Prayer is: listening to God and declaring

Ezekiel 37:1-14 has an interesting account of an encounter between the prophet (by the same name) and God.

God takes him to a valley full of dry bones (obviously belonging to dead people that had been there for quite a while)! God then asks him a question (which He fully intended to answer anyway) whether they could live. Ezekiel then throws it back onto God to answer, which He does.

This whole story is a great example of prayer.

Prayer is not one way or one sided only.

In prayer, we take time to listen to God, through His word speaking to us and by His Spirit that lives in us and speaks to us through a still small voice. This takes discipline and time to develop. We need to set aside time to read His word, and train our eyes and ears to be open to what He is saying and discern His voice.

Secondly, we then have to do something with what God speaks to us, and that requires obedience and action. 

In this instance, it involved Ezekiel taking action and obeying God in speaking / declaring what He told him to say. 

When he did this and began to prophesy life into the dry bones, they began to rattle, come together (in the shape of human skeletons), flesh and tendons appeared on them along with skin but they had no breath! God then gave Him instructions on what to prophesy next to bring life into them. As Ezekiel did this, they came to life, stood up and looked like a huge army. 

This represented the nation of Israel, who, because of lost hope and despair, felt like those dead dry bones. Ezekiel speaking life into them was to restore their hope and dreams and to bring them into their destiny.

Our lives can have circumstances representative of those dry bones. Situations or circumstances that look hopeless, shattered dreams / dreams yet to be realised, relationships that need repairing, children that are wayward, relatives that need salvation, financial needs, infertility, sickness, etc. 

God has an answer to all of those and they are found in His Word!

I'd encourage you to take time to begin to train yourself to read His word, so you can see and hear His promises for your life. God ALWAYS has an answer for all of our lives. We will find them in His word and by listening to Him speak to us (which will never contradict His word). 

As you receive these promises, begin to actively declare them over your lives or whatever circumstance you need Him to intervene in during your time of prayer. Even as the dry bones slowly came together and eventually received life, your continuous participation and partnering with God, without giving up hope despite what you see, WILL see Him intervene and change things around. 

God is sovereign, yet He needs you to partner with Him in prayer, by listening to Him and declaring His word, to see His will fulfilled in your life.