Ezekiel 17:24
And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.
God is a God who can make the dead to live again. Israel and Judah seemed to be bound for captivity forever, and it seemed as if there was no hope. It seemed as if they were dead with no hope of their nations living again. However, God compared them to a tree. He reminded them that He had the power to make the living tree die, and to make the tree that had dried up to live and flourish again. God wanted them to know that if they did what was right, He could revive what many said would never happen again.
God has always had the power to make that which is dead to live again. When God says about the tree that it was dried up, He was saying there was no life in it and that hope seemed to be gone. This reminds me of what Martha said to Jesus about Lazarus. She said to Him in John 11:39, …Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. To man it seemed as if the corruption could not be reversed, but the power of God made the dead to live again.
Jesus had been in the grave for three days and nights. Hope that Jesus would come back was gone. In fact, on the fourth day, Mary Magdalene came to honor the life of Jesus thinking that he was dead, but to her pleasant surprise she saw Jesus was living again. You see, when others thought death had won, Jesus overcame the power of death and showed that He could make the dead to live again.
Are you dead? Has sin caused you to die within? Oh, I am not talking about you being lost, but I am talking about your spiritual usefulness seems to be gone. My friend, it does not matter what others may say about you; you may be like the dried branch that there seems to be no hope, but God can take your life and make it live again.
Preacher, does your church or ministry seem dead? Do you loathe preaching every Sunday because it seems that your church doesn't care about doing anything for God? Though a church may be dead, God has the power to make that which is dead to live again.
If God can raise Lazarus from the dead, He can make your church to live again. If God can raise Jairus’ from the dead, He can certainly bring life again to the Christian whose spiritual effectiveness seems to be dead. If God can raise to life the widow of Zarephath’s son, the Shunammite woman’s son, the man raised out of Elisha’s grave, various saints in Jerusalem at Christ’s death, He can certainly make what is dead in your life to live again.
Not only can God make you to live again, but He can also make your life to flourish again. God not only can make the dead to live again, but He can make that which He brought to life to flourish. In other words, God has the power to make the dead church to flourish. God has the power to make the life that was destroyed by sin to flourish.
I don't know what the state of your ministry or life is, but I do know that we serve a powerful God that can make the dead to live again, and not only live again, but flourish. There is hope for your ministry and life to live and flourish again if you will get busy doing what God tells you to do.