I've had some things rattling around in my mind lately. I've had desires to know God on a deeper level and to be known on a deeper level- yet something is holding me back, I feel paralyzed in some ways. I know my desires, I see them within my grasp- yet they are, or feel anyways, unattainable.
Here's the deal: I've become comfortable, paralyzed. With the advent of social media things have changed. I'm not necessarily living in an obvious sin. I'm doing full time ministry, I serve God, I pray, I live by faith for my ministry & finances- but the last few months I've felt like something was missing. I've felt dry. I've felt disconnected, numb. The truth is, I've been reduced to bones.
Sometimes we, or at least myself over here, have this picture of the enemy- that he uses these out of the box ways to hinder us, in our callings and in our life & honestly this is, in many ways, true. Something I have realized however, is that we often times do his job for him. We disqualify ourselves, we take ourselves out of the race. We allow ourselves to be silently paralyzed, without recognizing the connection. I am being honest here friends, I am preaching to myself as well.
I have felt this conviction so strongly lately. When I have a couple of free minutes- I end up on social media. When I wake up, & right before I go to bed- I inevitably end up on social media. Throughout my day I end up there, even when i don't mean to be. I do recognize the irony that this post is being shared on social media & I'm not here to villainize it- but I am here to recognize its dangers.
I am a firm believer that social media is a tool that we can use to bring awareness, to highlight testimony of our God: who he is and how he works. It can be used to build relationships, to share prayer requests, to communicate life happenings, to share joy and sorrows & those are all good things! Social media is not evil, but there is a catch, there is a downfall, when it takes the highest place in our lives. When it eliminates us from feeling anything real, from being able to hold an intentional conversation in person. When it eliminates us from really living a life outside of cyber space. When it does these things, it can be detrimental. Social Media can be like a silent poison, slowly suffocating us, while disengaging us from reality, separating us from who God is or why we are even here on this earth in the first place. As i began to process all of these things, and recognize this in my own life God pointed me to Ezekiel 37.
“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.
”
I've read these verses many times, they are some of my favorite verses in the Bible. I love the idea that the Lord wants to partner with us to bring life, even when he has all the power to do it on his own. I've always associated these verses with calling forth life into those who are dry because they don't know the Lord, but this time God showed me a different side of this. Just because I know the Lord does not mean that I am immune to becoming dry bones. He spoke to me that these verses reference his church as well, his people becoming dry and desolate. When his earnest desire is for them to be lively, vibrant beings.
As christians, we live in the tension between heaven and earth. We live in the tension of being saved + living for the hope of eternity and feeling weary + feeling overwhelmed with the sin and destruction that seemingly reigns in this world. But rather than accepting the way things are, rather than going into dry bones mode- I feel God calling us to a different option. I feel God calling us to wake up. The state of things should fuel us into intercession and the standing in the gap for the state of our community, our city, our nation, our world.
We allow ourselves to be paralyzed and numbed by social media, living like the walking dead. All the while, God is calling us into deeper relationship, into a partnership with him in breathing life into dry bones. This starts with individuals, with the church coming alive, aligning themselves with God, stepping into their identity and destiny and calling others to do the same. When non-believers see someone sold out for Jesus, walking in freedom and their calling it is often irresistible- why then are so many people turned off of Christianity, by the church? Because oftentimes we are walking in religion, not the true life that Jesus Christ brings.
God created us to live in constant, living and vibrant relationship with him. Please church, here me out. Come alive again. Prophecy life and breath into your own lives and then extend that to others. Come alive again and bring jesus into your workplace, your relationships, friendships, assignments, hobbies, days and nights and things will be dramatically different. There is so much more available to us than comfortable christianity, there is so much more for us than dry bones.
