This Valentines Day, NewReleaseToday's staff team is taking a look at some songs that will help set the mood for the holiday. From songs by Sarah Reeves to NEEDTOBREATHE, we've curated a Valentines Day playlist perfect for any Christian music fan.
Skillet - "Anchor"
While many will view this song more as a worship song (a perfectly valid assessment and likely closer to the intentions of writer John Cooper), this ballad by Skillet will always double as a love song for me. That's because this is the song my wife and I chose to be our first dance for our wedding. It was the first Skillet ballad we got to experience together live, and its message resonates with our love story.
Jesus is our anchor, for all of us. But that imagery can very much apply to the special person Jesus places in our lives to be our partner. My wife is my anchor too, and I very much relate to the imagery of "in angry oceans/you've never broken/through every wave of the storm." May ours and all marriages embrace that principle, of weathering even the fiercest of storms together. -JJ Francesco
Connor Roy - "Hello Love"
"Hello Love" by Connor Roy is a beautiful and breathtaking love song. Connor wrote "Hello Love" for his lovely wife Alyssa and released it on their one-year wedding anniversary. The heartbeat of the lyrics is undying commitment and unshakeable love. It depicts the journey of praying and waiting for God to bring the right one into your life and how sometimes the best love stories are the ones that catch you completely by surprise. -Janice Henriquez
Michael W. Smith - "I Will Be Here For You"
Before worship defined the majority of his career, Michael W. Smith was a pop artist. And a popular one. His new music coming in 2025 will remind listeners of his 1992 album, Change Your World, and it's from that album that I found some inspiration to write about this collection of Christian music. Michael went mainstream with a number of tracks from this era including "Picture Perfect," and "Somewhere Somehow" with fellow Christian pop-icon, Amy Grant. But his song, "I Will Be Here For You," attracted fans of faith and love with lyrics that promised forever. "I will be here for you/Somewhere in the night/Somewhere in the night I'll shine a light for you/Somewhere in the night I'll be standing by I will be here for you." A chorus that could be about God, but a "baby" thrown in the first verse gives it that "significant other" vibe. Trust. Presence. Love. All great qualities for that perfect mid-90s ballad. -Kevin McNeese
Dan Bremnes - "Going Together"
The message of this great husband-and-wife song is that they are truly living out a faith journey, like Abraham and Sarah in the Bible, living in faith and with hopeful expectations. Dan Bremnes and his wife Britt are following God's leading in their lives, traveling from place to place without always knowing where they are going next. Abraham chose to walk by faith and not by sight, and God credited that to him as righteousness. Righteousness comes from faith in the unseen, like Abraham displayed in the Bible. As Christians, we all walk by faith every day. The beauty of walking by faith and not by sight is that we can learn to trust God more fully with our lives.
The key as a follower of Jesus is to walk by faith and to be guided in your daily walk by prayer and God's infallible Word, the Bible. This song reminds me that we need to have that type of faith that Jesus describes in the Bible: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Happy Valentine's Day, Jennifer. It is my heart's desire to selflessly show you my love and devotion more and serve you in a Christ-like manner. As this song says, "Baby, I don't know where we're going, but we're going together." Amen to that. -Kevin Davis
Matthew West - "Jesus and You"
I've been a fan of Matthew West since his song "Only Grace" came out in 2005. It's no secret that Matthew has a long history of writing great songs and many songs about love. My favorite song by him is "Jesus and You". When it first came out, I wasn't a huge fan, and typically hit skip when it came on. However, one time when this song came on, I forced myself to listen intently to it, and I was struck by the depth and relevance of the lyrics.
As a husband (we recently celebrated our 30th anniversary), and a father of a young woman, I can completely relate to, and appreciate these lyrics "One is saving me to heaven/When I leave this world behind, and one gives me just a little taste/When she holds me late at night/They both give grace and it's amazing/They both have healing in their hands/And it ain't easy, but they're both making me a better man."
I love the hook in the chorus, "When I think about the only things in life that pull me through, I hit my knees and thank the Lord, for Jesus and you." I cannot think of a better way to celebrate love than to write a song that sincerely praises Jesus for your wife. "Jesus and You" has become one of my all-time favorite songs, by any artist. -Tommy G.
Leanna Crawford - "Vow To Be Yours"
My wife and I choose two songs every year as our anthem. One, for our "dateaversary," and the other for our wedding anniversary. So it's always a treat to find love ballads--particularly from Christian artists. "Vow To Be Yours" fits the bill. The song reads like wedding vows. It talks about prayers and church windows. It has all the characteristics of a typical love song with loving you forever and until death do us part. So if you're looking for a Valentine's Day anthem to celebrate with your significant other, look no further than Leanna Crawford's "Vow To Be Yours." -Paul Phillips
Sarah Reeves - "Wanna Be Here"
This Valentine's Day is different for me than any other year I've experienced it. This is the first year I'm celebrating it with someone. My girlfriend and I aren't just celebrating Valentine's Day, but also our two-month anniversary that same day, which makes it even more special to us.
We both have many love songs that we listen to and send each other often. One that I wanted to write about and has been standing out to me during this season is "Wanna Be Here" by Sarah Reeves. Crafted in its lyrics are references to "flying cars," "alien invasion," "nuclear explosion," and "humans become robots" (epic lyrics). It's a story of believing in love and in each other no matter what comes. For my girlfriend and I, dating has come with its struggles including being long distance. The chorus with its simple phrase, "I wanna be here," has been an anchor to us to thank God for the time together we get to have and to spend it well with each other as we grow closer in love with each other and Jesus. -Bradden Ford
NEEDTOBREATHE - "Banks"
The theme of "Banks" is about allowing someone to be who they are and not holding them back, which I believe is one of the greatest qualities in a relationship. I love how NEEDTOBREATHE uses the imagery of a river and river banks. The chorus starts, "I wanna hold you close, but never hold you back. Just like the banks to the river." My husband and I often have different tastes in music, but NEEDTOBREATHE has always been one we can agree on, which makes this song even more special. -Felicia Holt
Caitie Beasley - "I Do"
Caitie Beasley (formerly known as Caitie Hurst) wrote "I Do" as a dedication to her husband, Parker Beasley. The lyrics explain all the reasons why she said "I Do" on their wedding day: "You walk me to the car/Open up the door/Call me so I stay awake driving home/You pray with me at night/Before we fall asleep/Little things that let me know you love me." This type of love that Caitie mentions is a genuine love that is shown by actions and not just by words.
"You don't do it for attention/You don't need the praise/Your love comes with no agenda/And I've seen it since the day/We said 'I Do...''" I believe that when somebody loves someone, they go out of their way to show it. The greatest example I can look to for love is Jesus Christ. Jesus died for our sins because of His great love for us. While Caitie's song focuses more on romantic love, I believe some of her lyrics can be about love for any type of relationship (friendship, family, acquaintance, etc.). Families can pray with each other at night, friends can call each other so they can stay awake driving home, strangers can smile at each other to spread the joy of Jesus.
As Caitie mentioned, when we love, we don't do it for attention. Instead, we do it out of the pureness of our hearts. I pray that as the body of Christ, we can love deeply because Christ loved us even at our worst. I believe "I Do" by Caitie Beasley is a great song to remind us about deep and genuine love. -Gilead Adams
Assembled from the four corners of North America and many other corners in between, the NRTeam comprises staffers whose energy is equally dispersed towards loving and writing about the music they love.
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