You’ve heard the word Hallelujah before. Maybe even heard people blurt it in church between “that’s right” and “Amen” (depending on your denominational background). But do you know what the word means? How the parts of the word come together to become a really cool invitation to you?
The quick definition is Hallelujah means “praise God.” Good advice, right? But not all that remarkable and certainly not all that specific.
Where it gets cool is when we look at the two parts of the word. The first is the Hebrew word “halal,” which means to be bright, to shine, to boast, and in several instances, to act like a fool or a madman. In short, it is to stand out and draw attention to oneself because you’re maybe not in your everyday sober rational mind.
The “jah” part, “yah” in Hebrew, is short for God’s name, Yahweh.
And “hallelu” is a plural imperative, making a positive command “you all must praise.”
Draw Attention & Point it Somewhere
Together, the idea is to draw attention to oneself in abandon and preference for God, and to direct that attention to God.
This is exactly the idea behind sharing your Jesus story, especially without defense or explanation.
“Thank you, Jesus, for working with the couple who prayed for my chronically injured shoulder at church. You healed it instantly, and kept it that way for two years now. I am reminded of your goodness every time I raise my arms in worship and feel no pain.”
Is that a crazy story? Maybe to some. It’s certainly an out-of-the-ordinary assertion about the nature of reality. It points to Jesus, offering Him the attention and the glory. The story also ends before moving into any sort of explanation or doctrinal defense about whether that experience was possible or if it’s something others can expect … leaving that conversation up to Jesus (who can handle it).
This site is meant to be a safe place to offer personal, outlier stories in the context of other people who offer similar personal, outlier stories, and to be a vertical media rather than a social media so you can share your story, offering it to Jesus, and walk away without having to defend your experience.
Please, be a hallelujah here. Any moment that you’d attribute to Jesus is a story worth adding to the flow of testimonies about what Jesus Does.