Ezekiel saw a great army rise up as a result of his prophetic declarations. With a prophetic declaration, the lifeless bones stood up and came to life. The army of bones said to the prophet how they were filled with despair (Eze. 37:11b).
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath
entered them; they came to life and stood up on
their feet—a vast army.
Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones
are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are
dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’
(Ezekiel 37:10–11)
Like in the verse above, when hope is gone, people feel cut off from God. Their faith in the future is also decreased or become non-existent. People can live without faith—as evidenced by atheists. However, people cannot live without hope. Without hope, people end their lives or they live their lives as if they’re dead. Usually, people feel hopeless when they face so many rejections in their lives. They isolate themselves and feel cutoff, as was the case with the army in Ezekiel 37. King Solomon said that hope that is deferred makes the heart sick, and releases a spirit of infirmity (Prov. 13:12).
The Prophet Ezekiel has seen great and miraculous things happen because of prophetic declarations. However, there were still hopelessness and infirmity in the world. When this happens, we must enter into this third level of prophetic declarations. The third level deals with spiritual warfare.
Do you really think Satan will simply allow you to declare a prophetic destiny over your life and experience freedom and abundance? Do you think he’ll make it easy for you? We have an enemy who does not want us to experience the goodness of God. We have an enemy who wants us to reject God so that we can go to hell when we die.
Unfortunately, it is not enough to have flesh and breath. We are surrounded with a lot of people who are alive and breathing, but do not have hope in the Lord. There are also believers who are getting defeated by Satan and his attacks. There is a need to fight against the works of the enemy, because he exists to steal, kill, and destroy your life of destiny that God has breathed into you (Jn. 10:10a).
Satan does not want any prophetic declaration to be fulfilled for a lot of reasons, but for the sake of this discussion, it’s because of two things. First, the fulfillment of a prophetic declaration means the advancement of His Kingdom. Satan does not want this because it means a decrease of his domain on earth. Secondly, a fulfillment of prophetic declaration builds up the faith and dependence of the believer in God. Satan hates for you to develop this relationship with God.
We cannot sit this battle out. Spiritual warfare occurs for every believer. We can either fight and be victorious or lay low and do nothing to advance God’s Kingdom—either way, Satan will try to attack you. If we don’t engage in spiritual warfare, take our stand, and overturn the enemy’s plans, we won’t progress and overturn the spirit of infirmity that has entered the world. This spirit is resisting the fulfillment of our prophetic destiny.
Part of the process in experiencing the fulfillment of our destiny is dealing with past issues that have come against us to discourage and defeat us. The bones in Ezekiel 37 exposes the hope deferred that was within them. Take courage against the problems of your past. By dealing with these past issues, you would complete the past, and be released to move into the hope for the future.
Be a part of this group: Experience the Power of Prophecy as a gift to open your mind to receive the Mind of Christ.
What is a dream or vision you have for the future that you may have lost hope for?