With You I Now Commune

Behind This Song:
My Pastor was teaching through the Gospels and I felt the Lord pressing on me an urgency to write a song for Communion. I had been praying and the Lord told me, "Pick up your guitar, I want to teach you this song." 

"Okay, Lord!!!" YAY!!! 

The vision behind this song is the first two verses are an explanation of what is going on with communion. 

The chorus is the response of the people to the remembrance. The whole church is to join in at this part, "Hallelujah, Hallelu, Halleluah, With You I Now Commune!"

The reading of Luke 22 is STRONGLY encouraged for a worship leader to memorize and recite it just like in the recording. This part especially blessed my pastor. 

The last verse is then a personal response to the reading of the scripture, to be followed by a STRONG chorus of "Hallelujah"'s from the people!! 

Scripture:
Luke 22:17-20

Recommendation:
Communion only.

You Are

Behind This Song:
This song was written when my Pastor was going through the book of Hebrews. At that time it only had the first verse, the chorus, and the bridge at the end. Then I wanted to bring this song back when we were studying Acts and a few other new testament books, so I wrote the second verse.

I wanted this song to list the things that Jesus is.
Great High Priest.
Passover Lamb.
Great I Am.
The Promise.
Our Reward.
Our Hope.
The Living Word.
Our Comforter.
The Prince of Life.
The Just.
The Merciful.
Father, Spirit and Son, the Trinity.
The Lover of Our Souls.

These attributes lead us to worship Him!
Oh how Glorious You Are! How Wondrous! How Worthy are You! How Holy are You!

Scripture:
Hebrews 4:14-16, Hebrews 10:1-18, Genesis 3:15, Colossians 3:24, Acts 3:14-15 and many More!!

Recommendation:
This could be for worship, afterglow, small group or outreach since it could be used to teach people about who Jesus is as well as be used to worship Him. 

For afterglow I would focus on the bridge a lot. "We lift high your name...".
However, for an outreach, I would focus more on the rest of the song.

You Are Worthy

Behind This Song:
This was the FIRST worship song I ever wrote. 

I actually was writing songs for outreach events and didn't really know how to play the guitar at the time so I was writing to beats I found on the internet. I found this beat that had a sort of a guitar-feel to it and just started putting words to it. Within a matter of 10 minutes, this song had been birthed! I had a sister in the church at the time who played the piano give me chords for the song and teach me how to play them. The strumming was hard for me to learn being new at the guitar, but I love the feel the song has and I am so glad I kept pressing on to learn it the way the beat had it laid out. 

Scripture:
Since I wrote this so many years ago, I don't have any record of scripture that I wrote this song around. 

Recommendation:
Worship!! After glow and small group too. 

You Alone

Behind This Song:
This was actually the second worship song I ever wrote. I remember I thought it was pretty lame until I played it for a brother I really admired and he told me it was his favorite song of the two I had written at the time. 

I had been in love with the book of Psalms from the age of 15 when I started playing guitar and falling in love with worship my Jesus. I also had been learning that it was ONLY Jesus that I lived to please. No one else's opinion mattered. No one else's approval mattered. 

Scripture:
Psalm 73:23-26

Recommendations:
Worship, Afterglow, Small Group.

Blessed Is My King (Hosanna)

Behind This Song:
My Pastor was teaching through the gospels and the book of Matthew was coming up. I knew each gospel portrayed a different characteristic of Jesus. Jesus the man, the servant, the second person of the triune God, and finally the King. 

As I read through Matthew, I was struck by how odd we must seem glorifying this king whose crown was a crown of thorns. He was a servant, washing feet and eating with sinners and prostitues! He rode in on a donkey, not a valiant horse. He was hated by most His countrymen, and betrayed and denied by those who did believe in Him. He was killed as a criminal when all He did was come to save them!

Hosanna is an expression of praise, adoration or joy! 

Scripture: 
Matthew 21:9, Matthew 6:8-13

Recommendation:
Worship. Afterglow. Small group. Outreach (since it illustrates to nonbelievers who Jesus is). 

This would be ideal for a study through the gospels, specifically Matthew. 
Also if your Pastor is going through the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7).

Still

Behind This Song:
May oldest daughter, Ahavah, was diagnosed with a bleeding disorder. The doctors were never fully convinced her diagnosis was what was truly going on with her. She also had severe lead poisoning. After several months in and out of hospitals and numerous times holding her facing the reality this may be my last time holding her with breath in her lungs, I closed myself away in my room and started strumming the chords to this song. 

I was simply pouring my heart out to the Lord. "Even if you took my daughter home, I will still love You. If you took all my children I would still love You. You are such a good God! They would be with You! She would be with You!"

The song, Blessed be Your Name, kept ringing through my head, as well as It Is Well With My Soul. In no attempt to match the pain and suffering the authors of these songs must have went through to write these, I was still singing a similar song. 

Still I will praise You! 

Still I will sing of Your Great Name! 

Still I will tell of how Good You are! 

Scripture:

Job 13:15 was the scripture given to us a number of times and what influenced me in writing this song.

Recommendation:

This is not intended to be a worship song. This was originally a song to encourage those who are facing hard times in their lives. This could be utilized as an after glow song as a response to a moving of the Holy Spirit. 

Power To Save

Behind This Song:
After Obama won his second election, I was so filled with fear for where our country was heading. I kept running through many scenarios in my head of my kids eventually being taken away from me because of our belief in Christ, them starving to death because our economy will collapse, or them being killed from people going crazy when our economy crashes. 

The Lord continually reminds me of how He is on the throne. He is in control. The battle we fight is NOT against flesh and blood, but a spiritual battle, and we have the ALMIGHTY GOD on our half. We are His children! HALLELUJAH!!!

Scripture:
2 Corinthians 12:9-11, Acts 1:8, Romans 15:13, 1 John 4:18, Pslam 38:4-9, Pslam 51:9, Isaiah 53:5 and MANY more!

Recommendations:
I play this for Sunday morning worship. The chorus is really easy to learn/teach and you can step of the microphone often and allow the people to sing without you. You can stop playing the guitar and just let the people sing and slowly bring the guitar back and and build the song up again, and again. The words are written to be identifiable for everyone. Everyone feels small in their faith, weak in their strength, fearful, and unworthy due to sin. But God is powerful, strong, and faithful! 

Depending on the message your pastor is teaching, this would also work for after glows.

When Christ Shall Come

Behind the Song:
I wrote this when my Pastor was doing an Overview of the Bible. He was going through a book a week and was teaching on 1 & 2 Thessalonians. I wanted a song that reflected the Lord returning and the hope we have in Him! But I wanted it to be worshipful so I could do it in the Sunday Morning set as a worship song. 

Needless to say, I worked on a song for a few weeks and didn't have peace at all about where it was headed. It was the night before 2 Thessalonians and I tore up everything I had worked on. I sat down, prayed, read over the scripture again, and wrote this song in a matter of 15 minutes. Praise the Lord!

Scripture:
1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11; 2 Thessalonians 1; Revelation 4

Recommendations:
This is a GREAT worship song! It has a faster beat so it's grew to start or finish a set with. Focus on the Holy, Holy, Holy is our God as this is the most worshipful part of the chorus.

Cleanser of My Soul

Behind This Song:
There are so many times when I just fall to my knees in tears and in awe that God would ever use me to accomplish His purposes! That He would use me to influence other people's lives and stir them onto a deeper relationship with Him! I fall SO short of being worthy to have any influence per anyone!

"God! I can't do Your work! You know me! I am so sinful! I just can't seem to get things right. If I am involved in people's lives, I'll surly mess them up! Your Grace is just... amazing... that You would use a sinner like me!!"

And hence, this song. I never meant for this to become a song. I simply start singing my heart out to the Lord and He formed it into verses and a chorus. So praise be to the Lord!

Scripture:
This song wasn't written from a specific scripture source, but there is plenty in the Bible about God cleansing us from our sins.

Recommendations:
This is an afterglow song and/or a response to a message. Also good for small groups and prayer groups.