Waking the Dead

Waking the Dead

It’s an interesting concept and story line you see throughout the bible but it’s also quite the personal challenge to me.  I know of Lazarus being raised from the dead, but I have never witness nor raised anyone from the dead.  I know of Ezekiel being commanded by God to prophesy in the valley of dry bones (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+37%3A1-14&version=NIV) thus raising up a vast army, but I haven’t seen a valley of dry bones become a vast army.  But then I read a passage like James 1:22-25 (the Message):

^22-24Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

²⁵But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.

That challenges me.

Last week I spent four days intentionally seeking God and asking Him to pull off, burn up, and kill all of the hurts, traumas, selfish commitments, and personal vows that I have experienced or made in the first 25 years of my life so that my true God given heart and soul can be revealed.  Once revealed I could then allow God to finally have access to what He originally created and the door would be open for God to come in and fill my heart to overflowing. In one book I was reading the author talked about embracing the process and how it’s really more like ‘waking the dead.’  My heart, while still showing signs of life at times, was really in a deep slumber, bound by previous choice and unable to really thrive as it was intended.  I really did need to wake my heart from death.

The connection between my heart and the valley of dry bones is really quite simple in my mind and yet it can bring about thousands upon thousands of arguments and controversy.  It’s the question of how much do I want to see and partner with God?  How bad do I want it?  How bad do I want God’s Kingdom to come?  The list can go on but really it boils down to my hunger and my desire.  It’s weighed heavy on my heart and weighed heavy on my mind.  The challenge to pursue God, pursue His Kingdom with such abandon that I am not satisfied until the captives have been set free, every heart has been restored, and His Kingdom reigns is not some feeble, lame challenge.  It takes work and true discipline.  So, instead of finding myself thinking about the choice or debating whether or not I should or shouldn’t really dive in my response has to be “I’m ALL IN!”  So that’s what I said. There is no turning back.  There is just something about tasting true freedom and wanting to savor the taste that I don’t know if I’ve ever really tasted.  Why would I ever go back when I have tasted, I have seen, and I’ve experienced something far better than what I ever had.

Now is the part where I am really jumping into the abyss.  It’s unknown, it doesn’t look like anything that I have experienced before, but at least I know that I’m not alone.  I can’t guarantee very much but I can guarantee that it’s going to be a wild ride, quite an adventure, and it’s not going to look like anything I can imagine.  So God…I can’t wait to speak to a valley of dry bones and co-create with you as those bones come to life right before my eyes.  Bring it God, Bring IT!  Wow me with your love, power, and awe and thanks for waking my dead heart.