One of the most vivid promises of the Holy Spirit is found in Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones. This follows the promise given in 36:26-27: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees.” Both the Hebrew and Greek words for ‘Spirit’ are also the words for wind or breath. Ezekiel sees the breath/wind of God filling dry bones and bringing them to life in a dramatic act of recreation. The mighty wind that filled the room on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:2) was a sign that this promise was being fulfilled. God was breathing life into his people. It was an act of divine cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). To underscore the importance of this event, consider how Jesus told his disciples NOT to embark on his mission until this happened (Acts 1:4). He didn’t want them to try and serve him without the empowering of the Holy Spirit. God does not want us to simply amass good deeds. The Christian life is a life in God and with God. He wants us “to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). And for these works “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Do everything then in response to, and in dependence on the Holy Spirit. That is the essence of the Christian life.
Ask God to guide you and help you to serve his purpose today.
Read Ezekiel 37:1-14.
