The song “Raise a Halleluja” is based on a true story.
The little son of one of the directors of Bethel Music became quite ill shortly before Christmas 2018. His name’s Jaxon. Jaxon had an infection caused by E Coli bacteria. His life was in danger and he had to be taken to hospital by helicopter. One of the worship leader at home started to pray for the boy and got this song as a gift from God. Quite spontaneously he made a quick recording with his mobile phone and sent it to Jaxon’s parents as encouragement. And then they just let this song play with their mobile phone over Jaxon’s bed. It was like a prayer over the little one. Within a short time Jaxon became completely healthy.
The Text
The song is a spiritual battle song. It is about giving glory to Jesus, even if everything around us looks very bad. The text is full of prayer. Here the first sentences:
I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies,
I raise a hallelujah, louder than disbelief,
I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody,
I raise a hallelujah, heaven comes to fight for me.
And the chorus is already about winning over the difficulties.
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 arrive
Death is defeated and the king is alive!
Thats the point
How often are we right there, in the middle of a storm, everything around us collapses. We are desperate or totally sad. We have the feeling that we stand at the abyss, powerless, hopeless.
The great danger is that we let ourselves be defeated by circumstances. That we raise our hands and surrender to the bad things around us. And then we get depressed.
Or we blame God.
This song should hit us right there. Just when everything around us is difficult or maybe even hopeless – just then we should start to give glory to Jesus. If we lift him up to the throne now, he can also take over the rule of the situation. And then he can do miracles too.
It is a testimony
Raise a Hallelujah is testimony to this. In this absolutely terrible situation in the hospital, the parents could have despaired. They could have been sitting at their baby’s bedside crying, blaming God. But through this song they were encouraged to trust in God right now! To place themselves completely under Jesus right now! And what does God do when we trust him so much? He’s taking the situation into his own hands. And he turns this terrible experience into a huge testimony of his love and power. And this testimony now goes around the world.
Think for yourself. Where could I use that? Where do I often let myself be controlled by what is happening? Where am I all messed up, scared or at a loss?
Jesus says that in the face of our enemies we can trust him.
