Paul Baloche is a veteran modern hymn writer, the author of classic like "Open The Eyes of My Heart," "Above All" and "Your Name." This ability to create rich songs for the church that lend themselves to corporate expressions of praise translates well to Christmas music, leading to Christmas Worship Vol 1 a few years ago and this year's Christmas Worship Vol. 2 from Integrity Music.

Baloche's approach to creating Christmas music focuses on giving churches tools to lead their congregations in worship throughout the season, something he achieves by creating unique arrangements of classic carols fused with some of today's best-known worship songs. The resulting pieces are instantly accessible to a wide variety of church goers. As a follow-up to our previous Christmas behind the song devotional discussion about "Hark the Herald Angels Sing/King of Heaven," I had the chance to speak with Paul about his medley of "Joy to the World" with "Our God Saves."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

Hearing you say you sang this medley at your church is one of reasons for these projects and is my heart behind recording these Christmas albums. I get asked why I did a Christmas album, and I'm quick to point out that I'm not a Nat King Cole or Bing Crosby or Michael Buble. I never had a picture in my mind that at some point in my career I needed to do a Christmas album. Who needs Paul Baloche singing these songs? My heart is what you described experiencing at your church, to create a resource for churches and believers to keep the vertical prayer-like worship in the midst of the holiday season. Especially for churches to resource them with a guide or model for how to bring out a classic Christmas song that is timeless and over a hundred years old that we want to sing and pass on to our kids, and yet making sure we are singing about the Lord and retelling the Christmas narrative. 

I wanted to come out of that narrative singing a simple worship chorus that's prayer-like and what we are accustomed to singing the rest of the year, more of a first-person response. The first part of the song is about the Lord, and the second part is our worshipful response to Him, and to address Him one-on-one, prayer-like and personally. "Joy to the World" is a perfect example of a proclamation: "Joy to the World, The Lord is come, let Earth receive her King."

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Psalm 19:1-4 (NKJV): "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."

Psalm 30:11-12 (The Voice): You did it: You turned my deepest pains into joyful dancing; You stripped off my dark clothing and covered me with joyful light. You have restored my honor. My heart is ready to explode, erupt in new songs! It's impossible to keep quiet! Eternal One, my God, my Life-Giver, I will thank You forever.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NKJV): Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (The Voice): "How enduring is God's loyal love; the Eternal has inexhaustible compassion. Here they are, every morning, new! Your faithfulness, God, is as broad as the day."
 
Lamentations 3:25-26 (NKJV): "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Romans 8:28 (NIV): And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

What is the takeaway message?

Have you ever pondered the words "repeat the sounding joy"? What do they really mean? Anyone living in 2015 would probably say that "JOY" is not the No.1 song currently playing on planet Earth. Our weary ears are tuned to the repetition of political doublespeak, international terror, fear, cell phones and traffic. But joy? Not so much. Yet this 300-year-old hymn speaks of divine joy as if it's reverberating through the universe like a holy pulsar. Could it be that a psalm of praise is forever being sung by everything God has made? Everything, that is, except those creatures gifted with free will. 

Human beings can choose to remain silent, but creation does not have that choice. If we fail to praise Him, the very rocks will cry out (Luke 19:40).  In response to "repeat the sounding joy," we sing "Hear the joyful sound of our offering as Your saints bow down, as Your people sing. We will rise with You, lifted on Your wings, and the world will see that Our God saves."

Our world today seems to be suffering from a joy famine. Oh sure, we can purchase pleasure, glitz, excitement... but joy? Joy is something we can't buy. We can't manufacture it. We can't barter for it. We can't even own it, because it is the property of the Holy Spirit.

Joy is the voice of Hope. It's at the very heart of creation, woven together with Faith and Love. This three-strand chord cannot be broken, just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit cannot be separated. Mankind has long tried to possess joy apart from God, but that's impossible. You can't have joy without hope. You can't have hope without faith, and you can't have faith without love. It's a package deal.

This Christmas, let us be aware of the great cloud of witnesses awaiting our voice in the divine symphony. Angels and saints, fields and forests, dawns and sunsets, rocks and meadows, mountains and valleys, rivers and oceans, planets and stars are waiting for mankind to return, repent and repeat the sounding joy.

Lyrics:
Joy to the world
The Lord is come 
Let earth receive her King 
Let every heart
Prepare Him room 
And heaven and nature sing 
Let heaven and nature sing 
Let heaven and heaven 
And nature sing 

Joy to the world 
The Savior reigns 
Let men their songs employ 
While fields and floods 
Rocks, hills and plains 
Repeat the sounding joy 
Repeat the sounding joy 
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy 

Hear the joyful sound of our offering 
As Your saints bow down, as Your people sing 
We will rise with You lifted on Your wings 
And the world will see that 
Our God saves
Our God saves 
There is hope in Your name 

You rule the world 
With truth and grace 
And make the nations prove 
The glories of Your righteousness 
The wonders of Your love 
The wonder of Your love 
The wonders, wonders Of Your love

Hear the joyful sound of our offering 
As Your saints bow down, as Your people sing
We will rise with You lifted on Your wings 
And the world will see that 
Our God Saves Our God Saves 
There is hope in Your name
Mourning turns to songs of praise 
Our God saves Our God saves 

Joy to the world 
The Lord is come 
Joy to the world 
The Lord is come 
You rule the world
With truth and grace 
You rule the world 
With truth and grace

Every Christmas season I've had the privilege to start listening to new Christmas albums in September in order to select the songs I'd like to feature for this Behind the Song Devotional series. I had a fun time with Paul Baloche's album, as I could literally write about every song because they are all filled with biblical truth. I applaud Paul for once again convicting me that my faith is not just for me and God, but needs to be expressed in outward appreciation for what God has done for me. I am thrilled to feature the message behind this medley, which has quickly become one of my favorite medleys on the album. 

We recently sang these two songs as our call to worship at my church, and we were blessed to sing out "Mourning turns to songs of praise, our God saves, our God saves. Joy to the world, the Lord is come." That's the message of Christmas. Our mourning turns into dancing as we sing of God's mercy being new every day. That's the abundant gift of grace from Jesus that keeps on giving beyond what we can think or imagine.

So many people can relate to the messages of these great songs, which convict me to know in my heart the biblical truth from Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:22-23: "How enduring is God's loyal love; the Eternal has inexhaustible compassion. Here they are, every morning, new! Your faithfulness, God, is as broad as the day."

God's mercy is new each day, and it is not based on our performance or what we can do for God. He pours out His mercy despite what we've done. There's nothing we can do except trust in His Son Jesus. The takeaway message is really to "let every heart prepare Him room." Amen to that! Merry Christmas!

Watch the lyric video below.