Track List

Writing many songs over 4-5 years, it’s a bit challenging deciding which ones should get into the album and which ones to leave out.

After lots of reflection and prayer, sensed the Lord leading me to bring out a collection of songs that is totally Trinity focused. The idea is to have 3 songs of the Father, 3 of the Son and 3 of the Holy Spirit and culminating with the final track worshipping the Trinity.

This meant I am short by one ‘Holy Spirit’ song, so requested a good friend/sister-in-Christ/worship leader/songwriter, Sheetal if I could use one her songs ‘O Come’ and she graciously agreed. I love this song - an infectious chant, already popular and widely used in India.

So here’s the final track list:

      01. We Will Follow
      02. Reign Lord Reign
      03. All Hail Yahweh
      04. Praise The Lord Our God
      05. Awake O My Soul
      06. Song Of Christ
      07. O Come
      08. Sweet Anointing (Rain Down)
      09. Holy Spirit, Purify Me
      10. Sanctus

Now all I need is an album title…

No Other gods

Is God really the object of my worship?

I frequently challenge myself with this question.

Worship sessions sometimes have the potential to subtly create many other gods - the song...the music...the stage...the band...the people...the compliment...the musical instrument...my skill...my voice...and...me. Any of these can become an idol.

Makes me realize how much prayer I need to keep my focus on God alone!

John 4:23 - "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." Am I this kind of a worshipper?

Through our lives and through our worship, can we influence others to worship in spirit and truth? If we can achieve that, then we would be genuine worship leaders.

Then the worship sessions will be more fruitful in terms of changing us on the inside. For what good is the ‘worship’ if we simply sing a few songs, rattle off some prayers and leave without meeting the God we are supposed to worship?

John 20:10-13 reveals even the presence of angels did not satisfy Mary Magdalene for the only person she was seeking was Christ - nothing less could satisfy her. And that should be our sole desire too when we worship - encountering God.

There are 3 authentic signs of encountering God, everything else is secondary:

1. Realization of our sinfulness leading to sincere repentance - Luke 5:8, Isaiah 6:5, Luke 7:38.

2. Experience of God's forgiving love - Luke 15:20, Isaiah 6:6-7

3. Transformation in our lives: turning from sin and finding purpose in life. - Acts 9:19-21, Isaiah 6:8-9.

If we can deliver worship sessions that enable us to encounter our holy God and experience these signs, how awesome would that be!

Lord, fill me with the grace and charism to meet this goal above all else. May You always be the only One I worship, Amen.

"It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" - Luke 4:18

Song Story: ‘Song of Christ’

One day, this timeless hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ kept playing in my mind repeatedly for a few hours; after awhile, for no particular reason, started singing verses from Luke 4:18-19 and John 6 to the tune of ‘Amazing Grace’ and suddenly something sparked off the idea for ‘Song of Christ.’

Riding back from work that evening, as I kept humming to myself, the tune slowly started changing and by the time I got home, the basic idea of the lyrics and melody were already there.

Still remember running frantically to my room, switching on the voice recorder in my mobile phone, hunting for my guitar and desperately praying ‘Lord, please let me remember this one!’

Thank God for voice recorders! The song was fully done in a few days, which is unusually fast for me.

Struggled more with the title to be honest – finally deciding to call it ‘Song of Christ.’ Sort of felt the whole mission of Jesus is summarized in Luke 4:18-19 and John 6; that He will set us free from death if only we would believe in Him and give ourselves to Him; this to me is really His life-song.

The night I finished writing and composing it, I knew someone else should sing this one; reason being this is a Jesus-singing-in-the-first-person kind of lyric (probably my first prophetic song), and somehow it made more sense to have a different male voice singing it.

Had only one person in mind: my good friend and fellow worship leader/songwriter gifted with a voice I’d gladly kill for - Robert Martin.

Sent Robby a raw recording of the tune and he agreed to sing it without hesitation, good fella!

Lose That Pride

The Bible says in Psalm 92:1, “It is good to give thanks to Yahweh, to make music for your name Most High...” And so obediently we worship in our personal/family prayer and in community services like the Mass or prayer meetings. Because we know it is good as per God's word.

And yet the Bible also says in Romans 11:35-36, “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things…Amen.”

If we take both verses together we cannot help but ask

              - if nothing can be given to God, who is it good for to give worship and thanks to Him?

              - and why is it good?

The first one is easier to answer, worship is good...for us.

To understand why, we need to understand pride.

"...you will be like gods..." (Genesis 3:5) was a temptation that our first parents could not resist. And it is a temptation all of us struggle with today...for who does not enjoy being in control...of self, of family, of school, of office or of even ministry? We love to be in charge and do what we want...like gods.

Pride is a reservoir of all other sins and one of it's offspring, greed (for wealth) is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). Pride turns our focus away from God and urges us to lift ourselves up selfishly and be like gods (Isaiah 14:13-14). No wonder pride is the first of the seven deadly sins (Proverbs 6:16-19).

Contrast this with worship, which calls for humble submission to another, acknowledging another as greater than ourselves, admitting another as god.

Pride and worship are therefore spiritual opposites. For pride says 'I am god', whereas worship says 'you are god.' This is why God's word commands us to worship no other but the Lord (Luke 4:8), because what/who we worship becomes our God.

As William Temple once said, “Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His Beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose – and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.”

The more we worship the one true God, the more we will receive grace to become humble, overcome pride, die to selfishness and live a life of victory over sin placing others before self.

So come, let us worship the Lord.