamentations 3:21-26 says, “Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing: The Lord’s unfailing love and mercy still continue, Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope. The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him, So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us.” If you’re feeling hopeless today, hope can and will return when you remember that God sees you and will move on your behalf. Your future is in His hands, not yours or anyone else’s. He take ends and makes beginnings. He make rivers in the desert. Begin speaking to your dry bones and ask God to bring your future back to life. Dreams you thought were dead can live again. A hopeless future can be full of life again. You may not think it now, but God knows it. Wait with patience and trust in Him, then the future He has for you will revive.

Photo by Marta S. on Unsplash

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February 14, 2022 · 5:46 AM

Awakening Your Gifts

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

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October 21, 2019 · 5:55 AM

Reviving Dead Dreams

At a young age I felt like I was called into ministry. I began preparing and practicing, but honestly I was afraid of it. It was a dream that was in front of me, but the older I got, the further into the future this dream seemed to go. Then in a single day, the dream died. I went through a divorce that couldn’t be avoided. The denomination I was a part of at the time had a rule back then that you couldn’t be a minister if you were divorced. I was devastated by both the divorce and the fact that I could never be in ministry. All my life had been pointing to the dream of ministry and it was gone. Not only was I having to start life over, I was lost without a dream to guide me. That is until a friend told me,”Do you really think that man can negate God’s calling?”

In Ezekiel 37, God showed Ezekiel a valley of very dry bones. I imagine it was quite a sight to see. Dead people’s bones were scattered everywhere and there were none connected together I’m sure. As God showed him all these bones, He asked him a question in verse 3. “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” (NLT) You and i both know that humanly it impossible for them to be brought back to life, but that’s not how Ezekiel answered. Instead of stating the obvious, he replied, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know the answer to that.” At that answer, God told him to speak to those bones and prophesy to them to come alive and live again. Just like that the bones all came together and were covered with flesh. Then he was told to speak and prophesy the breath of life back into them and they became a living army.

You may be where I was once in feeling like your calling or the dream God gave you is dead and in the past. It doesn’t matter whether it’s anything you’ve done, someone has done to you or if it’s from not going after it in time. Man, including yourself, cannot take away God’s promises, nor His plan for your life. You may be looking at a valley of the dead bones of your dreams today, but God can make them live again. Speak to your dream. Speak life into it. If God has placed it in you, it will happen no matter what things look like today. Be like Ezekiel when you’re looking at what seems dead. Don’t pronounce that it can’t live again. Let God answer that question and watch Him begin to bring the pieces back together again.

Photo by Travis Grossen on Unsplash

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July 7, 2015 · 6:41 AM

Nothing Is Final

Because of a recent death in the family, I had to try to explain death to my 4 year old. He wanted to know why people were crying. I told him, “Her husband went to Heaven to be with Jesus.” He then asked, “When is he coming back?” I said, “Never. Once you go to Heaven, you don’t come back. That’s why she’s sad.” As soon as I said those words, I heard God say, “What about Lazarus? What about Jarius’s daughter? What about the widow’s son that Elisha brought back?” He was right. Death is not always final. 

A few days later, God took me to Ezekiel 37. In it, He led Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones. The people the bones belonged to had been long gone. In verse two, Ezekiel wrote that the bones were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then God asked a question, “Can these bones become living people again?” I’m sure Ezekiel thought like I did as he looked at that valley. He didn’t want to say, “No” because he was talking to God and knew anything was possible with Him. So he replied, “You alone know that.”

Knowing he thought it was impossible, God spoke to him and told him, “Speak to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with ski I will put breath in you and you will come to life.” Ezekiel didn’t question God. He spoke to the scattered bones and they came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then muscles and flesh covered them. Finally God had Ezekiel speak life into them so they could live again.

God showed Ezekiel and us that nothing is impossible for Him. We can look at loved ones who have died and think they are gone forever, but God has the final word. We can look at relatives who don’t know Christ as their savior and think they’ll never come to know Him. We can think of the dreams we had for our lives and feel like they’ve died because of our decisions or what life has thrown at us. We can look at any scenario in our life and see what once was, but will be no more and think it’s over. When we think something is permanently gone, we underestimate God’s power.

God looks at us and asks, “Can these dry bones live again?” We know in our hearts the answer is, “No” until we remember who God is. There is no dream, calling, family member or anything else too dead and gone that God can’t resurrect. He is the God who gives life. He is the one who can turn a dead end into a new beginning. He can make a river in the desert. There is nothing impossible for Him. If He spoke it to you, it will come to life. You have to stand over the valley of the impossible and speak what God tells you. You have to believe that what He promised, He will do. Your dreams can be broken, scattered, dried out and dead, and God can speak life to it. Nothing is final until God says it is.

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