Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Bones & Breath; It's an Inside Job

Tuesday, May 22, 2018
The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones.  He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor.  They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out.  Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”  “O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”  Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord!  This is what the Sovereign Lord says:  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 skin.  I will put breath into you, and you will come to life.  Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”  So I spoke this message, just as he told me.  Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley.  The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons.  Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones.  Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.  Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man.  Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:  Come, O breath, from the four winds!  Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”  So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies.  They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.  Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel.  They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone.  Our nation is finished.’  Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:  O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel.  When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the Lord.  I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land.  Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said.  Yes, the Lord has spoken!’”  Ezekiel 37: 1-14(NLT)
That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.  Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said.  As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side.  They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!  Again he said, “Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”  Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven.  If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” 
John 20:19-23(NLT)
These two texts, Ezekiel’s vision and the appearance of Jesus to His disciples after the resurrection, are not at all about bones or ghosts…they’re all about the breath of God!  Genesis tells us that when God created humankind they were nothing until God breathed the breath of life into them.  That is a simple fact; our Creator is the author, giver, and sustainer of all life.  If He decides the next breath will not be available to you or me…that’s it…game over! 
When Jesus breathed on his disciples it was an outward demonstration of the beginning of the indwelling experience of God in mankind.  It’s all about the breath, the life of God in us, and God working out his purposes through us. 
The life of God is an inside job!
And that was the whole point for both Israel and the disciples.  Both thought it was all over…the end…turn out the lights and go home.  Israel thought they were toast as a nation.  Yet God revived that nation just in this past century.  The disciples had seen Jesus beaten, nailed to a tree, and then buried.  Talk about game-over!  But now he breathed on them, and the breath of new life was filling their inner being with the power of God to build the Kingdom.
As Yogi Berra always said:  It ain’t over till it’s over!
For You Today
Is your church a just a mere bag of bones compared to what it used to be? 
Do you look at that person in the mirror and wonder where the time and strength have gone? 
Perhaps you’re looking too much on the outside.  Remember…where God is concerned, it’s always an inside job!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 
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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy Pixabay.com (bones) and Pixabay.com (breath)




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