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pastorjesufigueroa |
My transition from December
2015 to January 2016 was very rough. It was full of unpleasant situations which I had in successions. I became completely overwhelmed. Not discouraged,
thanks to the teaching of Rev. Sam earlier in the year which had adequately prepared me and taught me
what to do in tough times and to some wonderful friends who kept
encouraging and checking up on me. But I must confess that there is a thin line
between overwhelming situations and discouragement because the devil is always
around the corner, behind our ears whispering how God had failed us, flagging
and displaying all those unpleasant situations we are passing
through as evidences of God's unfaithfulness. He is always there taunting and
reminding us that God had not paid off. Anyone who have had this
experience will agree with me that it is not easy fighting to hold on to God's
faithfulness inspite of all the unfavorable situations around.
Well, this was the state
I was in when God in His infinite grace and mercy led me to Ezekiel 37:1-10. Let's take a journey through it together.
Hopeless situation
Ezekiel 37:1-3
God led Ezekiel in the spirit to a valley which was full of bones.
Valleys signifies a low and a hidden place where nobody sees us. Dry bones on
the other hand signifies all the hopeless and unpleasant experiences of our lives.
This was the type of situation prophet Ezekiel found himself, completely hopeless case. The bones were not
only dry but in a valley. How hopeless can this case be. Some of us
are in such hopeless state right now where there seems to be no way out. We are
like prophet Ezekiel who cannot boldly say whether the dry bones could live again
even after God asked him. We do not want to doubt the power of God and at the
same time too uncertain to believe our situations have any solution. So we console
ourselves by answering like Ezekiel did: "O Lord God you know," Ezekiel 37:3b NKJV
Prophesy
Ezekiel 37:4-10
With this story of the
dry bones I have come to learn that before God there is no hopeless situation.
All of our difficult situations can be turned around to testimonies if we can
PROPHESY!!!!!! God is omnipotent and He wants to be involved in our lives if we
can open our mouth and prophesy. He said to Ezekiel in verse 4: "prophesy
upon these bones and say unto them, o ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord."
Let's take a closer look at this particular verse.
1. God's Instruction:
God Instructed Ezekiel
to prophesy if he wants to see the dry bones come alive again. If we must see
results in our lives we too must hid God's instruction to Prophesy!!!! Prophecy
simply means saying what God had said or is saying regarding any situation of
our lives. This has to do with opening our mouths and speaking directly to that
situation. Do you know that your tongue carries power? Proverbs 18:21 says
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it
shall eat the fruit thereoff." Just as God created the world with His
words, you can also create your world with your words. That is how powerful
your tongue is. Will you draw life with it or death? The choice is completely
yours. Jesus also encouraged us to speak to our mountains. It is time to start
speaking out. It is time to look at our mountains and difficult situations in
the face and prophesy!! Remember it is an instruction from God Almighty.
Have you taken out time
to hear God’s instruction regarding your difficult situation? God’s instruction
to Ezekiel was to prophesy. What instruction is God giving you. It might be to
make a phone call to someone, it might be to visit someone, it might be to sow
a seed towards a project or fast and pray. Whatever the case may be, take time
to listen to God’s instruction and obey it.
2. Dry Bones Can Hear:
By now I believe we all
know what I mean by dry bones. Am happy to let you know that our difficult
situations can HEAR!!!!! If not God would not have told Ezekiel to say to the
dry bones: "O ye dry bones H-E-A-R the word of the Lord" verse 4 Everything in life
can hear because everything was created by the WORD from the very beginning.
Every miracles Jesus did in His time here on earth, were through the word. Remember how He
spoke to the storm, raised Lazarus from the dead, opened the deaf
ears and blind eyes? We can go on and on. So stop murmuring, stop complaining
and announcing your predicament to the whole world. Instead look at those
problems and prophesy!!! They can HEAR!!
3. Speak the Word:
John 1:1 says: " In
the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was
God". The only language our
mountains and difficult situations understands is the WORD OF GOD. And if God is the word as written in John 1:1, then it only implies that only God can move our mountains. And
just as God needed Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones, God also needs us to
prophesy and speak His word to our situations. Why did God not speak to the dry
bones Himself? Or can’t he? Of course He can, but He won’t. Having completed
the work of creation, He gave us the mandate to continue. If you will ever see
any new thing or miracle in your life, you have to create it by your words.
Just like He did in the beginning.
This is not as easy
as it sounds because to speak the word of God effectively you must have access
to the word and to have access to the word you must be born again. Meaning that
you must have accepted Jesus as your Lord and personal Saviour. That's the first step. The next step is to locate all the verses
of the scriptures relating to the situations you are passing through. You need
to write them out and begin to confront your situations with them.
For example if you are
battling with sickness and diseases, you can start to confess Isaiah 53:5 to the sickness. For financial difficulties, you can confess
2corinthians 8:9. Locate the relevant scripture verses pertaining to your
situation. If you believe and confess these scriptures religiously,
consistently and in faith coupled with a holy life, before you know it you will begin to see
results and all those mountains will move into the sea in Jesus name. God will
always honor His word. You will see results just like Ezekiel did in verses 7-10. Any time you feel the pain,
confess the word. Anytime you are in a fix financially, confess the word. Now
it does not matter how many times you do this, just do it all the time you face
any obstacle or feel any pain, do it until you see result. DON'T GIVE UP!!
PROPHESY!!! However this has to be backed up with a life of Holiness and complete obedience to His word.
I pray in the mighty name of Jesus
that as you put all these into practise, there will be a noise and a shaking.
Dry bones will begin to come together, bone to bone in Jesus mighty name.
Sinews, flesh and skin will cover them and the Zoe breath of God will make them
come alive again and they shall become an exceeding great army in the mighty
name of Jesus. Remain blessed in Jesus mighty name. Amen. Shalom.