When we Prophesy, God Sends the Wind, the Breath, and the Spirit; Make a Joyful Noise!

Prophesying is the function of the overcomers, and when we prophesy, we build up the church, and God is blowing upon any dry bones, sending the wind, the breath, and the Spirit, to revive, resuscitate, and enliven man, to form them into His people and army.

Our God is almighty, powerful, and all-inclusive, yet when it comes to His work with man and among man, He limits Himself to the principle of incarnation, that is, to man’s cooperation.

God can do so many things by Himself, and in the case of Ezekiel in ch. 37, He could have sent the Spirit and do many things, but He wanted Ezekiel to cooperate with Him.

God has a heart’s desire, an intention, and He reveals His intention to man, to those who are open to Him and spend time in His presence. Once we see God’s desire and intention, we don’t immediately go to work for Him, but we first pray back to Him what He has spoken to us.

This is the case of David when God promised him a seed which will build the house of God, will rule on the throne, and will be called the Son of God (2 Sam. 7); David prayed God’s word back to Him.

In Ezekiel 37 we see the other side of this principle, which is that man cooperates with God both to speak God’s word to man, that is, to prophesy, and to pray, that is, to speak God’s word to the Spirit, to God.

Prophesying is not primarily a matter of predicting; rather, prophesying is speaking forth for the Lord, speaking the Lord forth, and declaring the word of God. When God speaks His word to us, and we speak His word that He spoke to us, that is prophesying.

And according to Paul in 1 Cor. 14, he who prophesies builds up the church (1 Cor. 14:4). This means that we as believers in Christ and members of the Body of Christ can cooperate with the unique work Christ is doing today (see Matt. 16:18), the work of the building up of the church, by prophesying.

When we all prophesy one by one in the meetings and before men, all may learn and all may be encouraged, and the church is built up.

How can we speak the word of God? Too much speaking has been done throughout the ages “in the name of God” and of the word of God, but not much building has been accomplished.

The way to speak the word of God, the way to prophesy, is to breathe in the breathed out word of God, be filled with the Spirit in the word, and then simply exhale, breathe out, the word of God breathed into us.

When we Prophesy, God blows upon the Dry Bones, and He Sends the Wind, the Breath, and the Spirit

The overcomers in the Old Testament were mainly the prophets; God’s people were degraded again and again, and they drifted to worshipping idols, practiced all kinds of abominations and filthiness, and left God as the fountain of life, but the prophets were raised up by God to speak for God.

The prophets are by definition overcomers, and if we mean business to be the overcomers of the Lord today, we need to be prophets. All of us, in small group meetings, in the homes, in larger meetings, and in all manners of situations, we need to be prophets, those speaking for God and speaking God forth.

We need to take care of having God’s speaking, and we need to exercise to speak to others according to what God has spoken. Ezekiel was such a one; he had God’s speaking, and he spoke what God told him to speak.

He spoke the word of God over the dead dry bones in the valley, God as He spoke, God was blowing upon these bones, sending the wind, the breath, and the Spirit (Ezek. 37:4-10, 14).

The Hebrew word “ruach” is the same word which is translated in English as “wind”, “breath”, and “spirit” in Ezek. 37:5-10 and 14. It’s difficult for the translators to decide how to translate “ruach” in these verses; they base their translation upon the context and upon their understanding.

In our spiritual experience, when God blows upon us, that is the wind; when we breathe in the wind (what God blows upon us), that is the breath; and when the breath comes into us, it is the Spirit.

When Ezekiel prophesied, God blew the wind, the people received the breath, and the breath became the Spirit.

When we exercise our spirit to be the overcomers who prophesy, God blows upon the dry bones, and He brings in the wind, the breath, and the Spirit.

It is an honor and a privilege for us to be one with the Lord and speak what He is speaking, that is, to prophesy.

When we prophesy by speaking for the Lord and speaking the Lord forth according to the word that we heard from the Lord, God blows the wind, the people who are hearing receive the breath, and the breath becomes the life-giving Spirit in them, giving them life (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:6).

We need to be those who speak and speak and speak; we need to be the overcomers of today who are one with the Lord to prophesy by speaking for God and speaking God forth, and He will come in to blow the wind, give people the breath, and put the Spirit who gives life in them.

When we come together in the meetings, we should speak God’s word. When we meet people, we should speak the Lord. When we are by ourselves, we should learn to speak to the Lord. We are the speaking people of a speaking God, and we need to speak for God, to prophesy, so that He may gain what He is after!

Lord Jesus, make us Your overcomers, those who function to prophesy by speaking the Lord forth into people. May we be those who exercise to spend much time with You and be filled with the Spirit in God’s word, and then prophesy to others so that the wind may blow, the breath may come in, and the Spirit may dwell in them. Amen, Lord, may Your word be spoken through us and among us, and may You accompany our speaking with Your wind, Your breath, and Your Spirit! Gain what You are after among us!

Coming Together in the Meetings to make a Joyful Noise and have the move of the Spirit

When Ezekiel prophesied the first time, there was a noise and a rattling, and all the bones came together (see Ezek. 37:7).

This means that, when we come together in the meetings and make a joyful noise by calling on the Lord and praising Him, we receive God’s life and are in the move of the Spirit (see Psa. 95:1; Lam. 3:55-56; John 20:22).

We may be like “dead and dry bones”, but we need to “bring our bones to the meeting”; when we come to the meeting, we have the Lord’s speaking through those who prophesy, and sinews comes, flesh grows, the skin covers it, and we are becoming alive, being formed into God’s army.

The first thing for the Lord to do a recovery and restoration is that the bones have to come together, that is, we need to come together with the saints in the Body. When we are together, the Lord can speak and those who are one with Him can prophesy.

In John 20, on the day of resurrection, the disciples were together, and the Lord came and breathed on them saying, Receive the Holy Spirit (the holy breath, v. 22). Fifty days later, they were together in one place, and the Spirit came upon them as a rushing mighty wind.

The Spirit doesn’t come upon a member only; the Spirit comes upon and to a body, to something that is joined together. We may not feel we are that much for the Lord, but when we are together, this togetherness allows the Lord a way to come in as the wind, with the breath, and the Spirit.

It is in one Spirit that we were baptized in one Body; the Spirit is for the Body, not for an individual but for the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).

If the saints and the churches are scattered or divided, it is hard for the Spirit to come. For us to be properly positioned to receive and enjoy the Spirit, we have to be one. When we are one with the saints, when the brothers are one, when the churches are one, and when the co-workers and elders are one, the Lord has a way to come in and breathe!

What we need to do is come together and make a joyful noise by calling on the name of the Lord, pray-reading His word, praying, and praising the Lord; this is a rattling, a shaking, a lot of sounds…and the Lord will come in to speak and move in the Spirit.

Don’t complain that the meetings are too noisy, for making a joyful noise (Psa. 95:1) to the Lord by calling on His name and praising Him makes us one in Him, and gives Him a way to come and blow on us as the wind, breathe on us, and bring His Spirit in us.

When we come together and exercise to praise the Lord and call on His name, the breath of God comes into us, the Spirit moves among us, and we are produced as a great army for the Lord’s interest. We should come together with a “noise” and a “rattling”, and then the breath of God will be breathed upon us.

Lord Jesus, strengthen us into our inner man that we may “bring our bones to the meeting” to make a joyful noise to the Lord! May our meetings be filled with praising the Lord and calling on His name, so that we may give You a way to breathe on us and give us more of Your Spirit. May we realize that the Spirit is for the Body. Bring us together again and again. May we be gathered by You to exercise our spirit and make a joyful noise to You! Amen, Lord Jesus, we love You! We praise You! We give You all the glory and praise!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Living a Life according to the High Peak of God’s Revelation, ch. 1 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Ezekiel (2), msg. 1 (week 13 in the HWMR), The Dry Bones being Enlivened to Become an Exceedingly Great Army and the Two Pieces of Wood Being Joined Together for the Building of the House of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Lord, speak Thy Word, upon us breathe, / Revive the bones with quickening breath, / That we may leave our graves, our death; / Lord, speak and breathe upon us! (Hymns #844)
  # Forgive me, Lord I’m open to You. / Fill me more and more each day. / Build me with the saints in love / And keep us running toward the prize. / Lord keep me growing and functioning. / Don’t ever let me out of Your sight. / Grant me a spirit of boldness. / Open my mouth, Lord, to prophesy. (Song on having the Lord revealed in us)
  # I am breathing every moment, / Drawing all my life from Thee; / Breath by breath I live upon Thee, / Lord, Thy Spirit breathe in me. (Hymns #255)