Until Fulfillment

Read: Ezekiel 37:1-14

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’” Ezekiel 37:9

IN WORD

Why does God tell Ezekiel to “speak a prophetic message to the winds”? God is sovereign, as the passage emphasizes repeatedly. Sovereignty isn’t dependent on the words of human beings to accomplish its purposes, is it? Or is there something in the spoken word that affects God’s plan as nothing else can?

The reason is mysterious, but the answer is clear: God intervenes in the affairs of humanity at the spoken invitation of humanity. Perhaps that’s why we are taught to pray to a sovereign God who could do anything He wanted to do regardless of our prayers. Maybe the human voice matters more than we think it does. Maybe the words we speak directly correlate to the intervention we eventually see.

Regardless of the reason, God has told us to speak. There’s a pattern in this passage that is repeated elsewhere in Scripture: God informs a person of His plans, implicitly or explicitly urges the person either to intercede for or proclaim those plans, and then accomplishes them. God initiates, we express, then He fulfills.

IN DEED

Does that sound like your prayer life? If you’re like most Christians, probably not. We usually think our prayers arise from our own initiative—our pleas based on our needs and desires. But the biblical pattern is often for God to initiate our prayers and petitions. He puts His will within us, or spells it out for us to see, and then we pray it into reality. The unseen becomes seen by the process of faith, prayer, and proclamation.

If that isn’t the pattern of your prayer life, try to make it so. Ask God what He wants you to pray. Ask Him to shape your dreams and desires, to guide you through His Word and His people, to let the Spirit within you reign. Then pray your heart out. Trust that your petitions line up with His revealed will, and believe that He will fulfill them. Speak the breath of God as He breathes through you.

ADDITIONAL READING: Matthew 21:21

God shapes the world by prayer.

E. M. BOUNDS