Focus on the Holy Spirit

This past year going through the pandemic has been a tough year for everyone. From school students, to athletes, to businesses, to home owners, parents, the tourist industry, and on and on the list goes of people who have had faced a tough year. It’s times like these that we have to focus on the power of the Holy Spirit. So today we are going to look at a portion of scripture that is very familiar to all of us .

Ezekiel 37:1–10 NLT

1 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. 2 He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. 3 Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.” 4 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! 6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” 7 So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. 8 Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’ ” 10 So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.

1. We have to let God get a hold of us!

We need to let God get a hold of our lives. Now I think most, if not all of us, would say yes I agree and that’s what I did when I accepted Jesus. But let’s be honest. For most of us God is just a part of our daily schedule. We schedule devotion time the same way we schedule the rest of our daily activities. And if there’s something that comes up that’s more important with our business, or job, or ministry or family, the “easiest” thing to reschedule, is God.

That doesn’t appear to be the kind of life that has let God take a hold of it.

If there’s one thing I know it’s this, I don’t know what the future will bring so I need to have God get a hold of me and lead me into the new normal that we’re facing.

2. We must know that God knows!

God asks a question. Can these bones live again? The answer, only God knows the answer to that.

There are so many questions that we don’t know the answer to but God knows. God knows what the future holds. Only He knows the future.

Do we have the confidence in God or are we confident in our own strength?

3. We need to speak the Word of God!

God tells the prophet what to speak to these dry bones and the bones start to rattle. If we want to rattle the world, all of the challenges, all of the defeats, of all the dead dreams, we have to speak the Word of God. Not the opinions of others, not what we read in the news, but what the Word of God says. Speak to the situation. Speak to the challenges. Speak to the enemy and command him to leave. Remember the Roman centurion, speak the word and my servant will be healed. Remember Jesus said speak to the mountain. If you think about it, the church has been vocal about the wrong things but silent about what God says.

4. The Holy Spirit fills us with life!

The bones went together, and joints and muscles and skin was added to them. But they were actually empty vessels. Those bodies were still not alive. So the Lord told Ezekiel to prophesy the wind to come. That’s the Holy Spirit. Remember when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost? There was the sound of a rushing wind. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to go through whatever we must face. Our lives rise up to the battle when the Spirit is on us.