Daily Devotional

A few weeks ago, I attended a Promise Keepers Conference in Arlington, Texas.  Tens of thousands of men filled the stadium, and hundreds of churches joined the simulcast live in 22 countries around the world.

As hundreds of men streamed forward on Friday night to receive Christ, I flashed back to the nineties.  I was standing next to my dad in Anaheim Stadium – my very first Promise Keepers event – watching the Spirit of God grant the miracle of salvation to hundreds of men in a previous generation.  And now God was doing it again… at a time when most people thought Promise Keepers was dead.

The whole experience reminded me of Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones.
 
If you read Ezekiel 37:1-14, you’ll discover that the vision has to do with Israel becoming a nation again after the Babylonian exile.

God fulfilled that vision in 538 BC when King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple.
 
I believe God fulfilled it a second time in 1948 when Israel once again became a nation after the Holocaust of World War II.

And, personally, I believe God is still fulfilling this vision in a multitude of ways.  Why? Because God is still giving life to the dead.
 
He is the God of lost causes, the Savior of second chances, the one who breathes on dry bones and they spring to life. He regenerates unbelievers. He raises up the sick.  He restores dead marriages.  He rescues cities.  He revives nations.  He renews lukewarm Christians.  And one day he will resurrect our bodies up out of the grave.

So, if you find yourself walking through a valley of dry bones, take heart.  Death has no power over the Author of Life.  With him all things are possible.  At any moment he can declare: “I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.”

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.