LIKE A ROOT IN DRY GROUND

THE SPIRIT OF MAN IS THE CANDLE OF THE LORD SEARCHING ALL THE INNERMOST PARTS OF HIS BEING. Proverbs 20:27 

THEREFORE LET US BE GRATEFUL FOR RECEIVING A KINGDOM THAT CANNOT BE SHAKEN, AND LET US OFFER TO GOD ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP WITH REVERENCE AND AWE, FOR OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE. Hebrews 12:28-29

AND SUDDENLY THERE WAS A RATTLING NOISE ACROSS THE VALLEY, AND BEHOLD A SHAKING, AND THE BONES CAME TOGETHER, BONE TO BONE TO BONE. Ezekiel 37:7   

Did you ever wonder why the Lord didn't call the Valley of Dry Bones the Valley of Dead Bones? Being dry can be a good thing or it can be dangerous. Jude describes a man without God as a cloud without water, blown along by the wind. He is like a tree in autumn, without fruit and uprooted, which Jude describes as twice dead. Now that's really dry! 

But dry can also be a good thing. For example, let's say you are stuck in the woods overnight. It's cold and you look around for kindling to start a campfire. Ever try to start a fire with unseasoned wood? At best, a freshly cut log will quench the flame of your match before it can catch fire. However, when dry kindling is gathered in a heap and seasoned wood is laid on top it catches on fire immediately. It is then useful for heating, lighting, protection, cooking, purifying, but also ... destruction. 

Let's consider the first few verses in Ezekiel Ch 37:1-11 (NLT)

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 the Lord said, "Speak a prophetic message and say, Come oh breath, from the four winds! Breathe life into these dead bodies so they may live again." 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. 

37:11 Then He said to me, Son of Man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, "We have become old, dry bones, and all hope is gone. Our nation is finished!" 

They didn't realize they were the unlit candles of the Lord, in need of His consuming torch, or that they had been prepared for such a fire as this. However, their cry was heard on high and God delivered them. 

Then He said, "I will put my spirit within you and you will live again and return home to your own land."  

Ever notice when God's spirit returns to you, you feel alive again? Don't you experience a sense of relief like you are finally home after a long journey? The fireplace is glowing and you can snuggle up to it ... all is well with your soul. All is well between you and your God. 

I went through a dry spell recently and couldn't understand why the Lord would leave me there day after day in the doldrums of everyday life. I sensed His presence but my candle wasn't staying lit. But I was being seasoned for a big fire -- a fire that couldn't start until I became very dry. In God's eyes dry means as dry as bones; bones means a shaking is a coming, and when you hear the rattling of the bones, new life is a breath away. We may shake and we may tremble from the pressure of the unknown, but we are grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken for our God is a consuming fire. 

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is life!

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. In the Book of Mark the Bible says, Immediately the spirit drove -- impelled; compelled; sent -- Him out into wilderness. After forty days and nights of fasting the Bible says Jesus was hungry. He must have been parched, as in very dry. Isaiah wrote, For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. Isaiah 53:2. Yet, He was the brightest candle the world had ever seen. He was, is and forever will be the Light of the World! 

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is light!

                             

After Jesus ascended to His Father, one hundred-and-twenty believers waited in an upper room for ten continuous days. The Bible doesn't tell us what transpired while the faithful waited day after day in a similar valley of dry bones. They could have easily argued, "We have become old, dry bones, and all hope is gone. Our nation is finished!" But they didn't. Somehow they knew, the drier they became, the hotter the fire so together they waited for the promise of the Father. And when they were all in one accord, the mighty rushing breath of God filled their bones and the fire of God ignited each of them with cloven tongues of fire upon their ... wait for it ... heads. They all came to life and stood up on their feet ... a great army. 

The Spirit of man is the candle of the Lord and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty!

This is a message for those going through a dry spell. God is seasoning you. The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord searching all the innermost parts of his being. For in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28) and are His offspring, coming forth from the same root and from the same dry ground.

Are you dry? Are you parched? Are you thirsty? 

Ho! everyone who is thirsty in spirit

Ho! everyone who is weary and sad

Come to the fountain, there's fullness in Jesus

All that you're longing for, come and be glad.

I will pour water on him that is thirsty

I will pour floods upon the dry ground

Open your heart for the gifts I am bringing

While you are seeking Me I will be found

Child of the Kingdom be filled with the Spirit

Nothing but fullness thy longing can meet    

Tis the enduement for life and for service

Thine is the promise, so certain so sweet.

Lucy J. Meyer - 1884