Alive!

Over the last two weeks I am hoping you are realizing we are in a battle for the hearts and souls of people.  I wonder if all of the zombie and distopia movies and TV shows express societal realization that something just isn't right.  There is a war going on out there!  We are all in a battle that goes deeper than what we see with our eyes!

Ezekiel, in Chapter 37, is taken by the Spirit to a valley.  It is filled with dry bones.  In Ezekiel's vision the bones represent the nation of Israel that had lost hope in exile.  They have been a battle but have given up and given in to their situation of exile.  They think they are lost and forgotten.

Again, I wonder if we feel lost and forgotten?  We, the Church, are God's people, yet we are oppressed on every side.  And we have contributed to our oppression by adopting unhealthy attitudes like self-preservation, apathy and acquiescence to societal virtues (vs Biblical virtues).  I think today those dry bones represent the Church, dormant and powerless.

In Ezekiel's vision the bones in the valley come alive in stages. First they are just a mass of bones lying on the ground.  Then, as he begins to speak God's word to them, they stand up.  Skin covers the bones, but they are not alive.  They appear alive.  They stand up and move.  But they do not yet have the breath (the Spirit) of God.  They are like the zombies we hear and read about.

Ezekiel continues his work and prophesies to the bones.  God's Spirit, the breath of life, enters them.  The become a massive and powerful army, ready to go out into the battle.

I hope that happens to our people and our Church of today.  I pray that we do not have the form of something living without the life-force (God's Spirit) that gives us power, purpose and prosperity.  I pray that we listen to God's word and become alive with a passion that will astonish our world and our community!  Let's come alive and become the resurrection army that fights the good fight.  Randy