30 Thoughts prompted by Bones

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Thought 19

Jeremiah 20:9

But if I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

Here we see Jeremiah overcome by the need to speak out what the Lord has given him. Praise God that again today He is raising up prophets who speak out for Him, but we are all called to speak out the word of the Lord in our own circumstances.

Do we need to be bolder in our churches as well as in our homes? Are we hearing God speak and getting “on fire” for Him? Are we being obedient in what He tells us to do and say? As we do that the Fire of the Holy Spirit will become more evident and lead us to be changers of society today.

Pray for God to give you the right words to say and the confidence to say them. Pray for Holy Spirit fire to burn in your bones.

Praise God for His love for those around you, and ask Him to give you a touch of the same.

Thought 20

Matthew 23:27

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.

Jesus rarely had a nice word for the Pharisees and teachers of His day. What do you think He would say to church leaders today? What is He saying to you today? He really insulted those people who thought they knew it all. The message for us is the same as it was for them. What is on the inside is much more important than what we see on the outside.

What does Jesus see in your heart?

Pray for the Lord to purify you by His Spirit from the inside out, and give you a new heart. (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Praise God for His loving words to you. Remember that He does not condemn you. (Romans 8:1) Praise Him that He is purifying His church.

Thought 21

Ezekiel 37:1-2

The hand of the LORD was upon 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. 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.

Ezekiel had already had many visions with the Lord, but I ask myself if this was one of the weirdest. It must have been a strange place to be walking. Do you suppose it felt like the valley of the shadow of death that David talks about? (Psalm 23) The only picture we get is that the bodies had been dead for a long time, the bones were very dry. Of course you know the end of the story, (if not, then read on in this chapter) but ask yourself today what these bones could mean for you in your situation. There is no situation too dead to be resurrected. Many people today are frustrated because they feel that so many churches are dry bones, but the Lord is capable of bringing back to life even the deadest situation.

Pray in confidence for the “dry bones” that you know of to be resurrected by the wind of the Spirit.

Praise Him for the wind of His spirit blowing through the Church today.