New Blog Series: Prayers for Dead Seasons

Lately I’ve had two questions floating in my head that I just can’t shake (mostly because I’m totally one of those weirdos who’s constantly talking to herself):

Do I really believe that all things are possible for God, or is it just something that sounds pretty?
and
What would my life look like if I took Him at His word? If I truly believed His promises? Would I live or speak differently?

I’ve just been convicted about this a lot recently.

Do I just sing about the goodness of God or do I really believe it?

Do I really believe that He is greater than sickness, cancer, divorce, or any other impossible situation we see in the natural?

Do I really believe that He will fulfill all of His promises and that His Word will not return void?

And if the answer is yes to these questions, is there evidence in my life that would back it up? Do my words reflect the core beliefs in my heart?

Ok, so I guess there are more than two questions.

It’s just big stuff, guys.

When I started writing this post, I’d already hit over 5,000 words, so that was a pretty clear sign that it needed to be a series.

I don’t typically start with such a long passage of scripture in my blog posts, but I think it’s important to do just that in this series. I want to look deeply into five different passages of scripture over the next few months that speak LIFE over seemingly dead situations.

This first passage is from one of my favorite chapters in the Bible - John 11.

Where Mary and Martha saw impossibility, Jesus saw an opportunity to expand their faith and hope.

Do it again, Jesus!

When we see an impossible, dead situation in front of us, it might feel weird, or even wrong, to dispute it. People might question us or think differently of us if we hold onto hope.

But Heaven’s perspective can be found in the words of Jesus, “Now you have another opportunity to see who I am so that you will learn to trust in me.” (John 11:15)

The cancer diagnosis. The relapsed drug addict in our family. The marriage headed straight for divorce. An unbelieving spouse. Watching your child’s life unravel as they walk through self-destructive behaviors. A financial crisis you can’t see the way out of. The infertility diagnosis. A tragic accident the doctors are saying will surely end in death. The diagnosis of an incurable illness.

The list goes on and on.

The enemy whispers, “It’s over. God can’t do anything about this now. This is the end of the road. It’s an impossible situation and it’s just not going to work out this time.” The stone of unbelief rolls over our heart and we partner with the devil, believing that the situation is out of our hands AND God’s hands. We feel the urge to walk away. We lose hope. We find ourselves in the midst of a dead season.

When we reach this point, this intersection of impossibility and hopelessness, we are offered a choice. We can either continue to partner with fear OR we can follow in the footsteps of the Triune God who uses His voice to speak life over dead situations.

The Father spoke into the darkness and formed every good thing. He spoke to His people and His prophets, calling them out to new places and new territory before they even knew the next step. When He speaks, it’s as good as DONE. As He speaks, His words make the impossible possible.

Jesus demonstrated what it looks like to speak with perfect wisdom, grace, and authority. He frequently changed people’s names and commanded the impossible in order to call forth a higher purpose in their lives. Once a fisherman, now the rock of the church. Once a paralytic, now jumping and dancing in the streets. Once a dead man, now hobbling out of the grave. He followed in the footsteps of His Father who called out what He wanted, how He wanted it to be.

Holy Spirit, resurrection power flows through us if we’ve invited Him to make His home in us. We must remind our mouths to S P E A K into, over, and above dead situations. We must remind our mind to dwell on pure, lovely, excellent, praiseworthy things. We must remind our body to praise God in the middle of the storm, even while we’re still waiting for our breakthrough. The Holy Spirit is a person with feelings, motives, and desires. The fruit of HIS Spirit will grow through us as we learn to yield to His still, small, loving voice.

John 11:1-46

I am the resurrection

In the village of Bethany there was a man named Lazarus, and his sisters, Mary and Martha. Mary was the one who would anoint Jesus’ feet with costly perfume and dry his feet with her long hair. One day Lazarus became very sick to the point of death. So his sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, our brother Lazarus, the one you love, is very sick. Please come!”

When he heard this, he said, “This sickness will not end in death for Lazarus, but will bring glory and praise to God. This will reveal the greatness of the Son of God by what takes place.”

Now even though Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, he remained where he was for two more days. Finally, on the third day, he said to his disciples, “Come. It’s time to go to Bethany.”

“But Teacher,” they said to him, “do you really want to go back there? It was just a short time ago the people of Judea were going to stone you!”

Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight in every day? You can go through a day without the fear of stumbling when you walk in the One who gives light to the world. But you will stumble when the light is not in you, for you’ll be walking in the dark.”

Then Jesus added, “Lazarus, our friend, has just fallen asleep. It’s time that I go and awaken him.”

When they heard this, the disciples replied, “Lord, if he has just fallen asleep, then he’ll get better.” Jesus was speaking about Lazarus’ death, but the disciples presumed he was talking about natural sleep.

Then Jesus made it plain to them, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I’m glad I wasn’t there, because now you have another opportunity to see who I am so that you will learn to trust in me. Come, let’s go and see him.”

So Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, remarked to the other disciples, “Let’s go so that we can die with him.”

Now when they arrived at Bethany, which was only about two miles from Jerusalem, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Many friends of Mary and Martha had come from the region to console them over the loss of their brother. And when Martha heard that Jesus was approaching the village, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house.

Martha said to Jesus, “My Lord, if only you had come sooner, my brother wouldn’t have died. But I know that if you were to ask God for anything, he would do it for you.”

Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise and live.”

She replied, “Yes, I know he will rise with everyone else on resurrection day.”

“Martha,” Jesus said, “You don’t have to wait until then. I am the Resurrection, and I am Life Eternal. Anyone who clings to me in faith, even though he dies, will live forever. And the one who lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Then Martha replied, “Yes, Lord, I do! I’ve always believed that you are the Anointed One, the Son of God who has come into the world for us!” Then she left and hurried off to her sister, Mary, and called her aside from all the mourners and whispered to her, “The Master is here and he’s asking for you.”

So when Mary heard this, she quickly went off to find him, for Jesus was lingering outside the village at the same spot where Martha met him. Now when Mary’s friends who were comforting her noticed how quickly she ran out of the house, they followed her, assuming she was going to the tomb of her brother to mourn.

When Mary finally found Jesus outside the village, she fell at his feet in tears and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus looked at Mary and saw her weeping at his feet, and all her friends who were with her grieving, he shuddered with emotion and was deeply moved with tenderness and compassion. He said to them, “Where did you bury him?”

“Lord, come with us and we’ll show you,” they replied.

Then tears streamed down Jesus’ face.

Seeing Jesus weep caused many of the mourners to say, “Look how much he loved Lazarus.” Yet others said, “Isn’t this the One who opens blind eyes? Why didn’t he do something to keep Lazarus from dying?”

Then Jesus, with intense emotions, came to the tomb—a cave with a stone placed over its entrance. Jesus told them, “Roll away the stone.”

Then Martha said, “But Lord, it’s been four days since he died—by now his body is already decomposing!”

Jesus looked at her and said, “Didn’t I tell you that if you will believe in me, you will see God unveil his power?”

So they rolled away the heavy stone. Jesus gazed into heaven and said, “Father, thank you that you have heard my prayer, for you listen to every word I speak. Now, so that these who stand here with me will believe that you have sent me to the earth as your messenger, I will use the power you have given me.” Then with a loud voice Jesus shouted with authority: “Lazarus! Come out of the tomb!”

Then in front of everyone, Lazarus, who had died four days earlier, slowly hobbled out—he still had grave clothes tightly wrapped around his hands and feet and covering his face! Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.”

From that day forward many of those who had come to visit Mary believed in him, for they had seen with their own eyes this amazing miracle! But a few went back to inform the Pharisees about what Jesus had done.

speaking life over a dead season

Identify the dead situation.
When Jesus asked, “Where have you laid Him?”, what He meant was, “Take me back to the place where you gave up hope, where you stopped believing me.” Did Jesus know where Lazarus was? Of course! But, He walked alongside Mary and Martha in their pain. Jesus was ready to heal Laz and raise him from the dead, but the family members actually stopped him! We do the same when we refuse to move forward in victory. “No, Father. It’s too hard. I’m not ready to forgive this person…I’m not ready to lay down this sin…I’m not ready to hand this over.” Holy Spirit will gently nudge us to identify the dead situation and the lies we’ve been believing.
Acknowledge Jesus as your only source of help.
After we identify the dead situation in our lives, we must acknowledge that Jesus is our only source of help. It’s not Jesus AND something else; it’s just Him. Even Jesus acknowledged that God was His only source of help. He thanked the Father for listening and caring about every word that came out of His mouth before He raised Laz from the dead. The Word says that Jesus is the Author (beginner) and Finsher (end) of our faith (Hebrews 12). There is nothing too big for Him; no situation out of His reach. There’s nothing He can’t redeem or restore. Until we stop running and chasing after other ways to solve our “problems,” we won’t see the beautiful ways He can rewrite a story. Does this mean every situation will end perfectly, just as we asked? Probably not. BUT, He promises to redeem every tear and make beauty from our ashes. We have to learn to sit with Him. To just be with Him in the waiting. To trust Him. One of Holy Spirit’s names is The Helper. No matter how dark or dry our dead season gets, He’s our Helper and our Friend. He will sit with us as long as it takes.
Understand that holy spirit is with you for the long haul.
Wouldn’t it be nice if trauma only lasted for a few days? It’s usually a process and Holy Spirit wants to join us through every step of that process. Walk Jesus back to the spot where you stopped believing the truth of His Word. Be honest with Him about where you believed the facts of the situation over His eternal, perfect truth. Roll the stone away. He will help you. He’s so good. Unbelief, shame, fear, and so many other things have kept the stone rolled over your heart, but He’s ready to walk with you towards healing. He IS the healer! You may not see immediate change, but just like Laz only saw a little bit of light when the stone was first rolled away, you will begin to see the LIGHT in your situations, too. How did Jesus respond after the stone was rolled away? He got happy!! He shows us how to enjoy the presence of the Father in the middle of a funeral when everyone else had given up hope.

prayers for dead seasons

Father, thank you for being such a good Father who walks so patiently with His children in every season. Give us strength to pray bold prayers that make us look like crazy people. If there’s one thing you love to see grow in your people, it’s a heart full of faith. Teach us how to trust you even when we can’t see the next step and we don’t have all of the answers. Remind us to speak life over our bodies, our spouses, our children, and everyone we talk to each day. Our tongue is a powerful weapon that has the power to either build strong, healthy cities or burn an entire forest to the ground. Draw us closer to your heart. Remind us of the promises in your Word - that you, yourself are our inheritance, that your will for us is abundant life (that begins now!), and that you will never leave us, no matter how dry our dead seasons become. In Jesus’ beautiful name, Amen!!