Off with the dried up bones...it's time to get some LIFE!!!

The summer has been a whirlwind of trips, camps, etc and we are not quite done with those...eventually I will blog about them and share some of the highlights; however the past few weeks God has been showing me something and I feel that now is the time to share, so here we go...

Now, it's not all to often that I get down to the nitty gritty dirty side of ministry here on this blog. I just don't because honestly I don't like to focus on that or even really acknowledge it at times to be honest. Yet, just like when our house is DIRTY (ummm...which it currently is!) we have to address it, we have to acknowledge that it is time to do some serious cleaning (volunteers to clean my house are welcome) so it is with life within the church or the family of God. We gotta acknowledge that there is some cleaning up that needs to be done...this is the direction of this post.

The past 6 months have honestly been pretty "dirty" in our current ministry. It seems that there has been one blow after another and people are well....to be completely honest....they are just plain NEGATIVE about a lot of things. We have had families moving (for legitimate reasons like job changes), we have had people leaving our church (various reasons), we have had staff resign and move on to different ministries (all God led), we have had criticism within our area of ministry (some legitimate, others not so much), we have had backbiting, accusing, gossiping, etc. I think you get the picture and if you are brutally honest - I bet your church has been there too. (we have yet to serve in a church that hasn't). In fact, last week I looked at Joel and said "I feel like we are these two cheerleaders standing on the side lines saying 'GO GO hang in there, you can do it' and meanwhile everyone else is hanging up their uniforms and walking away, the crowd is booing and hissing, and well there is a spirit of defeat. I have heard "it's just so sad", "well we shouldn't be surprised", etc. I  even have found myself thinking "time to lay down the pom poms and give up"...gulp, I know!

However, in all of His wisdom and in His infinite timing my HERO, MY SAVIOR, MY KING OF KINGS has stepped in and shown a light in the darkness...He has opened my eyes to some spiritual truths that had faded in the midst of the darkness.

The first one comes from a passage that I have gone to frequently when I get tired and worn from doing ministry - Galatians 6:10 "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." As long as there is an opportunity - we are called to do good, to serve, to lift up ESPECIALLY those who are part of our family! We aren't supposed to hang our heads and walk away, we aren't supposed to live in the negative, we aren't supposed to say "oh well - we gave it a good run". We are to KEEP ON KEEPIN ON! 


The second scripture that He showed me came from a sermon I heard yesterday while on our youth mission trip - Ezekiel 37:4-14

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath^[a] enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ’”
⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord. ’”

This was a two step process, first the bones came together and tendons and flesh appeared BUT there was no breath in them. They were a skeleton, a shell, a body - yet no life. It wasn't until the breath entered them that they were full of life. He then paints a picture of not only where our local church is but where I believe where many of our churches are. Verse 11 spoke so loud to me - 'our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, we are cut off'....but  hang on because the LORD is coming like a knight in shining armor..."I am going to open your graves and BRING YOU UP from them; I WILL bring you back to the land...I WILL put my Spirit IN YOU and you WILL LIVE, and I WILL settle you in YOUR OWN LAND.." 


God is not by any means done with First Borger and I don't believe that He is done with your church either. He HAS NOT left us for dead, He has NOT walked away...He IS doing something new, He IS raising up a church that will be a beacon of light in the dark, He has a plan and it WILL NOT return void. I believe that it is time to call upon Him, ask Him to raise up our dry and weary bones, shake the dust and decay and have the Spirit breathe LIFE into our bodies! 


I hear it now, yes you, the one saying "but you just don't get it, you don't understand how long we have gone through this battle, we are tired and weary and we are done." YES I get it...17 years of ministry I have walked the battle scars, the wounds, the weariness, the defeat BUT when I am there is when HE IS BIGGER, HE IS STRONGER, and HE BREATHES life into my bones! I have looked and have yet to find a time where God instructs His people to give up and just walk away and remain dead - He may call us to  a different town, or ministry but we are never told to hang our heads and walk away in defeat - HE IS THE VICTORY! We can keep in the game, keep fighting the battle because we know the end - we know that it is already won! 


So - here is what I say to those who are members at First Borger and to those who are struggling either in your church or in life - Call upon the Lord and He will answer, ask Him to breathe life into you and your church, raise up your weary body and let HIM breathe new and fresh life into you!!!