The Holy Spirit has a very specific mandate for us in this hour,
Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. (Ezekiel 37:4)
Recently, the Lord told me that I am to pursue activation over affirmation. I want to be real and raw with you. At the same time, I do not want to take the “easy” road and venture off into the ditch of criticism. It’s so easy for me to do that. My schooling was actually in criticism, to a degree, as before I was called into ministry, I wanted to be a movie critic. Go figure! Its something that demands some deprogramming in my life.
The Easy Road
Criticism for all of us is the easy road—whether we are criticizing the church or a friend or family member. We do it because often, it gains quick support and affirmation from other folks. People recognize that there is a problem in the church as a whole, or in contemporary Christianity. While these things are indeed obvious, and while it is easy for us to get worked up over what is not happening and what is not in agreement with what we see in the Book of Acts, I sense such a strong, almost militant directive from the Holy Spirit to embrace the call of Ezekiel 37 in regard to the present state of Christendom. It’s time to stop criticizing and start prophesying.
The Status Quo
To criticize is to actually come into agreement with the current state of affairs—a state that we recognize needs changing. The problem is that the Word of God is what produces change and transformation, not our critical words. If we truly want to see the modern church step into its season, and become the Kingdom-advancing agent it was destined to be, rather than being so critical, we need to call forth her prophetic destiny. What does this look like? Simple. We need to start praying and saying what Jesus defined the church to be. This involves us wearing a prophetic mantle, and declaring the decrees of the Lord, even if they are not yet visible in reality yet. This is not denying reality or rejecting the current state of the church. The key is balance. Our focus needs to be more on God’s vision than our problem. The emphasis must be on the calling forth rather than the calling out, although both are needed.
In fact, the Holy Spirit told me, “Don’t call out unless you plan to call forth as well.”
What does this mean? We cannot be silent about the crisis of modern Christianity, and how far things have strayed from the original model. We need to be vocal about calling these things out, yes. At the same time, I don’t want to be a prophet of doom and gloom. I don’t want to make the church’s issues my personal ministry and become some type of heresy hunter. This is living below my inheritance as one created in the image of a creative speaking God, whose words released worlds and brought substance to what was in His very heart.
Living Bones
I don’t want to simply talk about things the way they are, but rather, I want to creatively prophesy the will of the Lord over our churches, over our Christian culture, over our pastors and leaders, over our next generation of seminarians and Bible school students. We must, must step into the prophetic office if we are going to see dry bones live in a generation.
As previously stated, it’s time to stop criticizing and start prophesying! Above all, this word is for me.
About Larry Sparks
