Category: When All Else Failed – Ezekiel

Ezekiel 37:14 (NIV) – “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.”

The Holy Spirit gives us the power to live resurrectionally. He sees that God’s promise becomes our reality…because when God speaks, life happens! But only complete surrender will take us into this reality and God’s miracle of resurrection of the dead bones we are yearning for. Complete surrender is the prelude to resurrection of the dead bones of our broken dreams and unmet goals.

Out of surrender comes a life that speaks God’s word boldly and powerfully. It’s a renewed life that lives resurrectionally and speaks into the valleys around us until bones have come alive. We can have a brand-new life today that prophetically lives and fearlessly speaks of the “God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not” (Rom 4:17).

Let’s worship by singing the song, “Won’t Stop Now” by Elevation Worship and then close in prayer. (Click Here)

Prayer: Lord, empower our churches and campus ministries to live prophetically and proclaim to those in the valley of dry bones around us, “Come alive in Christ.” We need your miracles. Fill us with courage and love to enter the valleys around us and live Spirit-filled and available to you, “…the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”

– TR

Ezekiel 37:9-10 (NIV) – 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, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

“His Spirit is the author of the preparation ration and then of the propitious [or favorable] infilling. Complete surrender is the prelude to resurrection of the dead bones of our broken dreams and unmet goals.” – L.J. Ogilvie, When You Need A Miracle

Following the surrender of confession and repentance comes resurrection, and in that resurrection reality comes life to the full. Life full of the Spirit. As we encounter the presence of God, as the Holy Spirit pours into us our lives, only his word can speak into the valleys…only his promise that dry bones can live will actually become reality.

Prayer: Teach us the way of surrender so that we can know you more and see you do what only you can do. For it’s not by our might or by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord that the miracles we need happen. Holy Spirt, move in power in our lives today so that our dry bones come to life again for your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship by singing the song, “Your Love Never Fails” by Jesus Culture. (Click Here)

– TR

John 11:25-26 (NIV) – “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”  

Let’s remember afresh today that the present resurrection reality comes to us because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus died that we might be forgiven. Jesus rose from death so that in his resurrection our death and dry bone valleys no longer control how we live. In him we are raised to a new life. Jesus offers us the promise of a new life for our spiritually dead and dried up bones of a life. And through him we are given the Spirit-filled power to make it happen.

“Resurrection to a life filled with his Spirit promises the transformation of our heart and our total being. God not only gets us out of our graves of powerlessness and dead living, He also gives us the power to live with freedom and joy as new people.” – Lloyd John Ogilvie, When You Need a Miracle: Experiencing the Power of the God of the Impossible

Prayer: Jesus, we thank you for dying on the cross for us so that our sin and struggles are not the valley we remain in. Thank you for raising us up with you in your resurrection so that we can live Spirit-filled lives with freedom and joy as a new people. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship by singing the song, “One And Only Jesus” by Vertical Worship. (Click Here)

– TR

Ezekiel 37:1-3 (NIV) – The hand of the LORD was on 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. ² 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. 
³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”

“The question is never whether God has the power to do something but rather if He wills to do it. When God is referred to as omnipotent, it means He has all the power He needs to accomplish whatever He desires in accordance with His holiness. By what he has seen and heard from God over the past 12 years, Ezekiel knows God can raise these bones.” – Landon Dowden, Exalting Jesus in Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s response was one of surrender and willingness for God to have his way. God invites us into his same question about our ‘valleys’ and dry bone circumstances. “Can these bones live?” How we answer that question matters.

Prayer: Lord, lead us and help us see what you see. Grant us soft and surrendered hearts to your plans and purposes so that the dry bones in our lives will begin to rattle and align with You. We trust you for the miracle we need today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship by singing the song, “Dry Bones” by Worship Central. (Click Here).

– TR

Let’s read aloud together the following Scripture and prayer:

Ephesians 1:3-7 (NLT)
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. ⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. ⁶ So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. ⁷ He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

“A Collect for Guidance” from The Common Book of Prayer
“O heavenly Father, in whom we live and move and have our
being: We humbly pray thee so to guide and govern us by thy
Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life
we may not forget thee, but may remember that we are ever
walking in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Let’s worship by singing the song, “O This God” by Matt Redman (Click here).

– TR