Prayer: Father we come to you in thanksgiving for all your many benefits. It is because of you that we are alive and well today. You are our Protector and Provider our Fortress and our Healer in the name of Jesus we can rely and depend on you. For you are trustworthy, you are a friend that sticks closer than a brother and we forever honor you Lord Jesus. We ask now that you be in the midst of us, touch us from the crown of our heads to the souls of our feet. I plead the blood of Jesus over everyone in this group and that follows the ministry on social media. Have your way on today, let us have a changed mind and heart as we study the word of the Lord. We repent of our sins, cleanse us and make us whole take not your Holy Spirit from us in the name of Jesus. We submit and surrender to you so the devil must flee in the name of Jesus. None of us but all of you in Jesus name Amen!
Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-”The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones”.
Title: Bring us Out; and into the Spirit.
Ezekiel was one of the major Prophets of his time. Here we see giving a narrative of what the Lord has shown him. He begins by saying that “the Hand of the Lord came upon Him”. Wow, but what does this really mean? It means that He is surrounded by the presence of the Lord, the Holy Spirit. Even before time began it was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We see the Holy Spirit in the old testament when it states, “the spirit of the Lord came upon me” or “the hand of the Lord came upon me”. So what was happening to the Prophet in this passage is that the Lord had surrounded him with the Holy Spirit, taking him into the spirit realm or in a trance like state as a open vision. A open vision meaning his eyes are open but he is not longer aware of his physical surrounding but only his spiritual surroundings.
It is in this supernatural place, the spirit realm, that he begins to see what the Lord is showing him and where the Lord has taken him. So we know that the hand of the Lord being upon him is the Holy Spirit surrounded him or embracing him. Then he goes on to say that the Lord, took him out in the spirit, in other words he was within the spirit realm, and within the spirit realm he was in a valley that was full of bones.
Some really amazing things are happening to the Prophet of God. Supernatural things, things that can not be done by man: but by God only. This experience is not limited to Prophets or to the old or new testament. God is the same yesterday, today and forever more. So why do we put limits on what He can do, or how He can use us, or what kind of experiences we can have in Him? It amazes me that Ezekiel was not brought to a mountain top, but he was placed in a low place; a valley! God is God and He does not need our help. God is amazing and He is a God of love, but even God will allow us to be put in tough and trying situations, to teach us a lesson. So if you are going through a trail right now, sit down and ask yourself, “What is God trying to teach me?”
I have found it is often in my places of despair, loneliness, heartache, and trails that I have learned the most valuable lessons. Look at our bodies, in order to build muscles we must work out, as we work out the muscle is stretched causing pain and soreness. However after the soreness and pain is gone we find that we have grown and achieved our goals in gaining more muscle. In this same way we really do grow from pain. Suffering and hardship can be apart of our everyday lives. We see many things happen in the world, like natural disasters and blame God. We should not blame God when bad things happen. The devil is real, and it says that he is the prince of the air (Ephesians 2:2). Many of the bad things that happen in the world our not caused by God. God gave us dominion in the earth, and it is time that we take authority and do what we have been proposed to do. We are able through God to pull down strongholds, bind and loose, led others to Jesus, advance the kingdom of God. It is time to do Kingdom work outside the walls of the church. I have a challenge for you, look at the life of Jesus, How often did he preach in the synagogue? Most of Jesus ministry was outside literally, he preached on a mountain top and gave us the beatitudes, and he preached from a boat and chose his disciples. What an awesome and mighty God we serve.
Joshua 24:15-”But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
