To Life!
Serving on staff at The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. I get to connect with people from all walks of life, in multiple countries, and on many different levels. I create financial partnerships with our supporters and pray over a variety of topics—spanning from a mother’s prayer for the healing of her child who skinned their knee to a prayer of desperation for much more significant healing in a stage 4 cancer patient. Whether you’re calling the CBN prayer center to pray for a loved one or to let us know that you’ve just prayed with Gordon or Terry to follow Jesus for the first time, there is undoubtedly a Spirit-filled anointing of life with each conversation.
One of my favorite prayers is with Christians for their unbelieving family members, neighbors, and friends. Many times, the prayer request goes something like this: “My dad is a truly good guy. He’s caring, generous, very kind, and supportive, but he just doesn’t believe in Jesus.” We all long for our loved ones to know Jesus as we do!
New life is born every day in hospitals around the world. And new life is also established in holy matrimony, where two become “one flesh.” But the ultimate new life is being born again—new life through a spiritual birth in Jesus, which is available to all.
A difficult truth for some to embrace is that Jesus didn’t die to make bad people good. He didn’t die to make good people better. Instead, He died to make dead people alive!
Consider this passage in Ezekiel regarding a future salvation for the Jewish people:
This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 37:5-6 NIV)
Just as it was prophesied that new life will be breathed into the Jewish people (Ezekiel 39:27-29, Rom 11:25-27), so also, will new life be breathed into all who believe (Ephesians 2:1-5).
In reading Ezekiel 37-39, I can’t help but see God’s character revealed as the God of love. The God of grace. The God of mercy. Multiple times God says through the prophet Ezekiel, “I will gather you” and “put my spirit in you.” When we look back from the beginning of our day, it is easy to overlook the many drops of mercy that drips from God’s hands.
Whether dry bones of the Jewish people as foretold by the prophet Ezekiel, or a simple, yet powerful, surrender and embrace by anyone believing the message of the Gospel at a neighborhood church service, the method of salvation is the same. Our God breathes new life into our bones, a supernatural reality to all who believe. This is a fantastic reason for us to rejoice today!
So, join me in celebrating this new birth all over the world, the salvation of our souls. From death to life!
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Scripture is quoted from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
