Worship Song Highlight: "Holy Spirit, Have Your Way in My Life"

            A little over a year ago, my wife said something along the lines of, “You need to write an upbeat Holy Spirit song that the kids will like and is not heretical.” Haha! I agreed with her assessment of the need. Think about it: how many songs, or even hymns, do you know specifically about the Holy Spirit? With how many of them are you 100% comfortable and excited? All the songs I know of are either theologically questionable/shallow or slow and  contemplative musically and haven’t connected with wide audiences.

            Soon thereafter, our pastor, Bart Barber, announced that we were going to be preaching through the Gospel of John. John’s Gospel teaches a great deal about the Holy Spirit, so I decided it would present a great opportunity to introduce a new Holy Spirit song to our congregation. I started working on the song during a songwriting retreat last October and polished it with the help of several people in the subsequent months.

            The focus of the song is the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. I attempted to convey two main points: 1) The Holy Spirit dwells inside believers and will never leave 2) His power works with in us. Along the way, I threw in as much biblical teaching about the Holy Spirit as seemed to fit in this one 4-minute song. Below I will share the lyrics, along with the scriptural passages underlying them.

Verse 1

Living Water                                                      John 4:14

Indwelling Presence                                          John 7:38-39

You are the Spirit of God                     

You're our Helper                                               John 14:16

Sent from the Father                                         John 14:26

You are the Spirit of God

Verse 2

Jesus sent You                                                  John 14:26

To help us remember

All the things He taught

We will listen                                                     1 John 4:1-6

To Your Holy Whisper                                       1 Kings 19:12

Oh help us Spirit of God

Chorus

Your power is unfathomable                            Luke 24:49, Ephesians 1:19-20

You've sealed us and You'll never let go         Ephesians 1:13, John 10:28

Holy Spirit have Your way in my life                Galatians 5:16-26

You lead us blowing like the wind                   John 3:8

We'll follow no longer slaves to sin                 Romans 6, Romans 8:2, John 8:34-36

Holy Spirit have Your way in my life              

Verse 3

You are with us                                                  Romans 8:11

You never leave us                                            Deuteronomy 31:6, Matthew 28:20          

You guide us every day                                    John 16:13

Holy Spirit                                                           

Help us listen

And walk according to Your way                     Romans 8:4

Bridge

We did not receive                                             (This whole section follows

The spirit of slavery or fear                               Romans 8:15-17 very closely)

But the spirit of adoption as sons

And now we draw near

You bear witness to us

That we are the children of God

Since we are children

We're heirs of the kingdom

And co-heirs with Jesus the Son

The song has a fast groove and a catchy melody. Our church has responded quite enthusiastically to it and is singing it better and better each week. The Bible has a lot more to say about the Holy Spirit, and therefore more songs need to be written. For example, this song does not include an in depth look at the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, or the work of the Spirit in convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. However, I still hope this song may be a blessing to you, and I hope it encourages you to think about the Holy Spirit’s work in your life as you follow the Spirit’s leading and rejoice in the Spirit, as you also rejoice in the Father and the Son!

Here is a link to a demo recording on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/james-cheesman-tx/holy-spirit-have-your-way-in-my-life

I want to thank my wife, Meg Cheesman, friend, Art Wellborn, and pastor, Bart Barber, for their valuable input on this song. Also, I want to thank my daughter, Claire, for requesting her mom to play the song on repeat so she can dance to it every day (I’m not sure if dancing is allowed or not since this is uncharted territory- a song about the Holy Spirit written by a Baptist!)