Messiah asked a question in Luke 18:7-8 that many of us give little thought to but the question is relevant for us today. He asked, if He would find faith on the earth when He returns. Will He find His people standing in faith when He returns and how does it tie in to the prophecy about the dry bones Think about this question, it’s asking if He’s going to find faith. That’s telling us faith is going to be needed, but in verse 7, it’s talking about the Most High avenging His people – those who are crying out day and night to Him. It says, “He will avenge them speedily.” He is talking about how the Most High is going to avenge us in the last days. Something is happening on the earth that is going to require us to walk by faith. Why is this important? Because I want us to remember our ancestors and when they came out of the land of Egypt. They left Egypt but the mindset of Egypt was still in them. This mindset prevented them from going into the Promised Land (read Numbers 13:26-33). Fear had taken control of them so that they immediately forgot about the powerful things the Most High had done to bring them out of Egypt. They focused instead on the natural things and their inability to overcome it. They forgot that it wasn’t their strength that brought them out of Egypt. They played no part, whatsoever, in invoking fear in Pharaoh – they didn’t defeat Pharaoh. As they left, they were still afraid of Pharaoh and now their actions indicate the effects of slavery on them. They had no confidence in themselves and it prevented them from having any confidence in their Creator.
There’s a reason why we’re admonished not to conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind (read 2 Corinthians 10:4-5). The children of Israel had seen the miracles and the signs that the Most High used to break the physical stronghold of slavery but those manifestations did not help the strongholds in their mind. Paul refers to these strongholds as lies that the devil has ingrained so deeply in our mind and in our belief system that they now control us. It’s the argument that comes up every time you want to believe the word of the Most High but this argument comes up and it talks you out of it. Think about this, the power of the Most High was so strong that even some of the Egyptians said, “Hold up, I’m getting out of here too. I’m coming with you all.” Why? They were convinced that the God of Israel was the true God. That was the purpose of the plagues in the first place, so those signs had to be very powerful. Yet, we see the people walking in fear and the Most High was provoked to anger over this. In Numbers 14 (starting at verse 5), you’ll see where Moses had to intercede because the Most High was ready to just wipe them out. Do you see how destructive the stronghold on their mind was? Even though they had seen the power unleashed on the Egyptians, they could not muster up enough faith to go into the Promised Land, so they perished in the wilderness. The two who had faith, Joshua and Caleb, went in with their children because they refused to believe the evil report. This should tell you how important faith is.
I want to point out some things from Ezekiel’s vision (read Ezekiel 37:1-10). This vision that Ezekiel had in Chapter 37 is talking about us. So, where would you say we are right now as a people? Verse 8 says, “the sinews and the flesh are on the bones” – it indicates carnality. We know this because Paul tells us what carnal people do; they fight amongst themselves and tear each other apart (read Galatians 5:19-21). They were carnal because there was no breath in them. They needed to be filled with the spirit, so he tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath. He told him to call the breath forth from the four winds. Who was supposed to be prophesying in the last days? We find the answer in two scriptures: Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17. It states, “Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall see dreams.” So, if we’re saying, now, he can only speak through His sons and not His daughters, we just cut off fifty percent of the nation. We are only hearing from half of His people and we’re telling the other half to close your mouths. Why? Because we’re choosing to look at the package that the gift came in and we’re ignoring the gift inside of the package. In these last days, we’re going to need a hundred percent of those he has chosen to prophesy to the dry bones so that the nation can live.
The scripture in Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” If we’re going to be able to increase in faith by hearing, then we need to be able to listen to those who are speaking the words that He’s given to them. He already told us in the last days, your sons and your daughters will prophesy. We need the voices of the sons and the daughters prophesying to the breath so that the body, the nation, can receive the Spirit and they can stand up and live. We cannot afford to divide ourselves. This spirit of Babylon has already done that. That Babylonian mindset is what keeps us divided and scripture tells us, that a house divided against itself cannot stand. We need the whole house: the men and the women, Judah and Israel. It’s time for the whole house to come together as one and we need to be praying for those He has given that prophetic voice to, that their voice will not be hindered and we shouldn’t be doing anything to hinder those voices because we need the voices coming from the four winds. Again, how is that word going to come to us? He says, “your sons and your daughters will prophesy.”
We also need to be able to hear and pray for discernment so that we can recognize those vessels He has chosen to speak through. These are His gifts. They’re given to us but they didn’t come from us. We’re only being used as His vessels to do His will. It’s not to bring glory to ourselves or to be high-minded and begin to tear each other down. We have to examine ourselves to see are we allowing the evil one to use us to tear down the body instead of building it up. These are all signs of carnality. Another thing is for us to pray for the nation, for the people to be filled with the Spirit so that we can be led by the Spirit. Those led by the Spirit are the sons of the Most High. Then as He begins to move supernaturally in this earth, we need to trust that He is going to do mighty things on our behalf. Now that we know who we are, as the people, we have to think about how powerful our Father is. Think of the level of faith that the three Hebrew boys had when they were thrown into the furnace. The fire couldn’t even kill them. We have to increase in faith – build up our holy faith.
We have to stop trying to lock our Father into a box. He has multiple ways to prove Himself strong on our behalf and we’re not used to deliverance coming in supernatural ways. This is the time and the season for us to begin to expect great things. This is a thought-provoking and challenging message that will be needed for the days ahead. This is a message that you want to meditate on and listen to a few times to get it in your spirit then I want you to pray and just take some time to listen and let the Holy Spirit speak to you. Ask Him to show you where you are in your level of faith. The question is being put to us: “Will He find faith when He returns”? Will He find faith in you?
Learn more when you view the accompanying video, The Dry Bones Will Live Again l The Army of Israel.
