ChristianDance

After more than 20 years since their debut album, Thoughts And Notions gives one of their hidden gems, "Strength I Need (20th Anniversary Edition)", a refresh and the spotlight it deserves. When the song was originally released, it was sidelined for radio-friendly singles, but modern digital streaming has removed those old limitations and allows every song to shine. The song grew from a deeply personal prayer: the band's frontman visualized being present at Christ's crucifixion to get a better understanding of the greater plan behind His suffering, and at the same time, he was struggling with his own faith. The first verse asks, "Are you tired of what life has offered?" and in the chorus we hear the plea: "You're the strength I need." What started as a quiet dialogue with Christ became a song for anyone who is carrying a heavy and unyielding cross. Wilbert beautifully wrapped up the heart of this song with the following lyrics: "It's...

What if a song could help to reignite your passion for faith? In her Christian RnB worship track, "Fan the Flame," Gabi Poli does just that. This song was created to start a movement, encouraging listening to music that fans the flames of our spiritual lives. Gabi loves to use the Christian RnB genre to invite us to experience God's presence in a fresh way. The lyrics beautifully articulate a desire for God's life-changing power in our lives. "You're pulling me closer // Every day // Resistance inside me // Burn it away," opening lyrics that express the desire for God's purifying flame to remove whatever is blocking our relationship with God. It also encourages letting His love light up "the places that used to be dark." Have you felt that gentle pull toward deeper intimacy with God lately?  Our freedom comes from His sacrifice, which has "saved me now I finally free." A song that is also calling you and me to action. Will you ...

(by Jasper Tan) Have you heard of any heartfelt song lately that elaborates on the pain, yet the yearning for healing feels so heart-wrenching? Andrew Macdonald's latest song, "Gentle," feels just like that. In what seems like a conversational piece with someone, the song actually is a prayer yearning for God's grace and healing. The lush sound of the acoustic guitar, coupled with the heartfelt delivery of the vocals, delivers a certain kind of sincerity wherein Andrew pours his heart out to Jesus. It is very seldom to hear songs wherein the singer cuts through our emotions just enough for us to feel an affinity to his pleas. And Andrew's outreach for help through prayer is something that really cuts through our own pains when we are in those moments of vulnerability while we deal with our own issues. Though the song starts off as a sad song and the lines that are delivered feel so gloomy and hopeless, the song makes a stark change for the better when it starts to...

Sometimes the seed for the most powerful worship is planted during life's weakest moments. The idea for "As My Body Breaks" by Iossa originated in a hospital room, where Filipino singer Jyel Tagbo was fighting Stage 5 kidney disease. Dean Mark Hilario Enoza saw how Jyel continued to worship with unwavering faith in the midst of extreme pain and suffering. The lyrics for this song are deeply inspired by Jyel's journey, and it shouldn't be a surprise that the song is dedicated to him.  So, what do you sing when pain becomes your daily companion? The second verse confesses, "The poison creeps, the pain runs deep," but despair isn't an option! The chorus encourages you to look beyond despair: "Is this the end, the last refrain? // But I believe, I'll sing again." That feeling of despair isn't the end of the story. With God by your side, whatever feels like a breaking point will become a breakthrough moment: "As my body breaks, my...

(by Jasper Tan) Tyler Ratcliffe's new song "Where the Walls Once Stood" is a delightful CCM track that reminisces about the standard sound of country rock music. The strength of the song lies in Tyler's heartfelt lyrics, which turn despair into finding hope in what God has promised. As Tyler shared, he wrote the song when he was in the midst of dealing with the tension between what seemed impossible and what God had promised him. He took inspiration for writing this song from the story of Jericho, which had always struck a chord in him.  As we may recall, the walls of Jericho tell the story of how the Israelites conquered the heavily fortified city of Jericho. Under the leadership of Joshua, the Israelites obeyed divine instructions to march around the fortified walls of Jericho for seven days, which culminated in the collapse of the walls after days of noise barrage by blowing their trumpets and shouting at the top of their voice. It seemed like a futile effort to pe...

"The Farrier" by Kelly Daniels is about how God changes lives through unexpected encounters. Daniels is a gifted storyteller who uses lived experiences to point us to God. This song is about meeting a special kind of farrier (a farrier is a smith who shoes horses). Where a farrier applies horseshoes to horses to bring stability, Jesus does something comparable for our hearts.  Daniels sings: "I was a mustang runnin' on my own // I didn't have shoes for this rocky road, // Questioned my faith, without a stable heart." Sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it? The song isn't about the running, it's about what happens when we finally stop running! The Farrier is a beautiful metaphor for Jesus, who brings stability to our wandering hearts. How? Daniels reminds us that He ropes us in, and "The lord took 3 nails to forgive my sins, // He sank 3 more, brought down my barrier, // He was the Ferrrier." The same nails that held Christ to the cross no...

(by Jasper Tan) "Harvesting the Weeds" is the first single from Dawson Shorman's debut album, which will be released this May. The song is an introspective indie Christian track that talks about burnout, self-deception, and faith in the current times. Dawson makes use of agricultural imagery as a metaphor for this song. In this very demanding world, especially in this age of social media, we are too concerned about gaining attention and affirmation from the people around us to the point that sometimes we are left with an empty soul as we lose ourselves to the world just to feel belongingness to certain norms of the world. In this song, Dawson re-centers his attention to God and surrenders himself in prayer as he longs to belong to Christ once more. Set to an energetic sound of pop with a flare of rock, this CCM song offers a fresh take on trying to make Christian Contemporary Music belong to mainstream music as Dawson seeks to deliver the message that he is bringing to a ...