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Finding Hope to Keep Praying for that Person

I recently tried to pray for someone and experienced an unusual feeling of hopelessness, which made me panic. I had this feeling like even if I prayed nothing would change.

This was a strange faithlessness for me.

My prayers continued but always with an undercurrent of, Lord, will my prayer to you really change anything in this person’s life? 

God replied.

We were in church, my heart heavy with the name. We sang a few songs, and then the music team read verses from Ezekiel 37:

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

The worship music continued, and as I pondered this Scripture I felt the dirt of the valley floor under my very own feet. When I looked down it was the dry bones of the one I was praying for.

Very dry bones.

And God asked me, Christy, can these bones live? 

Not will they, but can they. Can a body that seems hopeless come back again?

I mouthed Ezekiel’s words. Oh Sovereign Lord, you alone know.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.

Ezekiel heard a rattling sound…”

It is God who asks the question. It is God himself who looks at me and says, Is there hope for this one? If you pray, will it make a difference? Can anything change here?

This is the question God asks before he rattles the bones, replaces the sinew, and stands the bones upright and full of life.

I need to answer God’s question well.

Yes. 

Yes, these bones can live.

You need hope to keep praying. -christyfitzwater.com

That person for whom have you been laboring in prayer –and you secretly wonder if there is hope for change –will you speak your faith in the power of God and answer yes to his question?

And because there is a yes, keep praying.

7 Comments

  1. Yes!! These bones CAN live! Thank you, again, Christy for sharing your journey with us. This message is very personal and struck a chord deep in my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this encouragement. These bones CAN LIVE!!! Amen!

      1. Good morning, Christy. 🙂 I just wanted you to know that today, two years and one day after you published this … it is still ministering to me. My daughter, my only child, has lost her way and I have prayed and grieved and prayed and grieved until I don’t know how my body can even make any more tears. God put this in my “Facebook Memories” to show me today that He never changes and that His Word is true today as it was yesterday and forever. Thank you again, for sharing your heart and your journey. I’m 100% certain that it ministers to many whom you’ll never know; but I want you to know that it ministers to ME and to my heart. God bless you!

        1. Oh Trixie, my heart is heavy for your girl. Keep praying, momma. The Lord is listening!

  2. Wow! This is so amazing it took my breath away. I have been praying and praying for someone dear to me and have had that feeling of hopelessness. This is such a perfect word for me today! Thank you, Lord, for giving me this new hope and for using Christy to send your message.

    1. Thank God he encourages us to keep going. I don’t think there’s anything more challenging than praying for someone for years.

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