Powered to speak

In Ezekiel 37, we find the account of the valley of dry bones. In the scripture, we read "The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army." 

In these verses, we see where the Lord asked the prophet Ezekiel if the dry bones could live. He answered and said to the Lord that only He knew. The Lord then said to Ezekiel two separate times to prophesy to the bones and to the wind. What would have happened if Ezekiel had not prophesied?

While we will never know the what if of that statement, we leave it up to the what if every day. The Lord asks us to speak or do something and we sit back asking "Is that really you, God? If it is, give me a sign." All throughout the Old Testament, the prophets spoke that which God asked them to say. The donkey of Ballam even spoke when he was empowered by God. That empowerment has not changed. The gift of prophecy has not changed.

Joel 2:28-29 says, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit." On the day of Pentecost, when the 120 were gathered in the upper room, scripture says in Acts 2:1-4, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." 

God used the prophets in the Old Testament but He has chosen us to be His voice today. When we surrender ourselves to Him, repenting of our sins, being baptized in Jesus name and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, He empowers us to speak. So open your mouth and let the word of the Lord come forth.

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