Dry Bones and Sandals

I was telling my boys over lunch that I had dreamt about bags of chocolate chips. Colton quite longingly sighed, “I wish I would have had that dream.” Yea, we’re missing food from home.
Have I got something to tell you!!!
I had bought a really nice, comfy, expensive pair of dress sandals before we came out here. I don’t walk to school in them, but put on my trusty Vans, and yes, I look like a geek walking to school every day wearing a skirt and Vans, but anyway, once at school, I change into my sandals, which I just left at school in my art room closet everyday after changing into my Vans again to trek home in.
So 2 weeks ago I come to school after the weekend, and my shoes are gone. Vamoos!! I couldn’t believe it. Someone went into the closet and helped themselves to my shoes in a Christian school. I was pretty ticked, I mean if they would have just been in plain view on the floor, that’s one thing, but to snoop in the closet and take them, that just irritated me. By the way, I “happened” to bring another pair of sandals to school that day - thank you Jesus - so I didn’t have to look geeky all day.
The next day I told Irene, the head teacher. She was pretty upset about it for the same reasons as I was; you should be able to trust in a Christian school. The next morning after staff devotions she announced what happened, and by now I’m feeling kind of sheepish, after all, they’re just shoes!! I’d been praying about my attitude, and yes, I’d like my shoes back, but really, it wasn’t a big deal. That day I had many of the teachers and guards come into my room wanting to see where they had disappeared from. People were really taking this serious. They too saw this as a violation in trust at The KING”S school. They prayed. We prayed. This is God’s school, the enemy has no right here.
The next morning it was Antoinette’s turn to do devotions. She told us how she used to come by the gate of The King’s School and prophesy, out loud, that this would be her place of work. She wanted to teach here rather than at the public university where she was. Needless to say, she’s a great teacher there now.  Her Scripture passage was Ezekiel 37:1-14. This really went deep into my Spirit; I mean, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.“ 2 Ti 3:16. In other words, the account of the dry bones coming to life is not just a really cool event that took place years ago, but God ordained it to be in the Bible to impart something to believers; it’s relevant for today. So this means that, as silly as it may sound to some of you, we can , in the ALL mighty name of Jesus Christ prophesy to even inanimate objects!! How sweet is that!!?? God is so good. He’s provided us with everything for life and godliness. Also, “ For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Heb 4:12. I was praying the Word of God and I was also acutely aware of the spiritual warfare raging as a result. God was on the move to spur me ( and fellow staff ) on in my/our faith. 
Please read Ezekiel 37:1-14. It’s about the Lord telling Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones to come to life. So he did as the Sovereign Lord commanded. As he prophesied, “there was a noise, a rattling sound,” GOD was on the move!!  Bone came to bone, tendons and flesh and skin appeared on the bones! God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath to come from the four winds into the slain that they would live. So the breath entered the slain and they came to life, and they stood to there feet!!! A vast army!! Alive!! By the power of the Sovereign Lord.
Prophesy is one of the nine gifts of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Co 12:7-10; being seated in Christ Jesus in the heavenly realms ( Eph 2:6 ), and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we have authority and power over all rule, power, authority, dominion and every title. The same power that God exerted when He rose Jesus from the dead is available to us when we pray in the name and will of Jesus Christ. (Eph 1:19-21).
 Before I go on, I want you to know that if the issue at hand was just a pair of shoes, I would not bother to write any of this. Stolen shoes is simply the “vehicle” that the Lord chose to use for a huge revelation of Himself, and the power of believing, biblical prayer.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Heb 11:1
So I prayed. I prophesied in the name of Jesus that my shoes would be returned. I prayed for the person that stole the sandals. I sensed such a great power in and through the praying, I actually felt sorry for the person who took them, because I knew the conviction they were experiencing. The battle raging in them, knowing they should return them, but what if they got found out, … etc.
Well, the power of the Lord overcame the deeds of darkness yet again, and my shoes were anonymously returned the following Wednesday. First thing every morning I checked, expectantly, in my closet to see if they were there; this particular morning I did the same, they weren’t there, so I just started getting art materials ready for the day; I opened the other closet, and there they were in plain view. I was so overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness!!! I went on my knees and praised and worshipped God for coming through; and please remember, it wasn’t about the shoes, but about how God heard and answered prayer.
I was so fantastically pumped!! The word spread quickly as I had told 2 teachers, and there was rejoicing and relief. God was certainly at work at The King’s School.
I am currently praying/prophesying about 3 huge “only God can do that” issues. And I believe in God’s time, they will come to pass.
I had read Ezekiel 37 many times thinking, “yeah, that must have been so cool to see all those bones coming to life,” but never seeing the relevancy of it for my life. Now it’s chock full of relevancy. God opened the eyes of my heart to reveal the power of that passage, and I will never be the same again. This will be one of  a growing pile of Ebenezer stones in my life. In 1 Samuel 7:12, Samuel sets up a stone of remembrance naming it Ebenezer, saying: “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” I want to testify to you, “thus far the Lord has been so gracious and compassionate to me, revealing Himself to me in wonderful ways.”
Look at Eze 37 again. Verse 11 says: “… Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.” That sounds like the epitome of destitution of soul and spirit. (Though in this case it’s literal.) If you’re anything like me, sometimes you feel dry, hopeless and alone. But listen to what God says in response:
“… O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them.” I think sometimes our faith is near death, and sad to say, some people lose their faith altogether because they think that God hasn’t answered their prayers the way they want Him to. But God wants to resurrect us from our spiritual graves and fill us anew with hope and faith and an abundant life.
Another thing that now jumps out at me is v: 9 where it says: “…breathe into these slain, that they may live.” These guys were killed, they did not die a natural death. It was a  premature death. Life was snatched from them. What has the enemy snatched from you that you need to, and can, by the power of the indwelling Spirit take back from the enemy? Like the song says, ”Well I went to the enemies camp and I took back what he stole from me, took back what he stole from me, took back what he stole from me, I went to the enemies camp and I took back what he stole from me, he’s under my feet, he’s under my feet, satan is under my feet.”
Check out verse 1 and 2: There weren’t just a few bones; no, “it was full of bones. He (God) led me back and forth among them…bones that were very dry.” Sometimes, when it rains it pours. That is, sometimes we haven’t got just a few challenges to deal with at once, but we feel we can hardly, if at all, stand up under the burden of all our problems. And they are persistent problems, problems that just don’t get resolved and that bog you down. But if God can resurrect “very dry” bones, bones that aren’t still meaty fresh, he can surely breath life and truth into your 20 year old problem! And what about the “led me back and forth among them” part?! Why can it not be just a quick sprint through? How often have you heard the phrase’ “It’s in the desert that you grow the most.” Maybe it’s taking a while for you to attain all the growth that the Father has intended for you. But you’ll come out stronger for it.
Verse 3 God asks: “ …can these bones live?”  God knew what Ezekiel’s answer would be, but it’s good to verbalize our faith, or lack thereof. Where is your faith meter? Do you believe that God can and still does the impossible?? A daily prayer of mine is found in Lk 17:5 - Lord, increase my faith in you!!!
The bottom line is this: v 14a says; “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live.” Hallelujah!!  2 Co 3:17 says; “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Freedom means you’re not in bondage, you’re not oppressed, you’re not beaten down. Freedom in Christ means you’re VICTORIOUS !! Live accordingly!
In Christ, Rosel