Ruach Elohim
by
Bishop M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - My wife and I love to sit out on the patio and just enjoy life, nature, and each other. Now both of us being northerners neither one of us are really enthused when the temperature and humidity is super high, that is one of our biggest dislikes about when we lived in Florida the high humidity. However, when a breeze blows it makes you feel good, it sends a calming effect through you. When the wind blows the leaves on the trees come alive with movement, the flowers sway, and the smell of honeysuckle or lavender fills the air, when the wind blows.
Today I want to talk about another blowing of wind called the Ruach Elohim, which is the Breath of God.
DEFINITION: - The Hebrew word Ruach means “breath,” “wind,” or “spirit.” The Greek word is pneuma. Both words are used in the Bible referring to the Holy Spirit. Elohim, which means God. The root word of "Elohim" is "El," and is composed of two letters: Aleph (Hebrew ?) and Lamed (Hebrew ?). "El" in Hebrew represents the idea of "one who is strong and has authority," or "a strong one with great authority”. The original Hebrew symbol for the letter aleph is a symbol of an ox head. Logically, it represents strength, force, power. The original Hebrew symbol for the letter Lamed looks like a J, and is a symbol of the shepherd's staff. The staff represents the shepherd of a flock, who has authority over the sheep who are entrusted to him.
So, together, aleph and lamed come together to form the idea of "strong authority" or "a strong one who has authority. "God’s Ruach is the source of life. The Ruach of God is the One who gives life to all creation. Moses said in Numbers 27:16 says, “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh…..”.
PRAYER: -
SCRIPTURE: - Ezekiel 37:1-5 says, “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. And caused me to pass by them round about and, behold, there were very many in the open valley, and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophecy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live.”
Life is uneven, there are ups and downs, there’s good times and bad times, there’s joy and there’s pain, there’s sunshine and rain, there’s devotion and deceit. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
UNDERSTAND:- This may be a little hard to grasp at first but the highs and lows in life are ordained by God because He knew that in this flesh dwelleth no good thing and if we always had high, if everything was always great in our lives, if we never experienced times of struggle and hardship, then pride would take over us and we would begin to think that we were all that and pride goeth before destruction. So to keep us from becoming cynical and judgmental He allows us to go through low places because when low places come flesh is brought under subjection, pride is not allowed to fester and if I like Paul learn to be content with the low place, not comfortable, but learn to manage the low place understand that God has a purpose for me than I can develop compassion and understanding and when I see someone else who is in a low place I will not be so quick to judge them but have compassion and understanding on them.
WATCH THIS: - The purpose of the low place or valley experience is to teach you humility and compassion. It is also the place of transition – it is part of the process to get from one mountain top to the next mountain top. In other words, to go from Glory to Glory there’s going to be a valley you must go through. The other thing about the valley is you must learn how to understand and manage the valley. If you don’t learn to manage, they valley you will begin to develop an attitude of self-pity and say woe is me, why me, God doesn’t even care about me and before you know it you are caught in a negative feedback loop of defeatism, self-pity, isolation and after a while you begin to accept this valley experience as destiny. Now you find yourself stuck in the valley because you failed to learn how to manage it.
IN OUR TEXT: - Ezekiel 37:1 - Ezekiel, who is known as a mountain top prophet (one of the major prophets), suddenly finds himself in the midst of a valley that the spirit of the Lord carried him to. He is in a valley a place of transition and this valley is full of bones.
Understand here that these bones represent death and dead things, it shows where life once was. It speaks that there use to activity, there use to be sustenance, there used to be joy, happiness, glee, but now all there is - is death, no life, no joy. The bones have been scattered about this valley, they have been separated by animals, they have been bleached by the sun. There is no unity, no strength, all there is - is dry disparaging death.
Vs #2 says the bones were very dry which means this condition has been this way for some time it wasn’t a new situation, it didn’t just happen today or yesterday for the bones were very dry. Now Ezekiel is surrounded by death, despair, and seemingly hopelessness, when God ask Ezekiel a question.
Vs#3 says,: “And He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones lives”?
WATCH THIS: - God was talking to Ezekiel the man not so much Ezekiel the prophet at his time because God said Son of man, which means God is talking to his emotions, his eyesight, his feelings, and all of his scenes. WHY because it doesn’t matter how sanctified you think you are, it doesn’t matter what title you have or what position you hold before Faith kicks in Flesh has to be dealt with.
Luke 18:27 talks about what is impossible with man is possible with God. So, when God asked the question to Ezekiel “Can these bones live”? He was dealing with Ezekiel’s flesh – Ezekiel in his flesh was looking at a dead situation, in his flesh he saw hopelessness, helplessness, despair, and confusion but when he stepped out of flesh and into FAITH he said, “O Lord God, you know”, because what I see looks impossible but I know that everything thing is possible with you.
Vs#4 says, “Again he said unto me, Prophesy unto these bones – (talk to that dead situation); and say unto to them (tell them what I am going to tell you to tell them – see God knows if we tell our situation what we want to say we will say things like I quit, I didn’t sign up for this, I can’t take it anymore, God doesn’t even care about me) but He says to Ezekiel say to these bones hear the word of the Lord”. Don’t tell this situation what you think, don’t express your feelings and emotions but speak the words I tell you to speak.
Vs#5 (5 = God’s Grace) says “Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath (RUACH) to enter into you, and ye shall live”. To fully understand and appreciate this scripture you must understand The Law of First Mention.
The Law of First Mention is a guideline that is used for studying Scripture. The law of first mention says that, to understand a particular word or doctrine, we must find the first place in Scripture that word or doctrine is revealed and however that word acts the first time it is mentioned it must always act the same way for all eternity. Talk about consistency!!!!!
WELL: - Genesis 2:7 says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (RUACH ELOHIM) ; and man became a living soul”.
When God formed Adam/Man he was a dead lifeless clump of clay but when He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life the RUACH ELOHIM he (Adam/Man) became a living soul. That is the first mention of Ruach Elohim and established the fact that when the Ruach Elohim is applied it has to produce life. So by the time we get here to Ezekiel and the Valley of Dry Bones these bones didn’t stand a chance of doing anything other than what had already be ordained.
WATCH THIS: - Vs#7 of says, “So I prophesied as I was commanded. As I prophesied, there was a noise and behold, a shaking and the bones came together, bone to its bone”. Ezekiel did exactly what God told him to do, not his way but God’s way. When he did that there was a noise
UNDERSTAND THIS: - Every - time there is a move of God to take place it is always proceeded by a noise then there was a shaking, things begin to move and that which was dislocated, separated, scattered, dried up cracked, broken and out of place began to come together. If I fast forward a little these bones became an exceedingly great Army. An Army represents unity, strength, purpose, and loyalty.
CLOSING: - You may be facing a situation right now. It may seem as though everything is dead, everything is dislocated, messed up, dried up, washed out, hopeless, helpless, and scattered but I dare you to do as God God told Ezekiel and prophecy to your situation and tell it Ruach Elohim fill this place.
Ruach Elohim fill this temple.
Ruach Elohim fill this hurt.
Ruach Elohim fill this pain.
When the Ruach Elohim is breathed upon you and your situation dead things must come to life,
Ashes turn to Beauty.
Mourning turns to Joy
Heaviness turns to Praise
When Ruach Elohim is breathed into your situation weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.
It has been a long long night season but I declare it to be morning time.
Ruach Elohim fill this place.
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
