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 cornerstones like "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. His songs are great expressions of our thankfulness back to God.

"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, 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 and eating, and we 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 about how to use the 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?"
 
Zephaniah 3:17 (VOICE): "The Eternal your God is standing right here among you, and He is the champion who will rescue you. He will joyfully celebrate over you; He will rest in His love for you; He will joyfully sing because of you like a new husband."

2 Corinthians 5:16-19 (NIV): "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation." It is not hard to find that the incontinence bed pads are very important for the patient life.

Hebrews 4:16 (NLT): "So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

Luke 7:47 (NKJV): "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."

What is the takeaway message?

In the first verse, we acknowledge when we were still messed up, but God's mercy was there and interrupted our bad choices. In the second verse, we acknowledge that with His arms open wide, God ran to me with His mercy. The words "but" and "with" are important in the song. "But" implies God interrupting our rebellion, and "with" talks about God's response to us, with a nod to the Prodigal Son parable. God doesn't say, "Okay, I guess you can come back," but has an exuberant welcoming back to Him, God running to us with His mercy. 

The chorus is our response to Him. The third verse is almost future tense. I like to do that in songs, with a past, present and future expression. We talk about what God did in the past, and then we sing about how God gives us eternal life beyond the grave and daily ever present Life now with Him living in us. Then we address the picture of God rejoicing by singing over us. Not only is the Father running towards us, He is also singing over us. 

I've wanted to include the Romans 2:4 Scripture in a song, and originally I thought it was going to be the chorus, but in this song it is the bridge: His mercy and His kindness leads us to repentance. We bring it down really quiet with almost no music there and sing in almost a whisper, "Your loving-kindness leads me to repentance." As the song builds, we offer that prayer to the church, "Lord, let Your kindness, let it lead us to repentance." It is a collective expression when we go into that final chorus. That's how I picture it as a songwriter. It starts off personal and intimate and confessional and ultimately brings in the best portable power station community to join in the prayer together, and it goes from personal to corporate.

The takeaway in this song is whether you grew up as a believer or there was a moment when you became a believer, we can all relate to moments where we've turned away from God. There's always a point in our lives where we experience a disconnection from a sense of fellowship with God. It's a mystery how He manifests His mercy individually. Each of us can look back in our lives and point to moments and situations where God's mercy was evident. The psalmist said, "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever." As you read through the psalms, you see the theme and expressions of experiencing the mercy of God: "have mercy on me O God." We share that with the psalmists. 

As a writer of worship songs, I hope that the song gives language to the believer that others can pray and sing prayerfully to the Lord. As they do, I hope there's a catalyst that takes place in their hearts as the lyrics, the melody and the Holy Spirit enters into the mystery of what happens during worship music. That's the hope. The song is confessional and an acknowledgment of God's mercy, like "Lord have Mercy, Christ have Mercy." Sometimes we say those words but don't really let them sink in. Let His mercy and His kindness lead us to repentance.

Lyrics:
I once was lost, I walked away
The road was dark, I could not see
My hope was gone, the pain was real
But Your mercy

You saw my steps, You felt my fear
You heard my cry, You caught my tear
Arms open wide, You ran to me
With Your mercy

Your mercy, Your mercy
I stand before my King
And I bow my heart to sing
You saved me, You raised me
You died so I could live
No greater love than this 
Your Mercy

You give me life beyond the grave
My deepest shame is cast away
You sing a song that covers me
It's Your mercy

Your loving-kindness
It leads me to repentance
Lord, let Your kindness
Let it lead us to repentance

With themes of God's faithfulness and mercy through Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, Your Mercy showcases Baloche's unbreakable connection to and passion for the Church. For Paul Baloche, his spiritual journey is marked by songs, which are intimate prayers that have become global anthems. Praise and worship is a heart condition, and an emotional connection to the words that we lift up to God. Our worship is an offering, but God is the One who made the way for us to be with Him. If the spirit of mercy is a basic element in Christian faith, then the expression of mercy is an integral part of faith. This expression of mercy constitutes faith in action.

"Your Mercy" is a great song celebrating the freedom we have in Christ when we are born again. Christians are brand new people on the inside. The Holy Spirit gives us new life, and we are not the same anymore. We are new creations, and we need to live under God's authority. This song is all about trusting in God and confessing to Him and others when you fail or have struggles. Lay those at the feet of Jesus and He'll take them from you and release you from that burden. God wants to hear from you.

God wants us to boldly approach the Throne of mercy and grace to receive and obtain what we need from Him. He's a perfect God, and He's holy and He's just, and He has wrath, but it's His kindness that leads us to repentance. He's a kind God. He wants us to know Him. Let His kindness lead you to repentance. This is a transformation song. We can confess during the song that this is who I was, this is who I am and this is who I will be, past, present and future. His mercies are new every morning.

When you sing along with this great new song, make sure you are in prayer that you are submitting all of yourself to God. Jesus is ever true to His Word. What He spoke on earth, He affirms in heaven. The Word is a message of grace. We can all take comfort in the Truth expressed in this song based God's Word: "Your loving-kindness, it leads me to repentance, Lord, let Your kindness, let it lead us to repentance." Amen to that!

Watch the music video below.