On ‘Every Praise’
- Jonathan Chan & Sng Li-Hwei
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
The song ‘Every Praise’ is a song of proclamation. Joyous and celebratory, its praise leader, the effervescent Hezekiah Walker, invites all who listen to join in with its divine praise.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Walker serves as the pastor of Love Fellowship Tabernacle in Brooklyn and has been active as a gospel music artist and singer since 1985, having released 15 albums of gospel music.
With the hallmark elements of gospel music in its repetition, jubilation, and incorporation of call and response elements, the song was named a Billboard Gospel Song of the Decade in 2019.
“Every Praise” is a song that may seem simple but is deeply encouraging; its writer John David Bratton explains:
“Every Praise” is a very simple song that can be sung by the most talented or the least talented. Just about every musician can play it. I’ve heard it sung with just a guitar and a washboard. I’ve heard it sung with orchestras. It fits Sunday morning worship. I have heard it sung at weddings. I have also heard it sung at services for the different tragedies that have happened. That’s the beautiful blessing about it.
Famously, it was the song sung by Willie Myrick, a 9-year old who was kidnapped in Atlanta in 2014. Having learned the song in Sunday School, his abductors eventually released him after he sang the song continuously for three hours.
In addition to the immense relief felt by his parents and church leaders, Willie was further comforted when Walker visited his home church, Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, having been moved that God could use his music to help save a life. God was, in that incident, as sung in ‘Every Praise’, a saviour and deliverer.
During this season of Lent, in preparation for Easter Sunday, the CCMC Gospel Choir Has been preparing to present ‘Every Praise’ during service. In a first for the Gospel Choir, we will be joined not only by our regular partners the Hallelujah Chorus from CCMC’s Japanese Ministry, but also CCMC’s Home-Helpers Ministry and Covenant Kids.
Arranged by Walker and John David Bratton, we look forward to welcoming the congregation to partake in our collective act of praise “in one accord”, as sung in the song.
Much of the song repeats a set of verses:
"Every praise is to our God
Every word of worship with one accord
Every praise, every praise
Is to our God
Sing Hallelujah to our God,
Glory, hallelujah is due our God,
Every praise, every praise
Is to our God."
During our present season of Lent, a time of repentance and reflection, this song might seem unexpected. However, the song not only points to the Saviour on Resurrection Sunday, butalso to the healer and deliverer as described in the Old Testament. The song’s repetition emphasises a set of truths about the God that we continue to worship.
Firstly, the song emphasises that our God is worthy of praise. Our Creator and Heavenly Father, it is as is described in the song of praise Psalm 148:
"Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.
Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies."
"Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for at his command they were created,
and he established them for ever and ever—
he issued a decree that will never pass away.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,
you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds,
kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,
young men and women,
old men and children."
All living beings and created things cry out in praise to He who created them in their command. From the immensity of the cosmos to all the creatures on earth, the psalm mirrors the creation narrative of Genesis in its invitation for us to praise God.
It is a call to praise Him at all times, in joy and in suffering, as He who loves us has given us life and continued to sustain us. Psalm 149 emphasises that we are to “Sing to the Lord a new song”, to sing unto our “Maker” and “King”.
We can rejoice in He who remains faithful, compassionate, and merciful to us every day. As we sing in “one accord”, the psalm also invites us to “praise his name with dancing” and “make music to him with timbrel and harp”. These are scenes of celebration, just as the Lord “takes delight in his people”.
Secondly, the song emphasises three descriptors of God in its bridge:
"God my Savior!
God my Healer!
God my Deliverer!
Yes He is! Yes He is!"
God’s plan for the salvation of all humankind was to be fulfilled through His son Jesus Christ, the Lamb without blemish who willingly gave His life on the cross to take away the sins of the world, our Saviour. By His resurrection, He has delivered us from sin and eternal death.
And by His wounds, as described in Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24, we have all been healed. We can rejoice in our God and affirm that He is our Saviour, our Healer, and Deliver.
Thirdly, the joy of the song and its affirmation of our praise and worship of God directs us to omnipresence of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus was baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit, He was put through a trial of fasting without food and water for forty days in the wilderness (John 4:1-11).
In the last of the 3 temptations by Satan, Jesus rejects all the world's kingdoms and their glories by quoting the First Commandment God gave to the Israelites, which is to “worship the Lord your God” and that “him only shall you serve”.
This is a worship that will not be restricted to a specific location, ancestry, tradition, or culture, as Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman who asked where God was to be worshipped (John 3:1-29). As Jesus describes:
“The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:23-24
It is the Holy Spirit who dwells in us that directs our attention to Jesus, who leads us to proclaim that God is our Abba Father (Romans 8:15), who is the Counsellor who gives us understanding (John 14:26), and who enables us to worship God in a way that pleases and glorifies Him.
The Holy Spirit helps to bind us in one accord (Ephesians 4:3). Or as the New Zealander theologian Murray Capill describes:
“There is not one dimension of the Christian life that is not enabled by the work of the Spirit, Quite simply, without the Spirit there is no spiritual life. It is the Spirit which convicts us of sin, awakens our dead hearts to hear and see spiritual truths, draws us to Jesus as Saviour and Lord and unites us to him.”
As we continue through Lent and prepare our hearts for Easter, we remember not only the reality of the crucifixion, but also that of the resurrection, the stripes by which we have been healed, and that which gives us the joy to worship and praise God in mind, body, heart, and spirit. We remember with reverence that He delights in our worship, and we sing fully and joyfully in remembrance of all that He has done for us.
“For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.” - Psalm 149:4
References
1. Blayne Alexander, ‘Boy released by kidnapper after singing gospel music’, USA Today, 23 April 2014, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/04/23/gospel-singing-kidnapping/8042195/
2. J. David Bratton, ‘Genesis of a Gospel Song: “Every Praise”’, Journal of Gospel Music. 3 September 2015,
3. Murray Capill, ‘The Christ-Glorifying Spirit’, The Gospel Coalition | Australia, 22 November 2018,
Comments