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Should You Sing ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’ at Church? A Worship Song Analysis

/ Jason Henry / 3 Comments

We don’t see many lament songs in the church these days, particular not in the CCM worship genre. I think the problem is that we are (mostly) comfortable in our lives, and we don’t like to think about suffering or hardship. We do sometimes acknowledge pain or difficult circumstances in our worship songs, but we can’t resist turning that mourning into dancing. We know Easter is coming, so why linger on Good Friday?

There’s some wisdom in this tendency. We do know how the story ends, and that ending is Christ victorious, death and darkness defeated, the church united with God forever in the new creation. We need to remind each other that this future is coming. But sometimes, we can’t or shouldn’t move on from our grief so quickly. I think what’s special about “Hard Fought Hallelujah” is that when it praises God, it does so from the depths of the struggle rather than from a safe, happy vantage point on the other side.

“Hard Fought Hallelujah” is the work of Ben Hastings, Brandon Lake, and Steven Furtick, all veteran songwriters. Lake and Furtick are both associated with Elevation Church, and Hastings is a longtime Hillsong Worship musician. Together, they craft a song that is poignant, honest, and still manages to get stuck in your head.

But is “Hard Fought Hallelujah” biblical, and will it worship? Let’s take a look!

Focus

This song expresses the experience of bringing praise to God in the midst of suffering and struggle.

God’s character is secondary in this song. He’s only addressed in the chorus by the word “hallelujah” and in the line: “God, You’ve been patient/gracious.”

For some, the fact that this song is primarily about the human experience of praise in suffering means that it is too self-centered to be appropriate for corporate worship. I wouldn’t disqualify it on that basis alone, but it’s something to be aware of when you’re planning your worship set.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
This is a common sentiment in worship songs. We don’t always feel like praising God, and that’s when we especially need to. This feels like the attitude of the Sons of Korah in Psalm 42. From the depths of despair and discouragement, the author sings to his own soul, reminding himself of God’s salvation.

PRE-CHORUS 1
There are times when praise, as expressed through the raising of hands, is a natural outpouring of our hearts’ delight in God, and there are times when it takes a great deal of effort, and when we have to discipline ourselves to worship despite not wanting to.

Lake observes, “there are times that it costs,” and he’s right. Romans 12:1 teaches us that true worship is offering our bodies as living sacrifices to God. Rather than just giving a little bit of time or a little bit of money to the Lord, we are called to offer our whole selves. We feel this cost keenly when we are invited to worship but feel pain, resentment, or anxiety preventing us from coming to God in gratitude and love. Worshiping in the midst of struggle is a hard sacrifice, and one that God cherishes.

Of course, in any congregation, there are many who never sing, and many more whose hands would never go up freely. This song provides a teaching opportunity to encourage people who don’t like participating in music to consider lifting their voices and hands to God despite the discomfort. Participating in this way also shows solidarity with those who are struggling like this song describes.

CHORUS
“I’ll bring my…” The chorus expresses a commitment to praise God no matter the circumstance and no matter the cost. We’re determined to bring praise to God, even though that hallelujah has been beaten up, knocked around, and somehow refined and strengthened by our struggles. This part of the song reminds me of Lake’s “Gratitude,” because it uses the word “hallelujah” to represent not just a song of praise, but a heart that chooses to worship God no matter what.

Hard-fought: This line represents the core idea of the song: sometimes we have to fight to praise God. But is this true, and is it in the Bible? I think it is. There are numerous examples in Scripture of God’s people fighting to praise him. Moses fought Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to go worship God in the wilderness. Paul and Silas praised God in prison, and their chains fell off. Daniel prayed to God daily even though it would land him in a deadly lion’s den. Ephesians 6 teaches us that we are always embroiled in a spiritual struggle against the forces of evil, and praise is a weapon in that fight.

Heart-felt: Jesus taught that worship is in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:23-24). Paul tells us that we ought to sing to God in our hearts (Eph 5:19). While worship is not about feelings, true worship will produce an emotional response in the worshiper. God is good, and he has done great things, and that ought to do something to our hearts.

Been-through-hell: The songwriters are using a loose definition of the word “hell” here. I don’t think any of them would claim to have literally visited the lake of fire. Instead, they’re using it as a description of serious suffering in this life. When you’re in severe emotional or physical pain, you’re all alone, and it feels like God is distant, that’s a picture of hell. This is relative, and we could quibble over what level of suffering really counts as having been through hell.

For many churches, this line will immediately rule out this song for congregational worship. “Hell” is a common profanity in our culture, and this line comes uncomfortably close to casual use of the word. Many Christians have the conviction that the word hell should only be used to describe eternal separation from God.

I also think using “hell” to describe our suffering muddies the waters regarding the nature of our suffering. When Christians experience suffering, we do so with God near at hand, not distant. Later in the song, the authors allude to suffering as a refining fire that improves our faith. This only happens through the presence and work of the Holy Spirit. Hell has connotations of finality, wrath, and damnation that I don’t think are appropriate to the kind of pain the authors of this song are describing.

Storm-tossed: I like this image better. The disciples and the apostle Paul experienced perilous storms on the sea. For the disciples, the Lord himself was with them, and he calmed the storm with a word (Mt 8:23-27). When Paul was on the way to Rome, his ship was destroyed in a storm, but God’s hand protected every living soul onboard (Ac 27:13-44). Storms may be terrifying, but our God is greater than the wind and waves, and he is always in control.

Torn-sail: A natural consequence of the storm-tossing. But this line focuses on how our experiences may have beaten us up and left wounds, either emotional or physical.

Story-to-tell: This is great. Praise isn’t just singing hallelujah in church. It’s being willing to tell others what God has done for us and how he’s brought us through our hardships.

Patient/gracious: In the midst of this description of everything our hallelujah has been through, we take a moment to pause and dwell on God’s character. He is patient, perhaps most so when we get angry at him during our suffering. And he is gracious toward us, extending his love and salvation to us no matter our circumstances or emotions, even if we have brought them on ourselves.

It is well: Because of God’s character, we can have the incomprehensible peace that comes from his Spirit, even in the midst of trials (Phil 4:7).

VERSE 2
The words here are poetically vague. Struggling with darkness might describe a battle with temptation, depression, illness, persecution, or almost anything else. In any case, the authors acknowledge that the struggle helps to cultivate humility. Paul makes this same connection in 2 Corinthians 12:7.

PRE-CHORUS 2
The image of a fire that refines gold comes from Malachi 3:1-4. This passage is about the Messiah, and it predicts that he will burn away all the impurities of Judah, her priests, and her worship. What comes out the other side will be pure like gold, though the process will be very painful. When we submit to the Lord in our suffering, it can have this same refining effect on us. James says as much when he tells us to rejoice when we face trials, because God will use them to cultivate perseverance in us and to perfect and complete our faith (Jam 1:2-4).

BRIDGE
Oh, oh, oh. Whoa. Oh, oh, oh. Whoa.

Accessibility

One of the strengths of this song is that it expresses deep experiences of suffering coupled with praise without getting lost in churchy language or hard-to-follow biblical references. I think most people would be able to understand the lyrics even with limited church background. The exception might be the word “hallelujah.” I think it’s become a generic word of celebration in our culture, divorced from its original meaning of “praise the Lord.”

I don’t think unchurched people will mind the metaphorical use of the word “hell.” In our culture, hell just means suffering. It’s only church people who will be bothered by that line.

The melody is kind of hard to follow, and the rhythms are a little tricky. The range is an octave plus a fifth, which isn’t unusual for a worship song, but it’s also pretty wide. Overall, I think this feels more like a blues solo type of song than a congregational worship song.

Music

The rough blues feel of this song is a perfect match for its lyric content. It expresses the pain as well as the resolve to keep fighting to praise God in every circumstance. This song uses contrast and dropouts exceptionally well to really dig into the words on the chorus.

Most of the song is reasonably playable for a church worship team except for the crazy instrumental bridge. I would probably skip that part.

Conclusions

This is tough. There is so much good about this song. I love that it captures the spirit of lament in a way that we often overlook in contemporary music. The blues style is also largely missing from our (white) churches. This song has a lot to teach about the complex relationship between praise and suffering. It is a valuable song that Christians should definitely listen to and meditate on.

No judgment to churches who continue to sing this song, but I think I have to regretfully land on a soft no. Here are my three reasons:
1. This song is more about the experience of praise than about the object of our praise. It’s about the hallelujah more than it is about God.
2. It’s going to be hard for the congregation to sing along. There’s only so much time on Sunday morning, and I want people to participate in as much of it as they can.
3. I just don’t like the “hell” line. I think it will offend/distract people. I also think it causes confusion about whether our suffering is wrathful hellfire or the merciful fire of God that refines us.

Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading, and thanks for thinking about what you sing! Until next time.

Image by Torsten Dederichs on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

LITTLE DRUMMER BOY –  Katherine Kennicott Davis

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

Most of us are familiar with Bing Crosby‘s version of “The Little Drummer Boy,” and some of us grew up watching the stop motion television special with the same name. More recently, it’s been covered by the Pentatonix and for KING & COUNTRY. This song originates with the pen of Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941, and it was first recorded ten years later by the Trapp family of Sound of Music fame (thanks, Wikipedia!).

But is “The Little Drummer Boy” biblically accurate, and should you sing it in church? Excellent questions! Many traditional Christmas songs are obviously not worship songs (looking at you, Frosty and Rudolph!) while others are eminently Christ-centered. This one is a little trickier because it seems to sit somewhere in the middle. Let’s imagine ourselves in the scene this song paints and ask, will it worship?

Focus

“The Little Drummer Boy” teaches the importance of bringing God our best, whatever that may be, and it does so through a simple fictional story of a poor boy playing a drum for baby Jesus in the manger.

This song isn’t addressed to God, and God isn’t the main subject. It’s primarily about the drummer boy and his gift. Jesus is portrayed as a poor, newborn king in a stable. Some versions call him Baby Jesus (or Jesu), but others just say “little baby.”

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
The first verse seems to be from the perspective of the wise men. Matthew 2:1-18 gives us their story in Scripture. As the song says, they had come to honor the baby king, and they offered him gold, frankincense, and myrrh, fine gifts indeed. So far, so good!

This verse also perpetuates the misunderstanding that the wise men came to visit baby Jesus at the manger. Matthew indicates that their visit took place at a house, not a stable, and Herod’s murder of all male babies in Bethlehem two years old and younger indicates that Jesus was likely a year or two old at the time. Is this an important error? I don’t know. I don’t see the harm in compressing the nativity story for narrative purposes, and I don’t think this inaccuracy has any practical or theological implications.

VERSE 2
Now we shift to the perspective of the little drummer boy himself. He’s a fictitious character inserted into the nativity story as a stand-in for ourselves. The drummer boy sees that baby Jesus is poor like he is, and he regrets that he has no gift to offer alongside the treasures presented by the wise men. I appreciate that this verse encourages us to identify with the poor, a regular concern of Christ and his disciples in the New Testament (Matt. 19:21, Luke 14:13, Rom. 15:26). In lieu of lavish gifts, the drummer boy can only offer his skill as a musician in worship.

VERSE 3
The author imagines Mary and the animals participating in the music. Again, fictitious, but harmless.

An important principle is presented in the line “I played my best for Him.” In the Old Testament, the Israelites were commanded that their sacrifices to God should be the best of their produce and livestock (Exo. 34:26, Num. 18:29). The New Testament teaches that in all our work we should strive for excellence, taking the perspective that our work is for the Lord, not merely for human masters (Col. 3:23-24).

Is response to the drummer boy’s gift, the baby Jesus smiles. This is reflective of Jesus’ attitude toward those who give generously out of their poor estate. In the story of the Widow’s Offering, Jesus elevates the humble gift of a poor widow above the large sums offered by the rich (Mark 12:41-43). Similarly, he honors Mary of Bethany for pouring out expensive perfume on him in worship rather than taking financial considerations into account (Mark 14:3-9). It seems clear that Jesus’ concern is the total offering of the heart in worship, not the monetary value of the gift.

Accessibility

This song uses a fictionalized version of a Bible story to make a simple point from the heart. I don’t think anyone who is paying attention will miss that. The message of giving the best that we have to Jesus instead of fretting about what we don’t have is easy for even a seeker or brand new believer to understand.

It is possible that someone could misinterpret this song as saying that God doesn’t want your money, just your worship or your talents or spiritual gifts. This would be an error. God wants your whole heart, and if he has your heart, your time, money, and talents will all become glad sacrifices (Matt. 6:21).

The repetitive melody and pa-rum-pum-pum-pums are easy to learn, and the whole song falls within the range of a minor 7th, so it is very singable.

Music

The song is short and has a simple 3-verse structure. Contemporary arrangements sometimes add instrumentals for added excitement. The tonicization in the middle of each verse adds tonal interest. This song can range from simple to very difficult depending on the arrangement chosen.

Conclusions

I’ve gone back and forth a few times while writing this post! At first, I thought this song would be a no. Then as I meditated on the line “I played my best for him,” and thought of the baby Jesus’ smiling on this offering like the adult Christ smiled on the widow’s offering, I changed my tune. God wants our hearts, and a heart devoted to Jesus will always offer him its best. This is an offering that God delights in. That is a timeless truth that bears repeating. Then I thought about whether this song is really to God or about God, and if I’m honest, it’s neither.

So, in summary, I think I have to give “Little Drummer Boy” a no for Sunday worship. Will it worship? Not really, though it might meditate. In my opinion, a kernel of truth couched in a cute fictional story isn’t the best use of the limited time we have to sing together on Sunday morning. But it is a beautiful kernel! If you’re looking for a Christmas Carol that expresses this idea more fully, I would encourage you to consider “In the Bleak Midwinter.”

In any case, our diminutive percussionist friend is a much better witness to Christ than either a nasally effulgent reindeer or an anthropomorphic snow creature, so let’s call it a soft no. 😉🎄

Image by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE – Bethel Music, Dante Bowe

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

“Anything Is Possible” is from Bethel Music’s 2020 album Revival’s in the Air. Dante Bowe delivers a powerful lead vocal on this track, and he is one of its writers along with Brandon Lake, Hannah McClure, and Michaela Gentile. I usually focus on reviewing brand new songs, but this one came to my attention because of a post in a Facebook group for worship leaders. The comments were divided; some people loved the song’s celebration of God’s power while others thought a particular line verged on heresy! Let’s take a look at this popular, divisive church tune and ask if “Anything is Possible” is biblical, and if it should worship.

Focus

This song celebrates God’s indomitable power. He can do anything, and nothing has any chance of stopping him. We also celebrate the breakthrough and victory that we experience through his victory.

The verses and bridge are sung directly to God (2nd person) while the chorus is sung to the congregation about him (3rd person). We mostly call him “you,” but in the chorus he is identified as “God.”

The chorus mentions “me” a lot, but only in a figure of speech: “show me one thing he can’t do.” The bridge uses a lot of “I” to describe the victory celebration of the worshipers and their leaving behind of negative emotions.

Lyric Analysis

VERSES 1 & 2
The first two verses follow the same pattern: they list powerful, bad things and declare that they are powerless before God. This is a great way to celebrate God’s power! When we list things that we are afraid of and then remind ourselves that God is greater, we mute the power of fear in our lives and redirect it as awe to the God who deserves it (Matt. 10:28). Regarding armies lacking the power to conquer truth, Church history has demonstrated that while persecution and violence may threaten or even decimate a Christian population, they can never fully stamp out the truth of the Gospel.

At the end of each verse, we remind ourselves that God has always been with us (John 14:16-17, Josh. 1:8-9), and then we say that we’ve already won every battle because God has already won every battle. This is true in a now/not yet kind of way. We’ve already won every battle because Jesus has already defeated sin and death on the cross. But we also haven’t already won every battle, because he hasn’t returned and ushered in the perfect new creation yet. We know the outcome will be victory, but we can’t pretend that we’re not still in the battle here and now.

My first problem with this song is the major Christological heresy in verse 2 (I don’t get to use the H word very often!). The song states (talking to God) that “there is no weapon that has ever left a mark on You.” That statement is true of God the Father and God the Spirit, but it is untrue of God the Son. Jesus was crucified, a spear pierced his side, and he still bears those wounds (John 19:18, 34, 20:27, Rev. 5:6). This isn’t a minor, obscure point of theology; this is at the very core of who Jesus is and how he saves us! The invincible God took on human flesh and allowed himself to be killed for us (Phil. 2:7-9).

Are there some ways to wiggle around this error? Sure. You could say that this song is addressed to the Father, not the Son. Or you could say that since the spear doesn’t exist anymore, the line is technically correct. Those arguments don’t hold up. We serve and sing to a triune God, and the emphasis of this line is on God’s inability to be wounded, not on the survival of the Spear of Destiny (which, incidentally, four different churches claim to possess). Pedantry notwithstanding, I’m not going to sing a lyric that contradicts the essential Gospel truth of Jesus’ wounds and scars.

CHORUS
The chorus uses rhetorical challenges to invite the listener to name anything that is impossible for God. Is anything too hard for him? Any mountain too high or waters too deep for him (Ex. 14, Matt. 17:20)? Of course not! We should face life with the knowledge that “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26).

I’m not quite sure what “God of the breakthrough” means because “breakthrough” has several different meanings. For most people, a breakthrough is a sudden leap forward in technology or understanding, or maybe the first hit single of a previously unknown music artist. In the context of this song, I think it means overcoming some sort of obstacle or defeating an enemy, like breaking through enemy lines in a battle. The main point of the song is that anything is possible for God, so I think the anticipated breakthrough could be any obstacle in the life of the worshiper.

VERSE 3
There is, in fact, a Kingdom, and it is, in fact advancing (Matt. 10:7, Matt. 16:18)! Saying it’s at the speed of light is an exciting line, but I’m not sure it really means anything. Certainly there have been times when the Kingdom has exploded in growth and influence, but there have also been lots of periods of regression and stagnation in Church history.

The line “every dead thing is bound to rise” could be misunderstood as teaching universalism, the idea that everyone will be saved, regardless of their belief in Jesus. The preceding phrase “and in his Kingdom…” mitigates this somewhat.

God is certainly our Redeemer (Gal. 3:13), and he is faithful, reviving our dead hearts in Christ, and one day he will fully resurrect those who believe in Jesus in a resurrection like his (Rom. 6:5). Hallelujah!

BRIDGE
The bridge celebrates a great reversal of fortune in the spirit of Psalm 30:11-12, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing…that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” A small but important difference is that in the Psalm, it is God who turns the mourning into dancing, while in this song, tho one crushing disappointment and turning fear into praise is “I.” It’s odd that the rest of the song is focused on God bringing breakthrough, but this part seems to present a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality. We can’t just shake off fear and despair and break chains on our own; we need God for that. I think that’s actually the truth this song is trying to present, but the first-person wording on the bridge confuses the issue.

Accessibility

“Anything Is Possible” is 95% easy to understand. The song uses plain, everyday language except for the churchy word “breakthrough.”

The bridge might be misunderstood. Based on the lyrics alone, it is the worshiper who is shaking off their own negative emotions. I think the author probably means that God is helping them do this, that just isn’t clear from the words.

The range is an octave plus a fifth, which is pretty wide for a congregation but not uncommon in worship songs. The rhythmic monotone singing of the bridge and chorus makes them more like a victory chant than a melody; they’re very easy to learn. The verses are easy to pick up too. This song is infectious and very congregational.

Music

This is an exciting, upbeat, celebratory song. It’s pretty easy to play, and it carries an almost irresistible impetus to get up and dance and clap. The music effectively supports the themes of the lyrics.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Nope.

Verse 1 was good, but I felt like this song’s theology went downhill from there. Even ignoring verse 2’s Christological heresy, the overall thrust of this song is triumphalistic. It hypes up the idea of living in Christ’s victory and having him break down all our obstacles without acknowledging that we don’t get to fully experience that victory this side of heaven. Jesus promises that we will face trouble in this world (John 16:33), and for anyone in the midst of suffering, I worry that this song extends toxic positivity rather than the peace of Jesus’ completed work on the cross.

Image by Ambreen Hasan from Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

REST ON US – Maverick City Music, Brandon Lake, Eniola Abioye

/ Jason Henry / 1 Comment

Maverick City Music has taken the worship world by storm over the last few years, and “Rest on Us” is one of a string of worship hits that have charted on CCLI. The song is a corporate cry for the experience of God’s Spirit and its easy melody and repetitive lyrics carry the listener along on a tide of prayer and longing. But is it the kind of prayer that we want to sing with our congregations? Is it the right kind of longing? Is “Rest on Us” biblical? Let’s see.

Focus

This song is a plea for the presence of God’s Spirit. It asks the Spirit to move, to fill the worshipers, to let Heaven in, and (as indicated by the title) to rest on the worshipers. It declares that the Spirit is all the singer wants.

Lyric Analysis

SONG TITLE

What does it mean for the Holy Spirt to rest on us (or fill us)? This is the central line of the song, so let’s make sure we understand it well before we look at the rest of the lyrics.

The Old Testament doesn’t use this language often, but it tells us that the Spirit rested on the elders of Israel and that they temporarily prophesied as a result (Num. 11:25-26). Isaiah also prophesies about the Messiah in Isaiah 11:2, saying, “the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

The OT says that the Spirit rushed upon David (1 Sam. 16:13), Saul (10:10), and Samson (Jud. 14:6). In each of these cases, the individual engaged in one or more miracles of prophesy or divinely empowered violence. In Exodus, a man named Bezalel is filled with the Spirit in order to craft the tabernacle and its furnishings (Ex. 31:2-3). Micah is also filled with the Spirit in order to declare Israel’s sin (Mic. 3:8), a typical task for OT prophets. I think these three words are interchangeable in the Old Testament, describing the Spirit acting with and through a human being to accomplish a miraculous purpose and usually to prophesy.

The New Testament uses all three words in Acts 2:2-4, when a sound like rushing wind fills the room, tongues of fire rest on the believers’ heads, and the Spirit fills them. It also says that the Spirit rests on Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism (Matt. 3:16) and that those who are mistreated for the name of Jesus have the Spirit resting on them (1 Pet. 4:14). The NT more often refers to the Spirit filling a believer. This happens to John the Baptist and both his parents (Luke 1:15, 41, 67), the disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2:4), Saul/Paul (9:17), Paul and Barnabas (13:50-14:1), and is commanded of believers in Ephesians 5:18. In every one of these cases, those who are filled with the Spirit speak the words of God afterward, whether through prophesy, tongues, proclaiming the Gospel, or singing.

To sum up! When we ask God’s Spirit to rest on us or fill us, we are not just asking for a feeling or experience. We are offering ourselves up as vessels so that God can speak and act through us. Being filled with God’s Spirit means I am committed to speaking God’s words.

VERSE 1
“As the Spirit was moving over the waters // Spirit, come move over us”
When did the Spirit move over the waters, and do we want Him to move over us in a similar fashion? This is a reference to Genesis 1:2, where the Spirit of God is hovering over the face of the waters. These waters are the unformed chaos of the pre-creation world, and God is about to fill them with light and then create the whole world out of this inhospitable blank slate. This is actually my favorite line in the song, though I suspect many listeners miss it. I think this line is a way of submitting to the transformative and creative power of God’s Spirit, offering our chaos and our unformed lives up to God as a canvas for Him to create something beautiful that suits his purpose and his pleasure.

CHORUS
“You’re here and I know You are moving // I’m here and I know You will fill me”
Asking the Holy Spirit to come down is perhaps unnecessary, but not harmful. Yes, the Spirit is already here; God is omnipresent (Jer. 23:24, Col. 1:17). In asking for the Spirit to come down, we are asking for his presence to be made evident in some way, not saying that he isn’t already present. This also applies to the later line “when you fill the room.” It’s referring to the visible or felt activity of the Spirit, not his actual presence versus his absence.

The next line, which says the Spirit will “make my heart pound” when he moves, is not my favorite. It could mean that the singer gets excited (heart pounding) when he or she sees evidence of the Spirit’s activity. That’s fine and good. I’m concerned that most people will take a simpler and less helpful approach to this line. Either A) If the Spirit is moving in your life, he will cause a palpable physical response. If your heart isn’t pounding, the Spirit isn’t moving. or B) “You make my heart pound” sounds like very romantic language, so we think our relationship with the Spirit is like a romantic relationship. “Jesus is my boyfriend songs” are problematic not just because they make worshipers uncomfortable, but because the individual Christian is not the Bride of Christ; the Church is (Eph. 5:31-32, Rev. 19:7-8).

This song refers continually to the Spirit moving. This isn’t a phrase that I can find in Scripture anywhere, but I don’t think it’s inherently problematic. Movement is activity. So if you believe the Spirit does anything today—from raising the dead to quietly prompting the heart of the believer—then you believe the Spirit moves. However, it’s very nonspecific. So each individual who hears or sings this song will import their understanding of what constitutes a movement of the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean for the Holy Spirit to fill us? See the above note on the song title.

VERSE 2:

This verse specifically references Pentecost, when there was a rushing sound of wind and tongues of fire rested on the believers (Acts 2:1-4). What’s not clear is which aspect of Pentecost the singer is asking the Holy Spirit to duplicate. If it’s the literal fire, wind, and tongues-speaking, I think this line is misguided. If it’s the manifest presence and activity of God that lead to proclamation of the Gospel and a turning of many hearts toward Jesus because of the Spirit’s ministry through the church, then yes, let’s pray for that! (I recently reviewed “The Dove,” another Holy Spirit song, which references Pentecost differently, and I think more helpfully!)

The gates come from Psalm 24:7, where they are opened to welcome in the King of Glory. This song refers to letting heaven in instead of God, but I think it’s clear from the context that this is a way of welcoming God’s presence so that he can make our world more and more like heaven, establishing his Kingdom in and through us.

BRIDGE:

“You’re all we want,” is a frequent refrain in worship songs. It’s not a statement of fact (we all want lots of things besides God). It’s an aspirational prayer. In singing “You’re all we want,” we are training our hearts to long for God like the deer longs for water in Psalm 42:1.

Accessibility

Clarity and context are big problems for this song. The Spirit’s activity is described through different biblical word-pictures, and an emotional response is articulated in modern language. What’s missing is any concrete explanation of what the Spirit is doing or what exactly we are asking him to do. This deprives the song of meaning for those who don’t know what the Spirit is doing in the referenced passages. And it leaves open a big hole into which anyone could insert their own poor understanding of what the Spirit’s ministry looks like.

As indicated above, I am concerned that the repeated line “when you move you make my heart pound” is likely to be interpreted in harmful ways. I have the same concern for the line “fire and wind, come and do it again.”

Music

This song has a powerful, slow-build, dynamic arc. I love the drums and the chord progression. The lyrics and melody are so catchy that it would be hard not to learn this song after hearing it once. I honestly enjoy the song, which makes it difficult to be so critical of the lyrics.

Conclusions

Will it worship? Not for me. This song is supposed to be a powerful emotional response to and plea for the moving of God’s Spirit, but those emotions need to be grounded in scriptural truth, not left adrift to anchor themselves to each singer’s vague idea of what the Spirit does.

Image by Maxim Medvedev from Unsplash

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

BELIEVE FOR IT – CeCe Winans, Lauren Daigle

/ Jason Henry / Leave a comment

Image by Marc Thunis from Unsplash

“Believe for It,” written by CeCe Winans, Dwan Hill, Kyle Lee, and Mitch Wong, is the title track from Winans’ early 2021 live album. It came to my attention when a new version came out this month featuring Lauren Daigle, and K-Love lists the original live recording as one of their top songs right now. I have enjoyed and worshiped to songs from both Grammy-winning artists before, so let’s see how the words of “Believe for It” measure up to Scripture.

Focus

There are two. The first is an unspecified obstacle, described as unmovable and unbreakable. The second (and more significant) is God’s power, as the singer trusts him to overcome the obstacle.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
Jesus tells us that faith can move mountains three times in the Gospels (Matt. 17:20, 21:21, Mark 11:23) and Paul references mountain-moving faith in 1 Corinthians 13:2, calling it worthless without love. No one ever moves a literal mountain into the sea in the Bible, so I think it’s safe to see these statements as metaphorical language for God’s power through faith. Winans is also speaking metaphorically. She’s concerned with some oppressive, seemingly unchangeable circumstance in the listener’s life, not geography.

This same obstacle is described as chains and an unchanging tide. Jesus says he came to give liberty to the captives and the oppressed in Luke 4:18. While God has certainly broken literal chains, such as when he freed Paul and Silas from jail in Acts 16, I believe the primary sense in which Jesus liberates us is from the spiritual forces of sin and darkness. In John 8:32-34, he says, “‘You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, “You will become free?'” Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.'”

CHORUS
“From the impossible
We’ll see a miracle
God, we believe
God, we believe for it”

What I like about the chorus, and the rest of this song, is that it extols God’s power. Nothing is immovable or unbreakable to him (see Ps. 29) Luke 1:37, referring to the upcoming miraculous births of John and Jesus, says “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

What I don’t like is that this song lets each listener decide what they are believing for. Whatever obstacle comes to your mind in verse 1 when you sing about unmoving mountains and unbreakable chains is likely what you’re going to be singing about in the chorus and bridge. Is it cancer? Financial strain or poverty? A sin addiction? A broken marriage? An abusive situation? There’s a big difference between believing God is able to fix something and believing that he will. Of course, we will ultimately be rescued from all of those things, but Scripture doesn’t promise that we will experience that rescue in this life. Jesus promises that he will work wonders through our faith in him (Matt. 17:20, John 14:12), but he also promises that we will experience persecution (John 15:20) and trouble, but can find peace in the midst of it because of his victory. (John 16:33). Paul tells us that reliance on God is how we find contentedness in prosperity and poverty, not how we get from one to the other (Philippians 4:11-13). While these lyrics don’t necessarily contradict Scripture, I think they are too open to misapplication.

VERSE 2

Our hope can never be lost because it is laid up for us in heaven (Col. 1:5). Jesus’ grave is empty because he rose from the dead, and we get to share in that resurrection (Matt. 28:6, Rom. 6:5). We should absolutely believe that there is power in the name of Jesus; this is the witness of the whole New Testament. Just do a Bible Gateway search on “Name of Jesus.” Demons are cast out and people are healed in his name (Acts 3:6, 16:18), we are baptized and sanctified in his name (Acts 2:38, 1 Cor 6:11), and every knee will one day bow at his name (Phil. 2:10).

BRIDGE 1

Jesus is the way in John 14:6. Verse 17 clarifies that this means he is the way to the Father, and there is no other way apart from him. The whole Bible is full of reasons to trust in God. Saying he has the “final say” refers to either his final victory and judgment, which will come by his powerful word (2 Peter 3:7) or his total sovereignty over the world, and by extension our circumstances (Psalm 22:28, Romans 8:28).

BRIDGE 2
“You said it, I believe it
You said it, it is done”

We should absolutely believe everything God has promised (Josh. 21:45). But we’d better be sure that when we say we’re believing for something because he said so, we’re believing in something that he’s actually promised in Scripture, not just something that we really, really want. We also need to make sure that we’re trusting God to fulfill his promises according to his timetable, not ours. Many of God’s promises to Israel didn’t find their ultimate fulfillment until the coming of Christ (Heb. 11:13), and others will not be fulfilled until he returns (2 Peter 3:8). So let’s be careful not to believe for “it” unless “it” is something that God has actually said.

Accessibility

I don’t think anyone would have difficulty grasping the meaning of this song. The metaphors are clear, and the words of the chorus and bridge are simple and repetitive. My concern is that anyone not thoroughly grounded in what God does and does not promise in Scripture is likely to sing this song with incorrect assumptions about what we should believe for.

Music

I’m a sucker for a good chord progression with changes on beat 4 leading into the next chords on beat 1, and this song has that. I also really enjoy the drum groove, which is classic and propels the song forward while the melody soars heavenward. That same melody is very repetitive and learnable. I don’t think this song would be difficult for worship teams to learn. The most challenging part would be achieving the gospel styling of the backing vocals and the ad-libbing of the lead singer. Winans utilizes both to powerful and moving effect. Of course she does; she’s a legend.

Conclusions

In an article about this song on K-Love’s website, Lindsay Williams quotes CeCe Winans as saying, “The song challenges people to not brush off your dreams; don’t give up or give in, but it’s time to believe that you can make it. Believe that you can achieve what’s in your heart. It’s time to believe for wholeness and healing for yourself, your family, and your community. It’s time to believe for unity.” Those aspirations are all good, and most are even Biblical. But the idea of following your dreams and achieving whatever is in your heart is not based on the truth of Scripture.

It’s an inspiring song, but I have to pass on it. The belief that is at the crux of the chorus never finds a concrete promise of God to stand on, so the listener is left to supply their own meaning, which could be anything. That’s dangerous and veers uncomfortably close to Word of Faith teaching and the Prosperity Gospel. What we should believe for is the return of Christ, when he will fully and finally reconcile all creation to himself, and the working of his Kingdom in and through us now, which rarely happens the way we expect it to.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.