Contending for Revival in the Valley of Dry Bones
I love the church with a passion, but the sad reality is some churches are lukewarm instead of on fire for God. Other churches have quenched the Holy Spirit. Still other churches don’t believe the gifts of the Spirit are for today.
People often tell me their churches are dry or feel spiritually dead. There are no signs, no wonders, no miracles—no spiritual gifts or rivers of living water flowing. Yet in the book of Acts we see signs, wonders, miracles and flowing spiritual gifts as normal Christianity.
What has happened? In some cases, religion has crept in. In other cases, there is sin in church leadership, and the Holy Spirit won’t move until repentance comes. In still other churches, people just don’t know what they don’t know. In other words, they’ve just been doing church the way it was handed down to them. It’s time to pour the water of the Spirit over the dry bones!
When the Bones Are Very Dry
It’s a process—and revival hubs embrace the process. A revival hub is a base of tactical operation, organization and deployment. I operate one in Hollywood, Florida, called Awakening House of Prayer. We’ll find the process in Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel, a priest, prophet and watchman who had extraordinary visions, stood in the Valley of Dry Bones.
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“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and He caused me to pass among them all around. And there were very many in the open valley. And they were very dry” (Ezek. 37:1-3).
Imagine this scene. The bones weren’t just dry—they were “very dry.” There weren’t just a few bones lying around. The valley was full of bones. In this hour, much of the church finds itself in the valley instead of on the mountaintop; they are persecuted by antichrist agendas and unsure how to respond—or too fearful to respond at all.
As He did with Ezekiel, the Lord is asking us a question: “Can these bones live?” (Ezek. 37:3). Many are responding just like Ezekiel did, uncertain if it’s too late for their church, their city or their nation. They are answering, “O Lord God, You know” (Ezek. 37:3). Let’s listen in to what happens next:
“Again He said to me, ‘Prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you so that you live. And I will lay sinews upon you and will grow back flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you so that you live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezek. 37:4-6).
In this hour, when so much of the church is lukewarm, dry—or even apostate—we need to rise up and prophesy God’s will instead of tapping into the doom, gloom, judgments and cursing. God is in the restoration business. He is in the resurrection business. He is in the transformation business. We need to prophesy His will over our lives, churches, cities and nations with endurance. That’s what Ezekiel did:
“So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise and a shaking. And the bones came together, bone to its bone. When I looked, the sinews and the flesh grew upon them, and the skin covered them. But there was no breath in them” (Ezek. 37:7-8).
Moving Toward the Restoration of All Things
When we’re obedient to say what God tells us to say and to do what God tells us to do, we can expect things to change. Many feel the shaking in the nations right now and are believing the worst instead of the best. They are believing that everything is falling apart when really God is bringing it back together. We’re moving rapidly toward the restoration of all things that God promised long ago through His holy prophets (Acts 3:21).
Yes, Babylon will suddenly fall and be destroyed (see Jer. 51:8). Yes, an angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, will cry mightily with a loud voice, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!” (see Rev. 18:1-2). Yes, everything that can be shaken will be shaken (see Heb. 12:27). Even the church model is being shaken. Revival hubs are rising.
Ezekiel’s vision ends with this:
“Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the wind; prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain so that they live.’ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army” (Ezek. 37:9-10).
We must prophesy what He commands. We must prophesy even if it looks like the mountain is too big to remove and be cast into the sea. We must do the work of an evangelist like it depends on us and pray like it depends on God. Revival hubs will breathe new life into the body of Christ and inspire them to stand up on their feet, an “exceeding great army,” and wage war against the principalities and powers that are trying to keep souls in bondage and take over nations.
Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening; Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan’s Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.
