Have you ever gotten to a point where you felt like you had
nothing else to give? You’ve poured out everything at your job, to your family,
at your church and at the end of the day you have nothing left for yourself.
Mothers are often especially guilty of this. I remember waking up one day and I
didn’t recognize myself. I had gained weight and I looked like I was 20 years
older than I was. I had become so caught up with doing “stuff”, taking care of
my family and meeting other people’s needs that I had stopped thinking about
me. I had essentially dried up. I remember asking God to refresh and restore me
and bring me back to myself. I had to have a coming to Jesus meeting with God. As
He was reminding me of this, He began to talk to me about those of you that are
walking around in your own personal droughts. Some of you are so dry that you
don’t even realize it; you have just accepted it as your life. But today, God
is inviting you to be refreshed. He is calling you into His presence for
nourishment for your dry places.
God reminded me of the story of the valley of the dry bones
in Ezekiel 37. The entire story is powerful and prophetic but the Lord told me
to expressly look at the first 6 verses in the New Living Translation and share
them with you. “The Lord took hold of me,
and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones.
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. 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.” Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message
to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is
what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make
you live again! 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.’”
A simple question came to me. How bad do you want to be
refreshed? These particular dry bones were referencing the children of Israel.
They had lost all hope and life during their exile and they needed to live
again. They needed freedom to be in their own land. God was basically telling
them that all of their hope could be found in Him and if they would trust His
word, He would lead them back to life. The same goes for you! Have you yet
reached the point in your life where you realize that your refreshing lies in
allowing God to breathe new life into you? Have you come to the place where the
dry places are begging for water? Are you desperate enough to speak those
places and command them to hear the Word of the Lord? You see, it comes down to
making a choice. It comes down to recognizing when you’ve lost yourself and
when enough is enough. It’s taking ownership of your life. It’s acknowledging
and acting upon the need for refreshing.
Anthony Brown and Group Therapy have a song that talks about
God’s presence being like water. It has ministered to me on so many levels over
the last couple of weeks. But the most profound thing that it reminded me of
was that I could ask God to fill me with His presence like water whenever I
needed it. You don’t have to walk around in a drought. You can come to your own
valley and God will meet you there just like those dry bones and blow moist
life back into you. It’s time out for settling for the dry places when there is
a river of water flowing through the Kingdom of God. Revelation 22:17 says “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And
let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the
one who desires take the water of life without price.” Jesus is offering
you an abundant and refreshed life, you just have to receive it. I challenge
you to take a dip in the presence of God and allow Him to refill you, refresh you,
and restore you. Think of me as your Ezekiel in the valley and I am saying,
Live again! AMEN…
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