Ezekiel 37:4-5 "Then he said to me, 'Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!' This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: 'I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.'"
Death and life lie in the power of the tongue. What that means is that our words actually have more power than we think they do. I look at my social media account today and see so much hate being thrown around that it's scary. I can only imagine how much emotional scars people now have because of the words spoken to and against them.
In the light of all the cursing and blaming, how can we tame our tongue and use our words to bless instead of curse? The answer I found in a story in Ezekiel, where the prophet is shown by God a vision of dry bones coming to life with the power of words.
The power of the tongue has been used to malign, attack and insult people, but the true power lies in our ability to use our tongues to speak life to poeple. Here are three points from the story of Ezekiel on how to use our tongues to speak blessing and truth to others.
God saw the life in the dead
Our words are very much affected by what our physical eyes see. When you see a thief, what is the first word that comes out of your mouth about that person? Well, God sees people differently. When God saw the valley of dry bones, He didn't see bones.
Instead, He chose to see life. We can choose to either to speak of others according to what our physical eyes see and call people sinners, bigots, immoral offenders, or we can speak of others according to what God sees.
God showed Ezekiel the power of the tongue
Not only did God bring back the dry bones to life, He called Ezekiel into a vision to see it for himself. God is calling a generation that desires to see God bring life back into the broken, the hurt, the lost and the dismayed, not a generation that wants to see kingdoms brought down, sinners punished and people suffering.
Ezekiel spoke God's words, not his own
When Ezekiel prophesied to the dry bones, he wasn't speaking his own mind. When asked by God whether he believed God could restore the valley, the prophet was unsure. However, he chose not to focus on his certainty, but on God's clearly commanded words. Are you speaking God's promises and life into dry bones or your own judgments and speculations?
Death and life lie in the power of the tongue. What that means is that our words actually have more power than we think they do. Here are three points from the story of Ezekiel on how to use our tongues to speak blessing and truth to others.
