The book of Ezekiel chapter 37 tells us of a vision that is told by the prophet. It starts by him telling us that the hand of the Lord came upon him in the Spirit of the Lord and He set him down in the midst of a Valley which was full of bones. He saw the bones and the Lord said to him son of man, can these bones live? And he answered ‘O Lord God you know,’ Ezekiel 37:3. I suppose it's a safe answer when we don’t know what to say to the one that is supposed to know everything.

This is an interesting story, that what the prophet saw was very dry, many bones. It is said that whatever is not growing is actually dying or dead or not living. There was no flesh, there was nothing just bones scattered in the valley. And the Lord said to the prophet ‘prophesy to these bones and say to them, oh dry bones hear the word of the Lord, thus says the Lord God to these bones, surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live, I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover your skin and put breath in you, and you shall live, then you shall know that I am the Lord.’ Ezekiel 37:5-6

The prophet prophesied and as he did there was a noise, suddenly a rattling, the bones came together bone to bone. He saw the sinews coming upon the bones and the skin covered over all the bones. He saw that there was no breath in them, and the Lord said to him again, ‘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 may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me and breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet and exceeding great army’. Ezekiel 37:8-9.

This story can be applicable to any situation but is dead and dry bones can be anything that is dead in your life anything that should be alive but it's dead. It could be that your marriage is dead, perhaps you are staying together but you are not talking to each other, or you are always shouting at each other, or you are physically fighting each other, or you are so distant that there is absolutely nothing to talk about, nothing that really brings you together.

Perhaps a friendship that you long lost. You used to be good friends with a person, and the distance is now too much and that relationship is dead. It could also be your business which used to be thriving, used to make money, you were out there making it good, but now it is gone. Maybe it is still there, like bones, but there is nothing in there that is living.

It could be a ministry that started on fire for God, members growing, and all going well in the church but, then it stopped. People stopped coming to church, you find a few people that are there. Sometimes there are people in the church, but there is nothing, there is no move of the Spirit in them, there is no ministry of the Holy Spirit, there are no miracles. You just go to church as if you are filling a register that you've been to church, and go home and that's it. There is no hope, it's lost.

Some people that feel depressed may have lost all hope, they don't see any possibility of having good things coming to them. They don't see life being good at all.

Someone had to prophesy to the bones. The prophet had to speak to the bones. God knew the bones, he could have spoken to the bones himself, but then he needed a man to speak to the bones because God has made man in his own image and his own likeness. God has made man on this earth to do the things that God wants men to do. There are things that God has given to man on this Earth, he gave him the authority, and God expects man to do things, to take authority even over creation. God spoke to the prophet to speak to the bones. Amazing that God was with the prophet, but then God did not prophesy to the bones. God required man to speak to the bones, to actively participate in what he was doing.

Do not sit and wait for God, go to Him, get an instruction from Him and then do it. Don't sit idle waiting for someone to come, ‘pray for me, pray for me’, but you must do something about it. You must pray for yourself. You must speak to your situation, do not think that there are special people that God will only speak to them. God wants to raise up His servants, His own children His sons and daughters. He said through Joel the prophet that in the last days He will pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, sons and daughters will prophesy; not apostles and prophets will prophesy not pastors and evangelists to prophesy, but the sons and daughters. God expects us to prophesy to situations.

That thing which is dead in your life, God says speak, prophesy to the dead bones. You must have the hope that the dead bones will live again, because, you cannot prophesy if deep down in your heart you don’t believe that bones will live. There is absolutely no point in you speaking to the bones and prophesying when you don't believe that there is a possibility that they will live.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord God, prophesy son of man.

Speak to your marriage, prophesy breathe to your marriage. Start communicating with each other, you need to forgive one another, you need to start loving one another, there must be some energy in your marriage. Prophesy breath upon your friendship, pick up that phone, call that person, speak to them. Bring life into that relationship that is dead or dying. Your ministry is dead and dying, bring some oxygen into it.

Oxygen comes in the form of wind and we know that the Spirit of God came on the day of Pentecost. There was a sound as of a rushing wind. So, the spirit of God came, they felt the wind coming in. You don't see the wind but you can feel the effect of the wind. Speak the Holy Spirit upon your ministry, He will give energy to every cell in the church and to every member and to the treasurer and to the secretary and to the members, and to the ushers, the worship team and to the elders.

God will give energy, the oxygen that comes into your ministry will begin to give life and vitalize that mortal body. It is written that ‘If the spirit of him who raised Christ from the date dwells in you, he that raised cries from the dead who gave life to your mortal body’ Romans 8:11. Prophesy the Spirit of God upon your marriage. Prophesy the Spirit of God upon your children speak these things, let the Spirit of God come and give life.

God said I'll put sinews on those dry bones. Sinews are the piece of a tough tissues that unite the muscles and bone. This is something that attaches the muscles to the bones. This is part of a structure or a system or organization that gives strength or binds it together. Prophesy the sinews that will bring together the worship team and the ushers, the deacons and the elders serving together in that ministry. The sinews will make sure that the children and the fathers and the mothers in the homes are all brought in together. They make sure that husband and wife are joined together. The skin also came to the bones, and they came alive and were presentable as human beings.

Do not give on the things and people you love. Don’t give up on your marriage, See God intervene into your situation. Don’t give up on that business, if hope is still there. Prophesy life into that situation. Don’t sit and wait for God to speak to your situation, speak, see God into your situation.

Dr Carol Nkambule

Author and Publisher Director Kingdom Anchored