Your Love Awakens Me — Phil Wickham
SONG BACKGROUND
Your Love Awakens Me is a song co-written by Phil Wickham and Chris Quilala, originally sung by Phil Wickham, who is best known for “This Is Amazing Grace,” released in 2014, and “Battle Belongs,” re-released in 2020. Your Love Awakens Me was released on April 22, 2016, as the lead single from the album Children of God; it introduced the album's main theme: celebrating our identity in Christ. Pete Kipley produced it, and Neal Avron mixed it.
Before making Children of God, Wickham had just gone through a period of problems and lost his voice. He eventually went to the doctor, where he had to have surgery on his vocal cordsand remaine silent for six weeks after the surgery. This was a very hard time for Wickham, because he feared he might never be able to sing again. For Phil Wickham, music was not only his job, but it was how he worshipped. Later, Wickham explained that through this experience he learned that God loved him with or without his voice and that he could go to God no matter what as Gods child. This experience became one of the inspirations for this album.
THE MESSAGE
Verse 1
There were walls between us
By the cross, You came and broke them down
You broke them down
And there were chains around us
By Your grace, we are no longer bound, no longer boundYou called me out of the grave
You called me into the light
You called my name, and then my heart came alive
In the first verse, we are given a great example of the gospel. He tells us we are separated from the Lord and held back by chains, but in the same verse, he tells us how God came down and made a way for us to be together. God breaks our chains. The first verse shows all that God has done for us by referencing “Galatians 5:1 — It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Verse 2
Feel the darkness shaking
All the dead are coming back to life, oh, back to life
Hear the song awaken
All creation singing, “We’re alive, ’cause You’re alive”You called me out of the grave
You called me into the light
You called my name, and then my heart came alive
Verse 2 uses imagery of the transformation from death to life with Christ, comparing our spiritual awakening to Christ's resurrection. This verse connects to many passages of Scripture, as many stories show Christ calling people out of sin into life. The main scripture reference of this verse is John 11:43: “And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” This verse is a small part of the story of Lazarus, whom Jesus called out after he had been dead for 4 days, and who walked right out of the tomb when Jesus called his name.
Chorus
Your love is greater, Your love is stronger
Your love awakens, awakens, awakens me
Your love is greater, Your love is stronger
Your love awakens, awakens, awakens me
This chorus has a major emphasis on God's love and how truly strong it is compared to the things of this world. The chorus is referencing Ephesians 2:4–6 “4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
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Bridge
And what a love we’ve found
Death can’t hold us down
We shout it out, “We’re alive, ’cause You’re alive”
And what a love we’ve found
Death can’t hold us down
We shout it out, “We’re alive, ’cause You’re alive”
The bridge of this song is mostly just repeating the most important themes of what we hear in the verses and chorus of the song. It reemphasizes the love that we talked about in the chorus and the alive in Christ theme that was in the second verse of the song. “Your Love Awakens Me” is about spiritual resurrection. Wickham explains that the song is about God's life-giving love and how God's love is always stronger than anything you can go through.
BIBLICAL ACCURACY
Phil Wickham's song “Your Love Awakens Me” is biblically accurate because its central message reflects the truth of God's love displayed in the Bible. Throughout Scripture, we see that we as humans are spiritually dead because of sin in our world, but through Christ and his gift of salvation, we are able to be alive in Christ. One of the strongest biblical references to this song is Ephesians 2:4–5. This passage directly supports the message that God's love gives us new life in him. This is not by our own works but because of Jesus’s death on the cross. Overall, this song is scripturally sound, and the lyrics consistently reflect biblical themes and teachings.
Scripture References
) Ephesians 2:1–10
) Ephesians 2:13–18
) Ephesians 5:8–14
) Romans 6:1–11
) Romans 8:35–39
) 1 Corinthians 15:50–57
SONG MUSICALITY
“Your Love Awakens Me” is a high-energy contemporary Christian praise song that has a strong melody with a very upbeat tempo. It is originally sung in the key of B with a 4/4 time signature. The song has a simple and repetitive melody that makes it easy for people to memorize and sing. The Song also has a very predictable rhythm, which helps the congregation clap, move, or sing along to the beat. This song is best for churches that respond well to contemporary praise music. For a more traditional church, the band might find this song difficult to play because of its energetic style and fast rhythms. “Your Love Awakens Me” has potential to be a strong congregational song because of its memorable melody, upbeat rhythms, and ability to encourage active participation. With good musical training and preparation, the song can create an energetic and engaging worship experience for the church congregation
OVERALL EVALUATION
“Your Love Awakens Me” by Phil Wickham is a Christian worship song that combines meaningful lyrics with engaging musicality. The biblical message communicates God's beautiful love and salvation through Christ. It has an upbeat tempo and a memorable melody, making it a great choice for congregational worship. Ultimately, “Your Love Awakens Me” is a passionate worship song that uses biblical truth and musical expression to encourage believers to celebrate the new life they have in Christ Jesus.
