Download Shout To The Lord By Heartcry Worship __EXCLUSIVE_

If you are looking for a fresh portion of Spirit-filled worship, then you need to check out Integrity Music worship leaders David Leonard and Leslie Jordan's All Sons & Daughters LIVE, which was recorded with a live congregation in one continuous take at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, capturing the spirit and truth of transparent worship.

All Sons & Daughters' LIVE showcases 13 transparent invitations including "All the Poor and Powerless," "Called Me Higher" "Rising Sun" and "Wake Up," which are all heart-cry anthems for the Church. We sing a few of those songs at my church on a regular basis and it is great to see how quickly our congregation adopts the messages of the songs and really connects with the biblical truth behind the songs.

One of the new songs from the LIVE album is the standout song "Great Are You Lord," which has been speaking to me in my own personal devotional worship time. I look forward to also singing and praying the words of this song with fellow believers. I had the great opportunity to catch up with Leslie about the song.

Please tell me the personal story behind writing this song.

This song has turned into one of the songs that we really love to lead in worship. When we wrote the song we didn't expect it to take as deep of a root as it has, even in our congregation. We knew it was a special song.

The song came out of a writing session with Jason Ingram. He is an incredible songwriter for the church as he has a deep connection to what God is doing in and through worship. He writes with a lot of artists and he is a worship leader himself. We love writing with him and this was our first song with him. It was really special.

Jason had this line, "It's Your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise," and we felt such a sweetness and depth in it, we just ran with it. We dug into some Scriptures around that concept and the song was birthed from that. Since then, the song has taken on new life.

We were invited to attend Passion 2013. The very last message when we heard Louie Giglio speak, he spoke about the Ezekiel passage about the dry bones. Then the song received a sort of punctuation. He said, "Worship is when we give God His breath back," having never heard our song. We had just recorded our song. He was talking about how God breathed into the dry bones, and they in turn breathed out. We liked that poetic description of what worship is, breathing in and breathing out. That image has stayed front and center and is a reminder that our acts of worship originate with the One we worship. It is His gift.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Jude 1:5 (The Voice): "You have heard the stories many times, and the Spirit has enlightened you about their meaning, but you still need to be reminded. Remember when the Lord saved our ancestors from the land in Egypt? He breathed life into their earthen lungs and took back the life from those who did not believe."

Ezekiel 37:4-10 (NKJV): Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.'" So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Also He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: 'Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.'" So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

What is the takeaway message?

We say that phrase from the Passion conference when we introduce this song now: "Worship is when we give God His breath back." It is really fitting with this song. We can gather at church and sing songs, but it's all about your personal relationship with Jesus.

I think a lot about friends I haven't seen for five years; when we reconnect, we talk about the same things we talked about five years ago. You missed all of this time and each other's lives. Your relationship with God is the same. You can't miss spending time with Him or you'll miss out. If you like listening to music, then songs are one way to connect with Him and it is one way to center yourself and keep your connection with the Lord each day. It is a working relationship. Our pastor spoke about the banquet story in the Bible. God has no problem passing over those that are invited to the banquet and don't show up. If we remain uninterested in our relationship with God, we miss the beauty of what He has for us. I think it is all about your desire to know Jesus deeper on a daily basis.

Lyrics:

You give life, You are love

You bring light to the darkness

You give hope, You restore

Every heart that is broken

Great are You, Lord

It's Your breath in our lungs

So we pour out our praise

We pour out our praise

It's Your breath in our lungs

So we pour out our praise to You only

You give life, You are love

You bring light to the darkness

You give hope, You restore

Every heart that is broken

Great are You, Lord

All the earth will shout Your praise

Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing

Great are You, Lord

This song begins with the lyrics, "You give life, You are love, You bring light to the darkness." A Bible verse about that concept is 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NKJV): "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

That's a lot of what we are showing adoration for in this song, our true source of Light, that face of Jesus Christ that God showed us by sending His Son to Earth. Jesus wants us to show our light by demonstrating some of His characteristics to people in need. It's great that people are connecting with these songs in church, but my prayer is that "Great Are You Lord" reflects a lifestyle for believers that they are living out every day of the week.

All Sons & Daughters' LIVE is loaded with catchy melodies, and solid lyrics reflecting unashamed faith in Jesus. The very solid live worship really engages me from start to finish in my own time of worship and reflection about the attributes of God. Leslie and David have been writing and singing their breath, given to them by God, into anointed new songs for the church. You'll be blessed by this powerful song which is a stand-out anthem with a convicting declaration: "All the earth will shout Your praise / Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing / Great are You, Lord."

As Leslie explained, the song reflects the conviction and strength we can all have as God's army of dry bones who are filled with God's breath, and then we can breathe out as prophesied in Ezekiel 37. We live in a fallen and sinful world. One day we will have a new heaven and a new earth and until then we need to all pray: "It's Your breath in our lungs / So we pour out our praise to You only." Amen to that!