Dry Bones

Yesterday I spoke on fun in the life of a Christian. Too often the Christians I encounter are so boring, so judgmental, so religious, and so life-quenching- so much so that it’s no surprise that people in our culture want nothing to do with Jesus. Because if people see Christ’s Church, THE thing that is supposed to represent Him so well on this earth, as something that is dead, boring, and impotent; why on earth would they want anything to do with that kind of god?! If we serve an amazing, exciting, living God, who conquered Satan, sin, hell, and death and who takes pleasure in the praises of His people, shouldn’t our churches and our church gatherings reflect that?! Sadly, they very seldom do.

What surprised me as I prepared to give this message is how opposed Christians were to the idea of being able to have ‘fun’. One parishioner within my church actually sent me a long email about how ‘they’ were offended that I would actually speak about ‘fun’ in church. The email’er told me that told me that church was a very ‘serious’ thing to them. They mentioned how they attend church regularly and fellowship with other believers regularly but that wasn’t fun for them. I wonder what it is then. This email embodied the very thing I was trying to speak against and because of this person’s misconceived notions about what church was supposed to be, and possibly what fun was supposed to be, they missed the message altogether (i.e. didn’t show up).

As I stood in front of the congregation, the Spirit of God moved on me with every word I spoke. He was speaking freedom and joy to His people to find release from the bondage of legalism, religion, and death. I spoke of Ezekiel Chapter 37 where the Spirit of God calls on Ezekiel to prophecy to the ‘dry bones’ to come back together and receive the breath of life to live once again.

What was interesting though was the spiritual battle that I felt I was going through as I spoke this message from the Word of God. I mean this was good stuff I was speaking, but there was SO much tension and resistance hovering in the church’s auditorium. As I called the church to see itself as the valley of dry bones, they only confirmed this metaphor with the look of complacency and death on their faces.

I knew, though, that God was really attempting to break through to this group of people so that they could experience freedom once again. So I pressed through and called on people to come forward to receive a fresh breath of the Holy Spirit on their dry bones in order to live a new and exciting life of fun for the God who takes pleasure in them and for the sake of the advancement of His Kingdom into a world that rightfully perceives the Church as a dying and boring organism. At first, one or two people trickled to the front to receive prayer. The work was not done. Another call was made for people to come forth. A few more people trickled down the aisle as the remaining crowd looked ahead trying to hide their illicit relationship with religion and pride. I called out again, this time because of a prophetic word given to me by a woman who had previously came forward for prayer, saying that God was hurting because people were avoiding His blessings due to their own pride. And then more people came forward- a girl who had experienced an oppressing fog over her life for the past 6 months that caused her to question the love of God in her life- a girl who a day before was a runaway half-way across the country standing on a bridge to kill herself came forward with tears streaming down her face desperate for the love of God. It was beautiful! But there were still more who God was dealing with who blatantly refused His offer of freedom and joy; and that breaks my heart. More than that, though, I am thrilled for those who pressed forward into the blessings of God to receive the breath of fresh air that they so desperately needed.

Something is happening in the world. Something is happening in our nation. And something is happening in my church. Those who are freely accepting what God is causing to happen are those who the Church historically has rejected. Those who may miss the boat of what God’s doing are those who are more concerned with religion than they are about freedom in Christ. It will be a sad day when they see that they have missed something…the very thing that offered them new life.

One Responseto “Dry Bones”

1. Connie Firmin says:

   May 24, 2010 at 5:41 pm

   May we never replace relationship with religion. It sucks the life (and fun) right out of our walk. Life is one great big adventure with God…and I love adventure! Thanks for challenging me to put my life under the microscope. Love hearing about lives transformed by His great mercy and love! Great post!