Ever since the first time I heard the album The End Is Where We Begin by Thousand Foot Krutch, I wanted to know more about the story behind the song "Fly on the Wall." The song addresses one of the main themes of the album, "Be the change," as also addressed in the hit song "War of Change." Trevor and I previously spoke about how he came out of his writer's block for this album with the personal ballad, "Be Somebody," where he realized he needed to submit to the power of the Holy Spirit in his life to work in his heart and give him the words to sing.

What's especially cool about "Fly on the Wall" is how the dream sequence lyrics sprinkled with biblical descriptions of how God's Kingdom of believers includes us, and that He thinks of us as royalty, described in the song as "Kings and Queens." We need that type of supernatural power of God's Spirit within us to overcome our addictions and sinful natures. That's what the song is about. I had the great opportunity to interview Trevor in person about the song before their set at Winter Jam in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Please tell me the personal story behind writing this song.

This was one of those inspiring moments and is very different for us musically. It was a bit of a risk as we hadn't stepped into this territory with this style of song. That was why I was excited to go there. This song is about someone speaking to their addictions and written from the point of view of me describing it in a dream. 

The idea originally was about a person having a dream and in this dreamscape looking at what they were going through, and talking to the addictions in your life, and choosing whether to let them control you or not. To me, I was excited to see what God wanted to do with the song looking at the chorus of "I don't think I need you anymore." The idea of all of us singing that together as an anthem, talking to the problem, and looking it in the face was really powerful to me.

When I picture us singing this chorus together, speaking to our addictions, mountains and vices, it gives me chills. It has been so cool to see God use this song to touch people with everything from drug abuse, to suicidal thoughts to people who thought they had no hope in their life. It's been exciting and so encouraging to learn so many amazing stories of how God has used this song to speak to people.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song? 

Acts 26:18 (The Voice): "It will be your mission to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. This is so that they may receive forgiveness of all their sins and have a place among those who are set apart for a holy purpose through having faith in Me."

Galatians 5:13 (The Voice): "Brothers and sisters, God has called you to freedom! Hear the call, and do not spoil this gift by using your liberty to engage in what your flesh desires; instead, use it to serve each other as Jesus taught through love."

What is the takeaway message?

Something that spoke to me in the song is in the pre-chorus, "I'm on the run from a thief I let into my head I know, I hold the keys, so don't be scared." It's so honest and felt so real to me. 

Sometimes we let the things that destroy us back into our lives and we are our own worst enemy. We stand in the way of what we feel we are supposed to do, or what God is calling us to do. I feel like this song is full of that sort of honesty. The other thing is that this song is about spiritual warfare. This song very much goes with "War of Change" and the heart of this album. There is urgency to the song and the album, and in dealing with spiritual warfare. The part of the song, "we were free, but we all wore chains" deals with that concept. That is real to me. 

God has set us free and He has paid the cost for us. It is our choice whether we want to live in bondage, but God has paid the price for our freedom. "Be the change" became the slogan of the album, and "War of Change" was one of the early songs. There is a spirit of urgency throughout the album about taking hold of our faith and who we are in Christ. On a life level, we had finished our record contract, and we took a huge faith step to go independent and turned down record deals. We knew this was what God called us to do. He is always faithful, and He has really blessed that. Sometimes the most exciting moments in our lives are when you can't see your next step, but we know God is there and we can trust Him. 

Lyrics:
The other night
I had a dream
It was a world full of kings and queens
But it was cold
Dark as the night
We were the fire on the moonlit skies

We weren't divided
We were the same
And we were free
But we all wore chains
We couldn't see it
But we created
A place between truth and overrated

If I could just see it all
Just like a fly on the wall
Would I be able to accept what I can't control?
And would I share what I saw?
Or just sit back and ignore
Like nothing never happened,
I haven't seen you before?

I'm on the run from a thief
I let into my head
I know, I hold the keys, so don't be scared 
When I turn and shout:

I don't think I need you anymore
Take your words, and your lies and just beat it!
I don't think I need you anymore
Take the hurt and the pain, I don't need it!

I wanna live, I wanna be the change
We can all be kings and queens
If we can just learn to believe
If we can just learn to believe

We had a plan to build a wall
A great divide that would never fall
To separate us
From all the pain
And keep our skeletons locked away

And brick by brick
We built it so thick
That it blacked out the sky and all the sunlight
And one by one
We all became numb
We were making the bullets to a broken gun

If I could just see it all
Just like a fly on the wall
Would I be able to accept what I can't control?
And would I share what I saw?
Or just sit back and ignore
Like nothing never happened
And I haven't seen you before?

I'm on the run from a thief
I let into my head
I know, I hold the keys, so don't be scared 
When I turn and shout:

I don't think I need you anymore
Take your words, and your lies and just beat it!
I don't think I need you anymore
Take the hurt and the pain, I don't need it

I wanna live, I wanna be the change
We can all be kings and queens
If we can just learn to believe
If we can just learn to believe

I don't think I need you anymore
Take your words, and your lies and just beat it!
I don't think I need you anymore
Take the hurt and the pain, I don't need it!

I wanna live, I wanna be the change
We can all be kings and queens
If we can just learn to believe
If we can just learn to believe...

I like the different layers of this song, peeled back as the song progresses. One of the celebratory moments of being "kings and queens" as God's heirs to His royalty is cause to "Celebrate Recovery" over the addictions that enslave us or feel like chains that want to drag us down. The band works with an addictions ministry called Your Life Counts. http://www.yourlifecounts.org

As we prepare our hearts for Easter, know that Jesus came to die the death that we deserve, and told us "it is finished" so that we don't have to live with the bondage of sin, shame and addiction. We know biblically that this world is ruled by the fallen angel, but take heart, Jesus has overcome the world. The song represents the "fly on the wall" that sees the addictions and pains that we deal with and helps us to know that they don't have to have power over us, we can "be the change."

In Galatians 5:13 (The Voice), Paul tells us "Brothers and sisters, God has called you to freedom! Hear the call, and do not spoil this gift by using your liberty to engage in what your flesh desires; instead, use it to serve each other as Jesus taught through love." That's what this song is all about. Use the empowering message of this song to know that you are God's son or daughter, and when you place all of your trust in Jesus for your salvation, you can tell sin and addiction, "I don't think I need you anymore, take your words and your lies and just beat it!" 

God has used this song to speak to people with addictions. That can feel very enslaving and make you feel unworthy. That's so far from the truth of the Gospel. God sees through all of our flaws and mistakes and sees us as flawless, and washed white as snow by the blood of His son. Amen to that!

(Listen to the song here.)