Welcome to Kendra Graham’s Online Bible Study! This is a place where we can come together and share in our journey towards Scriptural truths and spiritual maturity. We pray this will be a safe, respectful, resourceful place to come and discuss God’s Word…to discover What it says…What it means…and What it means to you!
Make sure you don’t miss a post, just enter your email in the “Subscribe Via Email” in the upper left hand corner of our blog. It’s free and you’ll receive these post straight into your email inbox.
Kendra Graham notes from Ezekial 37: 1,9
“The hand of the LORD was upon me and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley and it was full of bones. (9b) breathe on these slain, that they may come to life.”
THE FACTS: The Spirit of the LORD set me down in the middle of the valley full of bones… breathe on these slain that they may come to life.
THE LESSONS: Have you ever felt used up, unimportant, un-repairable, empty, dry, ignored, forgotten, not unique, your prime is past–never to be recovered–undesirable, broken, scattered, ruined unattractive, dead. or at least deserving desertion because you are good for nothing? So often it is not weapons of war, machine guns, grenades, or bayonets that snatch our victory in life, but it’s past situations, past decisions, words of people-especially people we trusted-that leave us feeling mortally wounded and believing that God can’t possibly use us anymore. This is the reality of the situation here in Ezekiel 37.
The bones in this valley are dry, scattered, torn apart, and…. precious to God…. why? Does God not have anything better to do than hang out in a graveyard of empty lives and dreams?
God refuses to leave the bones here in Ezekiel 37, and loves these bones more than anything! God has a plan for these bones since the beginning of time and their current situation has not changed that one-iota! God loves these bones so much so that He sent His Spirit off to fetch Ezekiel, so that Ezekiel could tell them that they matter, and that God has a plan and a purpose for them! How crazy does that sound? How much hope does that give me!
We were created to walk with God, and to know God because we desperately need God, so God comes and breathes life where there was emptiness and death to make that purpose happen. In verse 3 God asks Ezekiel if these bones can LIVE!?! God is not focusing on that which rendered these bones in their current condition, God is seeing LIFE, but does Ezekiel? Do you? Is seeing believing or is believing seeing? God is asking Ezekiel and the bones here in this valley to believe He is the God who gives life! In verse 9, God says that these bones were “slain”… the Hebrew word is “Harag” which means murdered. The life of these bones snuffed out by unforeseeable, unstoppable events!
We walk in a fallen world where there is pain, hurt, regret, shame, and we can’t change that. So often we allow our lives to be defined by the elements that have hung us out to dry, but this should not be! We are created to walk with God in victory and life, right in the middle of it! How?
We find life and victory in the middle of those circumstances that want to break us down by daily burying ourselves in the Word of God. When these dry bones allowed the Word of God to saturate their current state, God brought them to life! Life! Using the same canvas they started with, the same set of bones, not throwing them out and starting with another more suitable candidate! The Word of God and the very breath of God brings life in the middle of darkness! There is hope and that hope is found in the fact that God came Himself, for your bones and mine in the form of a man with skin on, and His name is Jesus. Jesus came, lived a holy and righteous life and because of that, the bones in this valley could claim life, as can you and I. In this world there is an opposition that desires to knock us down and devour us. The enemy has a personal plan for you and your individual destruction, but God came Himself came to break the chain of death that is fastened tight, so that you can live!
Allow the Word of God and the breath of His Spirit to revive you and enable you to stand, and to do all you can to stand in a dark world seeking to put you out of commission! The power of God will stabilize your feet upon the rock of His Word (I Peter 1:25).
Jesus has come to give us life and life abundantly! (John 10:10). Believe it and see the personal transformation of your bones!! Oh to hear your story of how God has given you victory and life! #PressIn. #Holdon. #Stand.
APPLY IT: Are you living a life of victory? Will you choose to be victimized by your circumstances thus becoming another statistic of the enemy or will you allow the Word of God to saturate you and give you life? #stand #holdon Will you share your story of the transforming power of God and give others hope in a dark hurting place?
LIVE IT OUT: Today I will seek God in His Word and ask Him to give me victory over my circumstances. I will STAND and be defined by who God says I am instead of falling for what the world thinks I should be.
__________________________________________________________________
If you’re in the Asheville, NC area, we hope to see you at our annual Women’s Bible study which begins tonight (Jan. 12, 2016) at 6:30 pm.
Special announcement from Kendra about tonight:
JOIN US FOR OUR FREE WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY AT THE COVE, BEGINNING JANUARY 12, 2016.
If you can attend in-person, we’d love to see you. Click on one of the links below to register.
If you’d like to register for Kendra’s Tuesday evening study (January 12 – February 16, 2016), call 1-800-950-2092.
NOTE: If you are unable to attend in person, we will continue the online study as well, using lessons shared during the LIVE study.