Many are very familiar with the passage of scripture found in Ezekiel 37, but let’s remind ourselves…1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.”’” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
While in prayer, I heard the LORD tell me to “Prophesy that the wind would blow again”. Immediately, I knew that in the word of God we can see type and shadows of how the wind can represent Holy Spirit, and it often represents the breath of God. Yet, when He spoke those instructions to me I found myself wondering exactly where I was to discover the foundation of the prophesying. I immediately went back to the word found here in Ezekiel 37 and I believe that it is essential to what the LORD is saying about prophesying that the wind would blow again.
The Word of the LORD
First of all, there is the initial question of whether or not the bones can live again. Yet the question is only asked after the fact the the LORD takes him throughout the valley of dry bones. In other words, the question comes after the interaction of what is dead, or we could say no longer has any life. His response was correct in only knowing whether or not the bones could live. When the first command comes the LORD instructs Ezekiel to prophesy that the bones would hear the word of the LORD. And this, is our most vital key. We live in a time in which many people are saying many different things, but it is clear that some of these things are not the word of the LORD, rather they are words from our ownselves. We have to admit that there are times in which we say it’s the Lord, but can easily just be from our own thoughts. It’s vital because the instruction is directly from the LORD as to whether or not the bones could actually live again. You see, the LORD is saying to Ezekiel that there can be no life to anything unless there is first an unction from the LORD first. I cannot reiterate this enough as we are eager to see things end or begin, but there first must be a recognition to what God is doing in the midst of what appears to be no longer necessary.
You may Come to Life…Again
Immediately after the LORD instructs Ezekiel to prophesy that the bones would hear the word of the LORD, HE then gives him the formula of the prophetic declaration. This is where I have become fascinated with the word of the LORD. In verse 5, the first thing that the LORD says is concerning breath. This is very interesting to the fact that when God first created man, He created him in whole form and the very last thing that He did was breathe LIFE into man. And yet, here in this verse we see that the first thing that must occur is that the Breath would enter in and that you would come alive again. After which the LORD begins to instruct about the structure of the bones coming together with what they need in order to become man again. Interesting enough is the fact that the LORD says something again about the Breath being put into them again in verse 6. Two verses with the mention of breath…the LORD is definitely highlighting the importance of His Breath upon what is no longer alive. The prophecy is released and Ezekiel releases the word of the LORD with what is now followed with a shaking and a coming together that ultimately leads us to verse 9 where the LORD emphasizes the need to prophesy about the breath coming, but this time the LORD instructs Ezekiel to prophesy that the breath would come from the four winds.
The Four Winds…
Daniel saw a vision by night: “Behold, the four winds of the sky broke out on the great sea. Four great animals came up from the sea, diverse one from another.” (Daniel 7:2-3) Zechariah saw four chariots rise up between two mountains and asked an angel what these were. The angel answered: “These are the four winds of the sky, which go out from standing before the Lord of all the earth.” (Zechariah 6:5) The Four Winds also carry God’s chosen people to their destiny, both in the Old Testament and the New: “He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.” (Matthew 24:31) We know that the LORD is also implying that the four winds are in reference to the natural directions of North, South, East, and West. However, the four winds are ultimately where the divine touches our natural world. It’s a prophecy that consists of Heaven meeting Earth.
So, what is the LORD saying?
After weeks of praying into this word, I understand more today that the LORD is calling upon you (me) to prophesy that the wind would blow again…The LORD is already revealing to many who are reading this, certain relationships, specific regions, strategies and assignments, all of which have appeared to no longer have life. There are areas in our lives where the LORD is revealing, and bringing into remembrance where there is no current life. However, the LORD is instructing us to prophesy again. Prophesy that the Wind would come from the four corners so that His nature would become our nature.
We have become a generation of leaders and followers of Christ where we are quickly defining things as dead. We have become a people with little to no hope. We are quickly labeling what was once alive to no longer be able to receive the breath of the LORD again. Granted there are many right now thinking that there is no way that some of the former relationships can ever be what they once were. I am not implying that we have to go back to the exact way that things once were. However, we must be willing to prophesy into the lives of those whom we no longer have a relationship with. The heart of the Father will always be reconciliation.
We have to be willing to prophesy into our regions, our cities, and/or our churches. We give up on ministries way too easily believing that the LORD could never move there again. We cannot keep seeing our churches close down, while a generation goes to the wayside. We must become a people who recognizes that with the LORD anything is truly possible. We must be willing (at the instruction of the LORD) to prophesy that the Wind would blow again. Whether it’s our marriage, our sons/daughters, our friendships, our ministries, our jobs, our finances, etc…we have got to be willing to hear the LORD first and as He speaks to you, Prophesy that the wind would blow again! Do you hear the LORD speaking to you? Do you hear Him calling you to walk through the dead things, and yet He is saying to you to Prophesy. Don’t give up on them. Don’t give up on yourself. Don’t stop believing in the power of God. We need to listen with an open ear and know that when we Prophesy…the Wind will Blow!
