God deals with people by his spirit.
This past six weeks we have been celebrating the resurrection of Jesus today as we celebrate ascension of Jesus Christ. We will look at two difficult books in the bible. The book of Ezekiel and the book of Revelation to me are the most difficult to understand.
Ezekiel was a priest and a prophet. God used him to speak to the nation of Israel whilst in exile in Babylon. God showed Ezekiel heaven open and the visions of God. In chapter 2 Ezekiel speaks of his calling. He heard the voice of the one speaking saying “son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you” Ezekiel explained that as the voice spoke the spirit came into me and raised me to my feet and I heard him speaking to me. We find that God has been speaking to Ezekiel throughout the whole book of Ezekiel warning the nation of Israel to repent, and obey God who wants to restore them to himself.
In chapter 37 we read about Ezekiel speaking of the spirit of the lord bringing him to the valley of dry bones. As he was led through the valley he saw a great many bones on the floor, the bones that were very dry. Then God asks him a question if these bones can live. As I ponder about this question I realised that God was testing his faith. His response was “o` sovereign lord, you alone know” We read that God told him to prophesy to the bones to hear the word of the lord. The question one asks is, can dead bones hear? God was testing Ezekiel’s faith that if he believed in God then he will tell these bones to live. This was a demonstration of faith. Jesus said if you have faith as small the size of a mustard seed you will say to this mountain, be moved and cast into the sea and it shall be done. God wanted to demonstrate that any dead situation that we come across can come to life again, only if we believe and obey his commands. Ezekiel obeyed the commands of the Lord and prophesied to the dry bones. Then suddenly he heard a noise, a rattling sound and the bones came together, bone to bone.
As he looked, tendons and flesh appeared and skin covered them but there was no breath. I wonder how Ezekiel felt as he saw in amazement what was happening. Was he afraid or excited. Because he was a strong believer in God, I believe he was excited to see a vast army of people standing infront of him. Then the lord said to him, ”Prophesy to the breath; prophesy son of man, and say to it “ this is what the sovereign lord says, come from the four winds, o breath and breathe into these slain that they may live. As he prophesied, the breath entered into them and they came to life and stood up on their feet- a vast army. This vast army was the house of Israel which God was promising restoration.
There are many valleys dry bones in our lives which we experience; broken families, sickness, poverty, famine, war, unemployment, rebellious children and many more. As believers God is saying we can prophesy to any situation that we are going through and he will restore it. I am reading a book by Christina noble, which I bought two weeks ago at the MU meeting. Her story is one of pain and suffering, hopelessness and despair. In the midst of all these she had the courage to pursue the vision to go to Vietnam and care for the street children. The situation she was in, and the vision she had, was like a dead dream which will never be accomplished. As I read through her book “bridge across my sorrows” I realised that there was a great similarity to my own life experience. Though her situation was far overwhelming than mine I found myself relating to the pain and disappointment in life. When I was young I wanted to become like Mother Theresa, probably because we shared the same name. I then chose to become a nurse. At 20 when I started nursing as a career I found myself pregnant with an illegitimate child whose father I did not want my parents to know because of his abusiveness.
At the same time I lost my dad before he could ask me who the father was. Being the eldest of the eight children I found myself faced with poverty within a few months. After the birth of my daughter my mom encouraged me to go back to nursing, mainly because dad was very proud of me when I went to the nursing college. This meant that I would be able to get a salary to take care of my younger siblings. That dream was shattered because of an accident I had whilst chopping wood, I ended up losing my eye. Now there was no nursing college that could accept me. I was completely in the valley of a lifeless situation where there was no hope whatsoever. Avenues were there but the physical disability that people saw became an obstacle until I began to talk to the situation. My mom kept encouraging me never to loose hope. After two years of struggle and rejection the Holy Spirit used one of the tutors to use me as an experiment and accepted me for training. This I found out when I completed my training that I have been taken as an experiment. Thank God for the Holy Spirit
1. Who is the Holy Spirit
He is the third person of God whom Jesus Christ promised that he will come, in John 14:16 and I will ask the father, he will give you another counselor to be with you forever-the spirit of truth. John 16:13 says but when he; the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth, he will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come. He is the one who appeared on Pentecost. After Jesus had ascended to heaven, he had asked the apostles not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the gift the father promised. The same holy spirit when he comes he comes with power. Power to heal and to change any unacceptable situation within our family, our community and the nations. We have to be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and surrender ourselves to his leading. He is the one who wakes us up in the middle of the night so that we can pray. He is the one spoken about in the book of Isaiah 11:2 “the spirit of the lord will rest upon him- the spirit of wisdom and of understanding; the spirit of counsel and power; the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord”.
The holy spirit is the one who prevented Paul the apostle from entering Bithynia to preach. Instead he was given a vision of a man in Macedonia begging him to come and help him. Paul obeyed and when he arrived there he found believers in God, one of them Lydia who dealt in purple cloth. The bible says that the lord opened her heart to hear the word of God about Jesus and was saved, she and her household. This lady reminds me of my mom, though not learned she loved God with all her heart. She believed in Jesus and led us all to the Lord.
Even today God is talking to us through the Holy Spirit. I can testify to him because he appeared to me many times. In 2004 I heard an audible voice giving me scriptures which I did not know. For three days I was given three different scriptures which even today I always go back to them when my faith wavers. I believe there are many of us who have experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit upon our lives and still do.
2. Why the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit has been given to us that we can receive the light-Jesus Christ who is the light of the world. In the book of Revelation 21 we see john being carried away in the spirit into the mountain. There he was shown the holy city-Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. A vision almost similar to the one shown to Ezekiel. The holy city shone with the glory of God and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like jasper, clear and crystal. He went on to say that he did not see a temple in the city because the lord God and the lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it light, and the lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
He went on further to say that the angel showed him the water of life as clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb down the middle of the street of the great city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face and his name will be on their forehead. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of the sun, for the lord God will give them the light, and they will reign forever and ever. This is the restoration that God is promising Israel and us who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God. The question is how much do we believe in the son of God. How much do we trust in him?
In John 5 we see Jesus healing a man who has been paralyzed for thirty eight years. Jesus asks him if he wants to get well. Apparently what was going through the mind of this man was, how can you ask me this question, don’t you see I’m trying to get into the pool? Do you think I like it? He explains why he is unable to get into the water. Then Jesus says get up, take up your mat and walk. At once the man obeyed, got up and walked. The man’s desire to get healed led Jesus to have compassion on him. Jesus wants to wipe every tear from our eyes. He wants to lift off the suffering that his children are enduring. He wants to restore his nation back to him. Only if we obey his commands, to turn away from sin and accept him as our lord and saviour. The light of the world. Jesus said in John 14:23 if anyone loves me he will obey my commands my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him
Last week we were given a challenge to show love for one another by Rev Valerie Atkins:
How can we achieve this as a community and family of God’s children?
-having fellowship with one another
-sharing the word of God through prayer groups
-giving financially to the work ministry so that the work of God can continue
-praying for one another
May we all receive the benefits of the Holy Spirit and continue to receive revelation from God