Do bones live?

To be honest, today I just flipped open the Bible and decided to write about what I opened to. I landed in Ezekiel Chapter 17.

Ezekiel 17:1-3
The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then he caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So I answered, "Oh Lord God, You know."

Further on, the verses lead up to God bringing the bones to life through Ezekiel. Without faith, nothing happens, unless God is specifically trying to prove a point. Today, God doesn't prove himself because Jesus did that for him, and our free will allows us to make mistakes and sometimes not get the punishment we truly deserve.

As I am at Penn State for the next 2 days, these verses touched my heart:

II Corinthians 9:8,10,11
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, While you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

II Corinthians 10:1,3
Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ- who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

II Corinthians 10:12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

Believing lies and reflecting an imperfect standard.

I’m not going to use generalized phrases, but I’m sure others can relate to the feeling of inadequacy. According to dictionary.com, inadequacy is the state of being found insufficient or having defect. Dwelling on inadequacy is not healthy, but believing inadequacy given to you by others is not ok. The only OTHER you should compare yourself to is Jesus Christ… What would Jesus do?

So, what, you may ask, did Jesus do? By coming to earth as the son of God and resisting all temptation of the world he humbled himself to be blamelessly nailed to a cross for mans’ sin. For those who believe in Him, (I emphasize that this is a relationship, not a religion in which a standard mode of action is “par”) but Jesus Christ Himself strengthens us in our weakness and loves our weakness because our reliance on Him brings us closer.

So, am I believing a lie that I'm inadequate? YES. Does Jesus think I'm inadequate? Not now. Since I believe Jesus Christ is my personal savior, God turned away from Jesus on the cross because our sin was put on Him. This allows us to be looked at with love from God even through our imperfections. If you beat yourself up regularly, you are believing a lie.

Psalm 73:25-26
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Philippians 3:13-14
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

^{John 3:3-8}
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." "How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

John 3:16-21

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.