Following up her impressive major label debut You Got My Attention, Fervent Records' Dara Maclean returned with Wanted, produced by Paul Mabury. The hit title track "Wanted" is an engaging song with Dara's passionate vocals setting the tone for the rest of the album with the personal and uplifting lyrics "You, you have been marked / You're set apart / And He calls you His / So you don't have to search / Don't have to look for where you belong."

In her gorgeous and personal ballad "Blameless," Dara asks the question, "What manner of love is this that You would lay down Your life?" I can't get enough of the musical and vocal build, complete with gospel-choir backed harmonies. I had the opportunity to interview Dara about this great new song.

Please tell me the personal story behind writing this song.

I originally wrote this song many years ago, and it wasn't at all about being part of the Christian music industry in any way. It was about how I needed God to move in my life. I needed to have revelation about having freedom in certain areas. This song is my revelation about the Gospel, not in part but in full. If I'm looking at the Word of God, at life, at my husband and at myself with the skewed filter and perspective of marking myself as a failure or not good enough— if I'm thinking about being a perfectionist and my thoughts are not coming from a daily revelation of God's heart for me and His value of me, my identity and what He says about me, then I'm rendering the Gospel ineffective in my life.

The enemy's plan is that we would be internally licking our own wounds for the rest of our lives and never be whole and never be free, never experience what Jesus walked in. He was all God, and He was all man. He had the beautiful experience of abundant life. You can experience life, and it must start in your mind with the way that God sees you.

"Blameless" is that reminder. Like the children of Israel that needed manna daily, I need a daily reminder of the covenant revelation of who I am, and Whose I am. The Bible is not about how much I love God, but about how He has always loved and been after me and wants my very best. That is the Gospel truth behind this song.

Please tell me which Bible verses that you used to write the song.

1 John 3:1 (NKJV): "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him."

Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV): "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV): "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

Romans 8:11 (VOICE): "If the Spirit of the One who resurrected Jesus from the dead lives inside of you, then you can be sure that He who raised Him will cast the light of life into your mortal bodies through the life-giving power of the Spirit residing in you."

What is the takeaway message?

The whole album is about identity. It is about sonship and who I belong to. What was I born for? Did someone say I'm worth the fight? Does anyone see me as a woman of God? Does someone see the best that I can be?

This is a Monday morning album in that God shows His goodness right in the middle of the stuff where I'm living my life outside the walls of a church building. It is about fully forgiving yourself and not letting yourself be the enemy anymore, whether you are really proud of yourself or you are really depressed about yourself. You need to tell Jesus that His righteousness and grace covers you. If you know that you are a son or daughter of the Most High God, it will change your beliefs about yourself. It will change your outlook about life, whether you've had an incredible upbringing or nobody who cared about you.

Jesus is the difference maker in that. If you know that you are His, there is unlimited, untapped potential for a child of God who can walk into the world knowing that they are whole and say "God, use me for the Kingdom." Ask God to let His goodness be shown off in your life. Those are the elements that have to be involved in order for a child of God to live an abundant life.

Lyrics:
What manner of love is this
That You would lay down Your life
You paid the price, the sacrifice for redemption
Now I am determined to know
Christ and Him crucified
Now alive and the power in me is You

Now blameless, You call me Holy
I've been forgiven, You call me righteous and free
Now spotless, You call me worthy
I am Your child, You call me chosen
I'm Yours, I am Yours

I will boldly come
Running straight to the One
Singing over me
Your songs of salvation
No one can take this from me
I'm a child that You name free
Nothing will separate us
I'm held by You
Oh I know, oh I know I'm

I am Yours, I am Yours, I am Yours
And I am Yours, I am Yours, I am Yours
I am Yours, yes I am, yes I am

Dara pours her heart out in every single song on Wanted, allowing listeners to eavesdrop on her expressing her deep feelings, prayers and desires for holiness directly to God. I really enjoy how this album tells the story of redemption as each song gives a glimpse of how Dara offers her Psalm-like prayers to God. If you are looking for the words to express your feelings to God, these songs are a wonderful companion. This entire album is loaded with relatable and biblical themes, incredible singing and prayerful words about what it means to be a child of God.

Recently married, the album is seasoned with Dara's life experience and convictions. The album is filled with songs reflecting that she's loved, "blameless," "blessed" and made in the image of God. Her desire is to share that in Christ we are free from the burdens of guilt and shame, that we are "wanted."

God can do immeasurably more than anything and everything one can ask or even imagine, and this song is a true celebration of the great biblical truth of "Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us" from Ephesians 3:20. God is speaking to us in His still small voice as Dara proclaims in many of her songs, and as believers we need to take time to "be still and know that He is God."  Are you allowing The Holy Spirit to work in your life? Are you spending time listening to Him? He'll make you free, and God wants to hear from you.

"Blameless" is a very personal song where Dara Maclean really unveils what's on her heart. I love it when Dara vulnerably prays "Now spotless, You call me worthy. I am Your child, You call me chosen, I'm Yours." God wants us to boldly approach the Throne of mercy and grace to receive and obtain what we need from Him. Just like how "Yours Forever" was my most played song from Dara's last album, this is my favorite song from Wanted. We can all celebrate the truth behind this song, that we are "blameless," singing to God with all our hearts "I am Yours." Amen to that!

(Watch Dara sing the song here.)