A Mighty Wind Is Coming!

In Ezekiel 37, we're told the story of the valley of dead dry bones.

The dead dry bones, represented an army whose battle had ended there in the valley. Ezekiel was told by God to prophesy His words to the valley, and to his amazement, the dead dry bones began to rattle, then be put back together, covered with sinew and skin, and then finally, the Lord blew his breath into that valley of once dead dry bones, and caused them to come to life, right before Ezekiel's eyes. The once mighty army of God, was standing again, and ready to fight.                                                                                                                                    
I encourage you to read Ezekiel 37-39, because we are living these days right now. It is an exciting, kind of scary time, but it is also an encouraging time, because it means that Jesus is coming very soon! The dead dry bones of that army? They represent every person on this earth who believes in Jesus Christ, who are slumbering in their walk with God. They've fallen asleep. I do believe a lot of people are starting to see that something funky is going on, but I don't think they've made the connection between the two, just quite yet? 

This piece of scripture is referring to a mighty army, once fallen, that would rise up again. It represented Israel at the time, because this event occurred in the Old Testament, and Jesus hadn't died for our sins yet, so we weren't included yet. But after Jesus died, for all of us, Jew and Gentile, we were included, so the dead dry bones in that valley, represents ALL believers, from every "tongue, tribe and nation."

I have been feeling dead, dry and just out of breath. I have been quite ill of late, and it's been taking everything out of me lately. I'm tired all of the time, and some days, I feel like the valley of dead dry bones, inwardly. Some day's I just can't put my finger on what it is that is bothering me. Then, I remember this morning prayer: "Lord, please help me to walk with You today. Help me to remember that you are the vine, and I am just a lowly branch. I can do nothing without You Lord Jesus." When I get lax, and lazy, and don't say that prayer? The devil comes running to throw awful thoughts in my head about my kids, or someone in my family, and I have to take that thought captive, and then toss it out. If it doesn't meet the criteria in Philippians 4:8, we should toss it! Kay Arthur, of Precept Ministries, who's Inductive Study Bible I still use, said in one of her teachings, "Philippians 4:8 everything that comes to your mind and if it doesn't match that scripture, don't let your mind dwell on that thought!"

I'll be honest. I know I just flat out got lazy about my walk with God. It's only been for a few days, but that mountain top walk I did with the Lord all those years ago, that I never wanted to end? The abrupt end to it was harsh for me. I hated myself for wandering away like some lost sheep, but He always came back for me, and carried me back to the flock, where I belonged. Jesus is my rock, my shield, my fortress...most importantly, He is my strength. With the kind of pain I'm in ever day, I could only make it through it with His strength because my body keeps getting weaker. However, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13).

There is such a thing as breathing in the breath of the Holy Spirit. I was baptised into the Holy Spirit a long time ago. Ever since, I've known that God was there, and yet, I still wandered away, like a wandering, lost sheep. One of those times, I was on a mountain peak, wandering through the grass, trees, and beauty of the mountain with God Himself. I remember praying a prayer one day, saying, "God, I never want to ever ever ever be away from You. I want to walk with You every day, knowing You are there, as I know You are now." I wanted so desperately to stay on that mountain, but eventually after several months, I came down into the valley again, to live the regular everyday life of some housewife who went back to work. I lost the mountain, and I've always regretted that, but He found me, again!

I feel like I'm half way back up that big mountain, only this time, there are spiritual forces causing my delay in getting to the top. But I am a warrior for Jesus Christ, and through his mighty two edged sword, the Bible, I know I can make it, "for no weapon formed against me shall prosper." (Isaiah 54:17).

If you're a Christian, and you've wandered away from the Lord, it's time to wander back into His presence, with reverence, fear, trembling, humility and prayers for forgiveness. First, you need to make things right with your brothers and sisters, and then come and bring your request to God for forgiveness. That's what Jesus said we should do. I've done that. I've been through Celebrate Recovery and I can tell you, it's something you want to do again after you get through it, because you'll learn something new each time, that you didn't know about yourself the first time. It's like it takes a few times to get through you, but the outcome can be a closer walk with Jesus than ever before! When we learn to lean on the "everlasting arms" knowing that no matter what, God will take care of us, it changes everything!

The mighty army? It's us! We're the "dead dry bones." Time to rattle those dead dry bones, all ye Christians, and WAKE THE HECK UP! Russia, (The King of the North in Ezekiel 38), is in Syria! Putin says he doesn't even know why he's there! I know exactly why he's there! It's because God has put "hooks into his jaws" and dragged him into the battle, and soon all of these countries will turn on Israel! Putin will want their technology and their oil, and Iran and the rest will just want the Jews dead and gone. It's in there! Read Ezekiel 37-39 and you'll see a bunch of countries listed. Google where they are! Some say the north is Turkey, but it's Russia! I encourage every Christian to open and read those 3 chapters. Ezekiel 37-39. It will show you what is to come.

I believe that there is going to be a huge raising of an army to go up against Israel, and it's going to happen very soon! That army has already begun swarming in the form of ISIS! Russia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, all of them will turn on Israel! When that day comes, we will all be watching in breathless anticipation as to what will happen, and we'll all be amazed when God Himself, spits fire from heaven to destroy those who come against His chosen people! There will be a great revival in Israel! "The dead dry bones," are originally the Jews, but as Gentiles, we're in that valley too! I truly believe that we are ALL part of that army!

Oh Lord, send your wind into the valley of dead dry bones, and wake them, raise them, and make us all a mighty army of warriors for Jesus Christ! Make us spiritual leaders who depend on YOU alone for guidance! People out there are so lost, and they need Your love Lord! Jesus said "They shall know you by your love." (John 13:35), so we must love one another. Jesus said "love one another even as I have loved you." (John 15:12).

Lord, please send a breath of wind into this valley? Raise your army! We're ready to fight!

The evil one doesn't stand a chance! We already know the "end" of the story! Jesus will be Victor and King over All!

Praise the Lord! Maranatha! Even so, Come Lord Jesus!                                                 

They Said "Yes" to Jesus!

It's happened again. This time, at a small community college in Oregon. 

The first time I remember something like this ever happening was in April 1999. Columbine High School in an unincorporated sleepy part of Colorado. The perpetrators names? Yes, I remember them. However, out of respect for those killed on Thursday, their families and the Douglas County Sheriff, John Hanlin, who refused to identify their killer, I will not mention their names here. I believe that his example should take hold of all those in the media, and many have already refused to name their attacker, and I applaud them. These attackers seek glory in their own deaths, but we shouldn't be giving it to them. That needs to stop. We should be remembering the lives of the brave souls who were their victims, instead.

There is one name that really stands out to me, to this day, from Columbine in 1999. Her name is Cassie Bernall. Much like the perpetrator in Oregon, the perpetrators at Columbine walked up to Cassie, held a gun to her head and asked her, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" These two snickering wimps probably knew that Cassie had dabbled in witchcraft before going to church, bible study and getting saved. They had seen a radical change in her life, and they chose to mock God that day, and they used Cassie to do it. But it backfired, big time! Only God got the glory because Cassie replied, "Yes, I believe." She was gone from this earth in 1 second, but her last breath on earth, was used to proclaim her faith in Jesus Christ, who no doubt, escorted her to heaven Himself. 

These are not the first martyrs for Jesus Christ. We know the Apostles, most of whom, died for their belief, and their faith, and for refusing to stop preaching the good news. But that's something so far removed, well, do we really think about that? As of last year, however, it became almost a daily event in our lives, just about every time we dared to turn the news on.  

One can only imagine the thoughts that went through the minds of the 4 boys, all under the age of 15, who were told by their ISIS captors last summer, that if they renounced Jesus Christ and converted to Islam, that they would let them live. All 4 of them refused and were beheaded, martyred for Jesus Christ.

One can only imagine, the pain of the families of the 9 victims of a shooter in a church in Charleston, who fouled up the attackers plan by standing up in court and telling him, "I forgive you," even though he had killed and taken their loved ones from them.

One can only imagine, what went through the minds of the students who were told to "stand up," and say "what religion" they were in that college Thursday. They had recent examples to look to, even if they didn't know who Cassie Bernall was. We've all been watching for a year or so now, people in the middle east losing their lives because they were Christians. They were told to leave town, pay a fine, convert, or "die by the sword." There are very few Christians left there now. 

After the Columbine shooting, Michael W. Smith, the Christian singer and composer, wrote a song for Cassie Bernall, which is posted below. Please pass it on to your friends, share it on FaceBook and Twitter and all other forms of social media, and please, pray for the families. 

There are several other examples of this sort of bravery going on all over the world, but Cassie Bernall was the first American to be martyred for her faith, at least that I know of, that was martyred on American soil. She is now joined by these other students, who "were not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." It is in their example, that we can grow our own faith, in days that are increasing in the evil that we see all around us.

There is no one faithful, but Jesus is one who "sticks closer than a brother."  

So? Faced with the same question? What would you say?                                              

This was Their Time
May God bless them for their faith 
& comfort their families at this time of  grief.

Lucero Alcaraz, 19
Treven Taylor Anspach, 20
Rebecka Ann Carnes, 18
Quinn Glen Cooper, 18
Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59
Lucas Eibel, 18
Jason Dale Johnson, 34
Lawrence Levine, 67 (teacher)
Sarena Dawn Moore, 44