Note before sharing the devotional: in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination on September 10th, and in the midst of the (admittedly unexpected) intense grief I've experienced, despite confidence of his salvation, I felt it was time to spend at least the next several days sharing recent Scriptural devotionals from my Bible app, YouVersion, with you. The call is to preach the Gospel. Honestly, I haven't been doing it that much lately. This is a first step of many to try to correct that. Life is short. At my current age, and in part because of the ups and downs of my health condition, I am far more aware of this truth than ever before. And yet, even now I still have been guilty of forgetting and taking life for granted. So here goes:
For your own sake, receive Jesus Christ as your Lord, King, and Savior. Ask Him to come into your heart. Dare to trust Him with your whole life, including every aspect of your life. He died for you. He died for me. He may not have technically been assassinated like Kirk was, but He was crucified, which, to find a modern Western society comparison, is very similar to being lynched. He was 100% innocent. He did not get a fair trial. When He was flogged, He wasn't just beaten severely; He had chunks of flesh ripped out of His midsection to the point where many of His internal organs were visible. And then He had to carry a rough, splintered, heavy wooden cross (equivalent to the weight of a billiards or pool table), all while also wearing a crown of thorns that was piercing His head all around. The Sanhedrin didn't care; the Romans didn't care. But He did it anyway. And the fact that He was still able to carry a heavy, splintered wooden object the size of a pool table goes to show that, as the Bible says, He did indeed lay down His life when the punishment of His Father in heaven, and the wrath of God on all humanity, was satisfied. Lesser men, if they had gotten flogged the same way Jesus had gotten flogged, would've died right then and there, and if not, they certainly would not have been able to carry a rough, rugged, splintered, pool table on their backs. They would've died trying. But Jesus didn't die then; He only died once He laid his life down upon knowing that God's wrath was finally satisfied, after three whole hours of abandonment after all the other punishments had been handed out. After all that was done, He rose again from the dead on the third day. He conquered death, so that you and I can live and have that eternal life. Most importantly, Jesus chose this path willingly because He loves you, and because He loves me. He wants you to be in heaven with Him for eternity (in other words, the best place ever, for a very very long time). But you have to reject sin, repent, turn to Him, and let Him be King of your life. And for some, this may require dying a death similar to Kirk's. But heaven awaits afterward, for all those who truly trust and surrender to Jesus totally and completely.
And part of that is reading the Bible and getting to know Jesus personally this way. As such, here is the devotional for today:
Where God Breathes, Life Follows
God gave the prophet Ezekiel a vision that must have been both strange and stunning: a valley full of dry bones. Lifeless. Scattered. Forgotten. It was a symbol of Israel’s spiritual and national state—cut off, broken, and hopeless.
But then God speaks: “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life” (Ezekiel 37:5 NIV). It’s a promise not just of revival, but of complete restoration.
In Hebrew, the word for breath is ruach—a word that also means spirit or wind. God was saying, “I will fill what is dead with My Spirit and bring it back to life.”
This wasn’t just a promise for Israel—it’s a glimpse into what God can do in any soul that feels dry, discouraged, or distant. Maybe you’ve been through a long season of spiritual weariness. Maybe you feel like the life has been drained out of your faith. But the God who breathes life into dry bones is still breathing today.
We serve a God who brings dead things back to life. Whether it’s a nation, a community, a heart, or even His Son after His death on the cross, He restores what’s been lost, renews what’s been broken, and revives what feels beyond hope.
If your soul feels empty, ask Him to breathe His Spirit into you again. Because where God breathes, life follows.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. Ezekiel 37:5, NKJV
Prayer: God, breathe Your Spirit into me. Where I feel tired, fill me with Your strength. Where I feel empty, fill me with Your presence. Restore my soul, and bring to life whatever has withered within me. I trust You to make dry bones live again. In Jesus's name, Amen.
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