If you read my previous blog about being a baker, you know that I’ve been struggling a little bit. I feel like it’s Week 9 out of the 10 weeks of camp. I feel like I am on lap 3 out of the 4 laps in the mile run in track. This is where I have been at, coming into Month 8. I’m tired. Some days, I’m just ready to be done. Finished. Across the finish line of this Race. It’s an amazing journey, but not an easy one.
The other day as I was feeling the weight of things, feeling just downright heavy, Jesus showed me a powerful picture. During my quiet time, He put Ezekiel 36 and 37 on my heart. I went and read the passage and was overwhelmed at what I saw.
I read the passage on the Valley of Dry Bones and I saw them. I literally saw them.
There was a vast valley and it was full. The valley was full of bones, of dryness, of death. And there I was. I was there. I was laying in them! In the bones! I was alive, clothed with skin and clothes- completely fine and normal, full of life- but yet there I was- laying in the bones among them.
Jesus said- Look. This is you. You are able. You are completely fine. You have all you need, but look where you are. You have everything you need, but yet you’re laying there as if you don’t.
RISE. GET UP. This is not who you are. YOU HAVE MY BREATH AND MY LIFE WITHIN YOU.
Whoh.
“I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules…And I will deliver you…” // Ezekiel 36:24-29
“Abba- clean this mess that I am. I am such a mess. I am selfish. I am rude. I am self-righteous. I am prideful. I seek approval from others. I seek fulfillment and hope in things other than You. God so many things and more; I am just a mess. Cleanse me. Abba I need this heart of flesh. Turn it back again from this stone.”
I have all I need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). The Word says it. Jesus showed me. I guess sometimes- it almost seems easier to just lay there among the bones. When I am so exhausted and tired. It almost seems like a better option to lie down and just hang out in the bones.
Then I see it. THIS IS NOT WHO I AM. I am not dead. I have LIFE. I not only have life, but THE Breath of Life living within me!! I have the power that rose Christ from the DEAD living within me!!!
How COULD I choose to lay in the bones, in the dry bones, in the lifeless pit?! How could I?
Then- He also reminded me {WHY I AM HERE}.
“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and he set me down in the middle of the valley, it was FULL of bones. And HE LED ME around AMONG THEM and behold, there were VERY MANY on the surface of the valley, and behold they were very dry. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ 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.” // Ezekiel 37:1-5
This is why I am here. He has placed me among the bones. He has led me to them, but not to lay there with them- to call THEM TO RISE! TO CALL THEM TO LIFE! He says He has led me AMONG the bones.
I am then faced with a choice: I can choose to lay there with them or I can choose to live RISEN, calling OTHERS- THE DRY BONES- TO LIFE!
He says there are many- many dry and dead bones, much work to be done. I’ve decided to RISE, to GET BACK UP. The Father has once again opened my eyes to sweet truth and powerful purpose. He’s shown me where I have been choosing to lay, that that’s not who I am, the breath that I have within me, and the power I have to call others to awaken and rise for His name’s sake! I’m choosing to rise out of the bones in His ability that is within me, for the sake of dry bones around me in this world and for the glory of the One who gives me breath to live!
Where are you at, friend? Are you yourself dry bones; have you been breathed into by the Father- being brought to LIFE? Are you alive with His breath, but are laying in the bones as I was because sometimes it seems like the easiest and safest route? Or are you living as you were intended to live within the dry bones, among them, and through His power calling them to LIFE?
RISE.
{Your name, Your name is victory. All praise will rise to Christ our King. Your name, Your name is victory. All praise will rise to Christ our King.
By Your Spirit I will rise from the ashes of defeat. The resurrected King is resurrecting me. In Your name I come alive to declare Your victory.
The resurrected King is resurrecting me.} /// Elevation Worship
