In all likelihood you've heard the song "Good Good Father," which originated out of the movement Housefires based in Atlanta. The original recording of that song for the church can be found on Housefires II. The worship group has returned with Housefires III, which is filled with more emotional expressions of worship that speak to the hearts of worshipers everywhere.

Every single song on Housefires III could be added to your Sunday morning worship set. The worship leaders at Housefires all write and sing songs with an amazing passion and with unashamed praise and gratitude to our Savior that is very inspiring and emotionally moving. Our adoration of Jesus is beautifully expressed in these compelling songs. These are great songs to pray along with and express your own yearnings for holiness and God's presence. I had the chance to speak with the original writer and singer of "Good Good Father," Pat Barrett, about the new song "Great is the Lord."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

This is the oldest song on this Housefires III album. I co-wrote it with Daniel Bashta and Ben Smith. We've been singing it at our church community for a few years. Ben and Daniel are amazing friends, and our families all vacation together, and it's always special when you are relationally connected with people and then you write songs together. 

The song came out in an afternoon with us writing at my house. It came out of Psalm 96. It's a very proclaiming song, announcing that the Lord is great and worthy of praise. That's a lyric in the song, "great is the Lord, most worthy of all praise." We started writing based on that Psalm, and Ben had an idea for the bridge melody after reading those words. Psalm 96:4 says "Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise." We realized that was the chorus. It felt simple, and yet it really made us want to start singing the song right away. We did. After we finished the song, we each led the song at our three different churches the next Sunday morning, which was powerful.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Psalm 96:4 (NLT): "Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! He is to be feared above all gods."

Psalm 96:7 (MSG): "Bravo, God, Bravo! Everyone join in the great shout: Encore! In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might."

Psalm 63:4 (Voice): "I will bless You with every breath of my life; I will lift up my hands in praise to Your name."

Psalm 145:3 (NKJV): "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable." 

Psalm 86:12 (VOICE): "O Lord, my God! I praise You with all that I am. I will rightly honor Your great name forever."

Isaiah 40:18 (NKJV): "To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?"

Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV): "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

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."

What is the takeaway message?

Splendor and majesty are these big and mysterious words that are so experiential. You can try to describe splendor to someone, but you kind of need to experience it to have it make sense to you. That's one of the things I love about worship. It's so experiential. You are posturing yourself in a way to hear from God, and you are posturing yourself in a way to lift Him up. It's totally an engaging thing, which is why I love that Psalm so much. There are all these verbs that are used. It came out of that simple place. 

After we led it that Sunday, Ben let us know he started singing the spontaneous line "in the morning, in the evening, at the end of all days, I'll sing, I'll shout, You are worthy of praise." That wasn't part of the original song. From worshiping and leading people that has grafted into the song, which is awesome.  The first line of Psalm 96, "sing to the Lord a new song," reminds me that there's a lot of ways you can make something new. You can make an old thing become new when you come at it with a new perspective. The same words you've sung a thousand times could all of a sudden take a different meaning from life experience. 

For me, becoming a dad changed my perspective on life. When I praise the Lord now, it makes that same line "great is the Lord" new again based on my new perspective. Psalm 96 is an ancient Psalm, but the words are living and active because you come at them with movement and perspective, and it helps give you a new lens. When I think about worship and the majesty of God, I've experienced that more as I've gotten older and spent more time with Him. If you have eyes to see and ears to hear, you can experience God in ways that are deeply transformative.

Lyrics:
Sing in splendor, in majesty.
Strength and beauty be.
Unto Your name, Ancient of days,
You're Holy.

And we tremble before Your throne,
Our hearts prepare You room.
We come and adore, ruined before Your glory.

Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise.
Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise.

Sing in splendor, in majesty.
Strength and beauty be.
Unto Your name, Ancient of days,
You're Holy.

And we tremble before Your throne,
Our hearts prepare You room.
We come and adore, ruined before Your glory.

Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise,
Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise,
Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise,
Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise.

You are Holy,
You are Holy.
You're crowned with wonders, majesty.

You are Holy,
You are Holy.
You're crowned with wonders, majesty.

In the morning,
In the evening,
At the end of all days.

I will sing,
I will shout,
You are worthy of praise 

Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise,
Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise,
Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise,
Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise.

You are Holy,
You are Holy.
You're crowned with wonders, majesty 

We sing Holy,
You are Holy,
You're crowned with wonders, majesty.

You are Holy,
You are Holy,
You're crowned with wonders, majesty.

In this beautiful song, Pat sings with a passion that is engaging and uplifting, and his lyrics point listeners to Jesus and the greatness of our Lord. When we feel like we are on shaky ground and we are dealing with the uncertainty of our situations, the economy and our world, this song allows us to dwell on the unshakable and eternal nature of God. 

When all else fades away, He will remain. I love how prayers and songs of praise are a communal experience that we can all share. I think the Lord wants us to long for Heaven. When we've been indwelled by The Holy Spirit, we have a personal relationship with the Comforter and a peace that surpasses understanding to know that this fallen world isn't all that we are living for, ultimately.

This song celebrates the fact that once you are a follower of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit He is in your heart forever. We need to pray daily that the Holy Spirit shines the Light of Jesus through us. With a fresh filling and singing along with this song, you can have the courage and excitement to live biblically. Life with God is more than obligations or trying to be perfect or holy. God has already won the battle, and saved us by His grace.

This song has a very catchy, emotive and worshipful musical style. This song and this great new album is a wonderful way to celebrate God's greatness and majesty. When we worship, "in the morning, in the evening, and at the end of all days," we can all be praying the words of this great song: "And we tremble before Your throne, our hearts prepare You room. We come and adore, ruined before Your glory. Great is the Lord, most worthy of all praise." Amen to that!

Watch the music video below.