“And I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live. I will place you in your own land, and you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken. I will do it, declares the Lord.”
– Ezekiel 37:14
I love this chapter, Ezekiel 37, this valley of dry bones, and this picture we see of Ezekiel speaking the word of God, and as the word of God is spoken the power of the spirit of God taking that word and bringing life to that which was totally dead.
What a powerful image. You’ve got all these dry bones, and dead bones, and all of a sudden they come to life with bodies. How? By the word and the spirit of God. This is the story of every single follower of Jesus. There was a day you and I were dead in our sins. Not kind of dead. Not partly dead, whatever that might mean. We were dead. We were dry bones, and somebody spoke God’s word and the power of God’s spirit took that word and opened your eyes, my eyes to Jesus.
Ezekiel 37:14 Tells Us What Happens at Conversion
We believed, and we came to live with a new heart and a new spirit. This is the story of every follower of Jesus. Praise God for the power of his word and his spirit in your life. And so, let’s live in it. Let’s live in the word, and live in step with his spirit. Today, may this be our lives. Let’s just pray this, God we pray that you would help us to meditate on your word all day today, to live according to what’s in it, knowing there’s power in your word for life to the full, and in your spirit, God, we want to live in the power of your spirit today.
God, I pray that over single person listening to this who knows you, whose been awakened by your spirit. Your spirit is inside of them. They have a new heart. They’ve come to life. God, help them, God, help me to live in the fullest of this life, in the fullness of your spirit. We pray for the fruit of your spirit in our life, for love, and joy, and peace, and patience, and kindness, and goodness, and faithfulness, and gentleness, and self control just flow from us.
Ezekiel 37:14 Leads Us to Pray for the Power of the Spirit to Be Witnesses
We pray for the power of your spirit to be witnesses today. God, we pray that you would speak the gospel today in the power of your spirit, and that we would not live natural lives today in the flesh, that we would live spiritual lives today walking in step with your spirit in all we do. God, we pray that as we share the gospel, your word and the power of your spirit that you would bring people to life. The thought that today we might see dead bones live as we share the gospel with somebody that, God, may it be so.
Give us bones to speak the gospel with confidence that by the power of your spirit we can see the dead come to life. May it be so around us, God, around the world. God, we pray for people who are spreading the gospel on the front lines of unreached people. God, we pray that dead bones would come to life today. God, we pray that today, for the Moro Joloano Tausug people of the Philippines.
Praying for the Unreached in the Philippines
God, for these 1.4 million people who have known followers of Jesus, this Muslim people group in the southern Philippines, God we pray that you would bring them to life and you would cause somebody, even maybe one of us, to go to this people group to proclaim your word and the power of your spirit, and you would bring them from death to life.
God, we pray that it be so. We pray that you would strengthen the Pilipino church toward that end, cause laborers to go out into that harvest field from anywhere in the world, God, to go and to see dead bones live. God, we praise you for this reality in our lives, and we pray you’re going to help us to live in it to the full today, and to lead others to life by your word and your spirit. In Jesus’s name, we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
