Let’s start with a basic assumption: you are interested in what happens in your church’s worship services. If you are any kind of pastor theologian, you should be interested.
Try this exercise with me. Think about your past few worship services. What songs did your congregation sing? Some of the songs from my church’s past few Sundays include “His Mercy Is More,” “Jesus Messiah,” “Grace Greater than Our Sin,” and “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.” Then, ask how each song was used. For example, I used “His Mercy Is More” as an opening declaration of praise, “Jesus Messiah” to introduce a Lord’s Supper service, “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” during a time of confession, and “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” as an invitation to commitment. Finally, because this article is being written to pastor theologians, review the text to evaluate how the song was intended to be used.
Sometimes, perhaps regularly, song leaders try to use a song in a way other than its text intends. There are countless ways this can happen, but I want to focus on the surprisingly common scenario in which we fill our “worship service” with songs that are not “worship songs.”
Wait . . . what?
Think about this with me. How would you define a “worship song”? I define it as a song that is either to or about the Triune God, sung in such a way that encourages corporate participation. (Please note that I’m talking about corporate worship in this article; personal and private worship opens many unique, and separate, possibilities.) Can we agree to use that definition for now? Now consider those four songs I mentioned above. Ask these questions:
Who is the song to?
What is the song about?
Who is the supposed singer?
“His Mercy Is More” is a song to be sung by Christians to one another to celebrate God’s mercy. “Jesus Messiah” could be sung by anyone to make objective declarations about Jesus and salvation in Him. “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” is a song to be sung by Christians both to other Christians to celebrate God’s grace and to non-Christians to invite them to experience God’s grace. “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” is a song to be sung by Christians to remind each other about God’s incredible love.
Did you notice anything about that list? All of those songs really only make sense when sung by a Christian, which is a good mark of a worship song. All of those songs are clearly about a biblical attribute of God, which is a good mark of a worship song. But none of those songs is actually directed to God. In fact, looking through the songs my church enjoys singing, many of them are not actually sung to God but are rather sung about God. To be sure, my church uses plenty of songs sung to God, like “Living Hope,” “Speak, O Lord,” and “How Great Thou Art,” but they are in the minority. And that’s fine! Either category can be defined as a worship song.
“How Great Thou Art” opens up a subcategory in which the text jumps back and forth (verse 3 is about God, the rest of the song is to God). Whether or not I like it as a technique, it is not uncommon. Kari Jobe took “Be Still, My Soul,” a text by Katharina von Schlegel sung to our souls about God’s sovereignty, and added a chorus sung to God—“you” goes from meaning “my soul” to “God” and back without warning (the only indicator would be a capital “You” which I’m noticing more and more typists ignore, but that’s for another day). Matt Redman’s popular “10,000 Reasons” does a variant: the song is sung to God, but it mixes in “my soul” as a “you” in the chorus.
If you have a group of Christians who think about the texts and can actively translate those lyrics into their own heart’s worship of God, then everything is fine. But I have had to explain all three of those songs to individuals in my church (namely the object-jumping), and I have come away with the same worry: “what was going through your mind while you were singing that song after I had told you we were using it to worship God?”.
This leads to the purpose of this article. Is there a point in time in your worship service when the song leader says something like “let’s worship God together” or implies that you are all about to worship God? Assuming as much, shouldn’t that mean that what follows is worship? I say it should, which is why I say that worship leaders should make certain that it does.
The Unintended Misdirection of “Raise a Hallelujah”
I would be very surprised if you don’t immediately know which song I am talking about. It charted #2 on Billboard, is currently a top ten song on the major “church use” lists (Lifewayworship, Praisecharts, and CCLI), and was nominated for 2019 Dove Award. I would not be surprised if your church has sung it or had it sung in a service. If that’s true, I hope you have taken the time to learn a little about the song. It’s a product of the growing Bethel Music community based in northern California and associated with the Pentecostal Bethel Church. It was a result of a call to prayer for the dangerously ill children of a Bethel Music executive. When the children recovered, Bethel Music decided to include the song on its 2019 album, Victory.
It’s an intentionally simple song about the supernatural effects of prayer, about relying on prayer and worship as a weapon to overcome fear and sickness:
I raise a hallelujah in the presence of my enemies.
I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief.
I raise a hallelujah; my weapon is a melody.
I raise a hallelujah; Heaven comes to fight for me.
I’m gonna sing in the middle of the storm,
Louder and louder, you’re gonna hear my praises roar.
Up from the ashes, hope will arise,
Death is defeated, the King is alive.
I raise a hallelujah with everything inside of me.
I raise a hallelujah; I will watch the darkness flee.
I raise a hallelujah in the middle of the mystery.
I raise a hallelujah; fear, you lost your hold on me.
Sing a little louder
In the presence of my enemies!
Sing a little louder,
Louder than the unbelief!
Sing a little louder!
The song has encouraged and inspired many Christian to face difficult situations.
It also has the word “hallelujah” in the title.
“Hallelujah” automatically means “worship song” right? That seems to be the prevailing notion, and not just from the informal interviewing I did for this article. The Gospel Music Association, which presents the Dove Awards, nominated “Raise a Hallelujah” in their “Worship Recorded Song of the Year” (they have other categories they could have chosen). They define “worship song” thus: “Songs specifically used to lead churches in worship, which invite participation, and which tend to have a vertical focus toward God rather than toward the listener; and which have had a significant impact in congregational worship during the eligibility period.” And everywhere I have heard this song used (disclosure: we have not used it at my church), it has been used as a worship song.
But is it? All right, theologians, read the lyrics carefully.
Who is the song to? That’s actually not clear. The first verse is a declaration; it’s almost irrelevant who it is sung to. It’s not sung to God. I don’t think it’s sung to other Christians—it is too boastful for that. It might be sung to myself, as in a personal encouragement. The chorus has a “you” in it. There, it’s definitely not “my soul,” and it’s way too brash to be God or other Christians. In the second verse, “you” is clearly defined as “fear,” but it is not clear if that is a representation of my inner turmoil or a representation of the enemies (agents of Satan) that I am raising the hallelujah in the presence of. I think it’s the latter. Based on what I know of the artists, the church, the text, and the way the song is presented, I think this song is “to” our enemies; it is sung in defiance of the power of Satan in our lives and circumstances.
What is the song about? It is about me and how I overcome adversity through prayer and worship. If you are in a devotional state of mind when singing it, you realize that the cause of your bold declaration is the victory of Jesus over death and the promise of the arsenal of heaven for victory over Satan. But that is mostly implied. On its face, this is a song about me.
Who is the supposed singer? I know that’s a clunky question; it means “can a non-Christian sing this song with integrity?” This is clearly a song for Christians. Even though the wording is just vague enough to make a non-Christian think he can sing along, we know that the things declared in the text can only be true of Christians.
So let’s take stock. This song is a boast directed at the enemies of God in the vein of 1 Corinthians 15:54-57: “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Just as Paul needed to remind the Corinthians of those stakes, so should we remind the enemies of God that their defeat is sure.
But that doesn’t make it a worship song.
This is where the misdirect comes from: the “hallelujah” in the title refers not to the song itself, but the song this song is about. This song is not the hallelujah; this song is about the hallelujah that we raise in the presence of our enemies. Does that make sense? This song is not a worship song; this song is about a worship song. Perhaps the writers did so because they want us to inject our own worship song (which would be really cool writing). Whatever their reason, they did not put a hallelujah in the song, and so it is not a worship song.
So, what is it? There are actually many, many songs like this in our hymnals. I immediately think of the Hank Williams classic, “I’ll Fly Away.” Think about that song. It’s a random declaration made to anyone in earshot that “I’m flying away when I die” (no mention of Jesus, no clue given as to the audience, but has the word “hallelujah” in it). Other songs that come to mind include “Because He Lives,” “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” “Amazing Grace”, and “Come, Ye Sinners.” They’re not to God; they’re mostly directed to non-Christians to encourage them to come to Jesus. They’re not really about God; they’re about us. More specifically, they’re about how our relationship with Jesus has affected us.
The Proper Use of “Raise a Hallelujah” and Songs like It
We have a category for those songs. They are testimony songs. They are songs about us, the believer, and how our Christianity works itself out in our lives. When we use them rightly, they equip us with words and emotions to encourage us in our circumstances and to share with others why we are so glad to be followers of Jesus Christ. They are a part of our testimony.
They are very effective in times of private worship because they can be so personal. There are countless thousands of testimony songs in our ecosystem; more than a few of them will apply to you and a specific circumstance in your life. You then absorb that song into your personal relationship with God, and it helps you express your hope and your gratitude. That makes a testimony song very valuable and powerful. So powerful, in fact, that when my wife got wind that I would be analyzing “Raise a Hallelujah” in this article, she was ready to fight me. (We’ve worked it out.)
Can they be used in a corporate worship service? Absolutely. But I make sure to distinguish between a worship song and a testimony song. I never want to give the people in attendance the idea that they’re giving worship to God when in fact they’re singing about themselves. Here are some informal guidelines you might consider for testimony songs:
Don’t fill your worship service with testimony songs; prioritize worship songs.
Open or close a testimony song with a spoken testimony from a church member or with the Bible verse it is inspired by.
Use a testimony song as a solo—something that helps those present categorize that song as a personal declaration.
Have prayer services or “services of encouragement” where you lean on testimony songs.
My concerns with Christian songs are rarely with the songs themselves. Those songs are products of that writer’s circumstances and personal relationship with God. My concerns are with how Christian leaders use those songs. In the case of “Raise a Hallelujah,” leaders have indiscriminately decided to use it as a worship song. Is that a big deal? Maybe, if it is a symptom of a careless attitude toward preparing for corporate worship. We need to be careful and intentional about the songs we use in worship.
Matt Ward is an Associate Pastor at First Baptist Church in Thompson, GA. He holds a PhD in Baptist and Free Church Studies from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a member of the St. John Fellowship of the CPT.
