Can these bones live?

God can raise up our dusty dreams, our brittle hopes, our valleys full of discarded ideas. The Spirit breathes on us. He burns away what we don’t need anymore. He revives what we thought was dead.

Maybe you have carried with you dead limbs, negative words and curses spoken over you throughout your life that have held you down, and made you doubt your value. Maybe you carry around shame from your past, or shame at who others believed you were. Maybe you carry around lies that are so wound up in your identity that they have become comfortable covers under which to hide.

Jesus died to set you free of all of that. He gives his life to you. He gives his strength and courage and righteousness to you. He lifts you up and renames you.

It’s Ascension Week, and we are celebrating Jesus’ return to Heaven. So in the words of the song from the musical “Hamilton” we rise. We rise with Jesus. We rise up from dead limbs. We rise up from dusty valleys of negativity. We rise up from shame, we rise up from lies, we rise up from the burdens of the curses that were put upon us. We rise up with Jesus and LIVE!

Rise up
When you’re living on your knees, you rise up
Tell your brother that he’s gotta rise up
Tell your sister that she’s gotta rise up