I have a funny story of how this blog post came into my head. Okay, my mom, sister, her boyfriend, and I went to the zoo today and as my mom and I were looking at the gorilla exhibit, I thought what if someone encountered a gorilla, what would they do? What rule from an animal encounter show would they follow? Well, I thought about the most popular, but least effective rule: play dead. That thought lead to my next thought, when I, or maybe even you, are in a tough situation, why do we play dead? I have been battling a tough dry season and when I am in a dry season, I get lazy. I no longer read the word, pray, and listen to Christian music, it gets difficult, but what rules do I remember while in these dry seasons? As I type this blog post, I pray that God moves through my words.
RULE #1: CLING TO HIM
The first verse that came to mind was Matthew 4:4, “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” We see Jesus say this as the devil is trying to tempt Him. This verse tells us, we cannot live a full, rich spiritual life with only bread, but JESUS. We need Jesus, there is no way we can wander in the forest after playing dead in our faith and continue, we desperately need Jesus. Through these tough dry seasons and situations, we need to cling to Him and His word. God doesn’t change and His word is as much alive as He is. Through this season, cling to Him, to His word, He remains faithful.
RULE #2: SEEK WITH A WHOLE HEART
I will admit, I have been lacking in this area. I felt that my next verse would be in Psalm and I wasn’t sure of where it’d be, but I was like “Okay God, whatever page I turn to first, I will use the verse that sticks out to me.” Which probably isn’t the best skill, but I feel like one is great. The verse is Psalm 119:10, “With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!” As soon as I read this verse, I knew this as the one because I seek Him with half of my heart. Why do I hide some parts of my heart from the One who made it? I think it’s beautiful that God, the One who created you with care and time and uniqueness, still longs to know you and your heart. At the end of the day, He longs to hear from you, about your day, the best parts about it, etc., even though He knows you! As you walk through the dry season come to His throne seeking Him with your whole heart, lay all distractions aside, which I find is hard, but thankfully not impossible. I looked over my notes for this section and I find notes that say: DO NOT BE LUKE-WARM- BE WITH GOD NOT THE WORLD! (All caps just show how badly I need this reminder lol) But anyways, we cannot be pretending to play dead in our faith while still seeking Him whole heartedly and earnestly.
RULE #3: MY FEET ARE ON THE ROCK
If you’ve seen most of my blog posts, you already know I cannot keep myself from adding in songs or song titles. All jokes aside, I feel like this rule is a top-notch, priority, close to the golden rule, rule. For the last rule, I felt it was necessary to add these verses in for this blog post, these verses are Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” I think these verses tie back to all the “rules”, we NEED the word of God and without it our faith may not be dead but pretending is close. We cannot be a doer of the word while also playing dead when bad situations happen, and dry seasons come in. When I started this blog post I immediately thought of song, you’re probably not surprised, but this song is vital to this post. The song is called “Raise A Hallelujah” by Bethel Music. This song not only is an AMAZING song, but also, it’s very powerful to our daily lives and struggles. The lyrics say this:
I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief
I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody
I raise a hallelujah, heaven comes to fight for me
I’m gonna sing, in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder, you’re gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes, hope will arise
Death is defeated, the King is alive!
I raise a hallelujah, with everything inside of me
I raise a hallelujah, I will watch the darkness flee
I raise a hallelujah, in the middle of the mystery
I raise a hallelujah, fear you lost your hold on me!
This song sings about raising your hallelujah in the middle of the storm!!! Not letting fear, the waves, the darkness surround you, but faith in God demolish all of it!! Don’t wait for the storm to be cleared, so you can praise God, but praise Him during the battles and the hard times and the dry seasons. Cling, seek, and stand in your faith in Him. Fear no longer has a grip on us, death no longer has victory over us, playing dead no longer saves us (if it ever did). Go out and RAISE YOUR HALLELUJAH!!!!!
