Your Mercy is the newest release from one of Christian music’s most prolific and beloved worship leaders, Paul Baloche. His songs have blessed worshipers for twenty years including “Open the Eyes of My Heart,” “Hosanna (Praise is Rising),” “Above All,” “Your Name,” “Just to Be with You,” “How Great is the Love,” “The Same Love” and “He is Risen.” Those songs all express the deep love Jesus has for us and how His mercy and grace is something we don’t deserve which causes our hearts to overflow with gratefulness.
“Songwriting is a big part of my spiritual life,” Paul shares. “It helps me go deeper with God. It helps me fix my mind on Jesus, to set my mind on things above. It keeps my own heart fresh and alive, for myself, my family, and the Church. When I’m writing songs,” Paul says, “I think, ‘Will this help the Church worship God? Will this help people connect with Him?’ I want to make music that they can believe in.” I had the chance to speak with Paul about “Your Mercy.”
Please tell me the personal story behind this song.
We were at a songwriting retreat at Camp Harvest with the Harvest Bible Church and Vertical Church Band worship teams and others a couple of hours north of Chicago. We spent a couple of days praying, worshiping, eating, and split up half the days with other songwriters.
One of the days we happened to choose this little spot over by a lake. It’s a pretty rustic setting, and I was with Andi Rozier and Jonathan Smith. We were sharing ideas from our journals back and forth with each other. The idea of the song opens with confessing our testimonies to the Lord.
Andi and I have similar testimonies. We grew up outside of the church and had our conversion experience with the Lord in our late teens and early twenties, when we had our coming to Christ transformation moments.
In our conversations about that is where the first few lines of the song came from. “I once was lost” opens the song, like the hymn “Amazing Grace.” Instead of immediately saying “I once was lost, and now I’m found,” we go a little bit deeper into the transformation story and the process by not immediately expressing being found, but with a similar acknowledgment like in “Amazing Grace” where we allow the story to go a little deeper and then express our gratitude for God’s mercy.
Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?
1 Peter 1:3 (NKJV): “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
1 Peter 3:15 (NIV): “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
Romans 2:4 (NIV): “Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
Watch the music video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ7xzvmAAAQ
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