The power of your love
Another Geoff Bullock rewrite:
Original Version
The Power of Your Love
Geoff Bullock, Hillsongs Australia, © 1990
Used by Permission CCL No 12712
Lord I come to You
Let my heart be changed, renewed,
Flowing from the grace that I’ve found in You.
And Lord I’ve come to know
The weaknesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love.
Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side.
And as I wait
I’ll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love.
Lord unveil my eyes
Let me see You face to face
The knowledge of Your love
As You live in me.
Lord renew my mind
As Your will unfolds in my life
In living every day
By the power of Your love.
Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side.
And as I wait
I’ll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love.
Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side.
And as I wait
I’ll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love.
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love.
New Version
The Power of Your Love II
Geoff Bullock Music ©: 1992 Word Music Words ©: 2004 Geoff Bullock
Verse One:
Lord you come to me,
And as my heart is changed, released
This miracle of grace gently sets me free
And Lord I’ve come to know,
The weaknesses I see in me,
Will be stripped away
By the power of your love.
Chorus:
You hold me close,
You’ve let your love surround me,
For you’ve come near
To draw me to your side.
And in your life
I’m rising like the eagle
And I will soar with you
As your spirit leads me on
In the power of your love
Verse Two:
Lord unveil my eyes,
You let me see you face to face
In the knowledge of your love
As you live, in me.
You renew my mind
As your will unfolds in my life
In living every day
In the power of your love
Verse Three:
Lord you’ve come to all
With hope that shines to light the way
As mercy soothes our souls, healing every heart.
Love that sees the tears
Overcomes our darkest fears
Grace that lifts us up
In the power of your love
August 29th, 2005 at 1:03 am
Is it really really insensitive to say, much as I like some of Geoff’s stuff, I have always hated, absolutely hated (sorry but it’s true) ‘The Power of Your Love’ and inwardly groaned every time we sang it in a church I used to go to.
And it got sung a lot in that church (although I am not sure if Geoff meant it to be sung in a church). The women, in particular, used to love it. But it always struck me as a me, me, me, ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ song.
It’s interesting to see how Geoff has changed the lyrics and the way he understands God’s grace now. I will say amen to that.
Don’t know if it makes the song redeemable though after what it got put through where I’ve been. LOL! Forgive me Geoff if you’re reading.
Still, Geoff is quite welcome to rework some of the abysmal hymns we sing in our current church.
August 29th, 2005 at 9:25 am
Yes, I completely understand. I have so struggled with the songs and even more with the culture of worship. It really makes me cringe, and then I realise that I am terribly responsible for this “Jesus is my Boyfriend, lover, alternative husband…” rubbish. I have seen marriages fall apart as one partner starts to have an obsessive emotional relationship with their “Heavenly Boyfriend”. It is in this awareness that I find it impossible to appreciate anything that has gone before… the songs reveal a shallow, guilt ridden experience that always needed an emtional hit in order to maintain any sense of “spirituality”. My songs are still in that culture. I am not. This is why I have rewritten the lyrics. I hope that it explains who the real Geoff Bullock is rather than his shallow stage persona. It has been a long journey, and a very strange life. I find it all so overwhelming. I am just an ordinary man that got caught up in something that I so regret.. and yet the postcards from my life are still being read… mmmm, does this make sense?
August 29th, 2005 at 9:33 am
Brother,
I see the heart of Christ in you, keep it up. Redemption is the glorious ministry of our Lord, and all of those postcards that might bring you shame, instead serve to commend us all. We can be transformed. Keep writing the songs of grace, and justice, and the never ending faithfulness of our God.
I too cringe at the way I used to minister, yet I could not be where I am now, without going down the path God took me. There has been much pain, and a bit of regret, but ultimately God is making me like the Son. I am proud to be on the same journey as you, and look forward to singing some of you songs along the way.
the rev
August 29th, 2005 at 2:40 pm
Thanks mate, so glad you understand. I spent so much time in the hyper faith movement.. special empahasis on the hype. Faith was the BIG word. If only we had faith “the mountains will be moved”.. a line from one of my more tragic jingles! I have learnt that putting your “faith” in grace and leaving it there is the greatest challenge I can excersise in life. It’s so easy to “do” and then measure you faith. But to be defined by God’s response to all that you can’t do and all that you did wrong, as if we can do anything right.. to be defined as whole, alive, hopeful and loved is most times a faith that I do not have. But, miracle of miracles, this doesn’t alter who I am, feelings are irrelevant, and I can go on living. I can worship in the silence of not needing to bribe God into smiling and not having to con myself that I am actually “reaching” heaven. The silence is that dumbstruck reality when you realise that “heaven is reaching you”.
August 29th, 2005 at 4:29 pm
“The silence is that dumstruck reality when you realise that heaven is reaching you”
Geoff, that’s beautiful.
I’ve always been bugged by the singing of “Lord, you are Holy” or similar over and over again - I feel like going “erm, duh! I think God knows that!” And how many of us could explain what “holy” means anyway?
August 29th, 2005 at 4:43 pm
Geoff, it makes perfect sense. Fortunately I didn’t know your stage persona and still don’t know you. But the way you have rewritten your songs indicates to me your the sort of bloke I would want to know and could learn from.
Just don’t get too hard on yourself about your past. We’ve all been there and if we are honest with ourselves we will also say that every time God knocks down one of our houses of cards, we busily set about rebuilding them again. So we will go there again and again and again.
He has given you a new song now. And in some ways, one cannot recognise or appreciate the new without reference to the old.
Or put it this way. Once upon a time I would have said: I found God. Then I understood that it was God who found me. Now I am coming to realise that I’ve always been His.
Finally I get what it means to be in His very big grip (big because we like to wriggle around a bit).
August 29th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
I believe that this process of rewriting and rewording some of these songs is incredibly inspiring. I like the way that you have changed some of the lyrics to be less of a petition or intercession than a recognition and acknowledgment.
It reminds me of that old saying “Christians don’t tell lies, they sing them”. And certainly, I have watched as some congregations sing worship songs which are vastly removed from the theology and understanding of the community. And the theology of some of these songs sometimes goes well beyond the simple “Jesus is my boyfriend” thing. See for example statements about predestination and prosperity in some of their writings.
I wonder did you consider in your rewrites the individual nature of some of these lyrics? I find it sometimes odd to be singing about a personal individual response in the midst of corporate worship - some of the lyrics of some worship music suggest standing by yourself in a corner whispering to a private God rather than collectively joining with a community of faith in singing.
Be interested to hear your thoughts.
August 29th, 2005 at 9:09 pm
Dan, that’s exactly it! The quiet knowledge that the God of the universe has chosen to love, forgive and grace us. This is far to deep to shout to the heavens. It involves our darkest secrets. It restores the depths of our soul.
when we can acknowledge this, we really do mhave something to offer broken mankind, our real brothers and sisters. Saint: The “shame” I feel is not about my “humanity”. Yes, that is all so tragic, but, I have spent the last ten years being as responsible as I can humanly be to be accountable. It is my broken humanity that has revealed grace to me, and at such great cost. This is a painful experience that I do not want to repeat. It is not permission to go wild. It is daring to look into the mirror to see the reflection you just don’t want to see. What bothers me the most is that my songs and I have represented and totally dysfunctional pattern of spirituality. This is what I am trying to undo in the rewriting of the lyrics. I am also liberating my songs and myself from the past. We can now move on together because, in the rewrites, we are strating to live in agreement.
August 29th, 2005 at 9:31 pm
Hey Geoff,
I asked if we could converse before, don’t mean to be a stalker but I really would like to talk to you about some things. I do believe music, like all art (I am a painter http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=3301705&uid=1340411&members=1) has its place in our life, and therefore in our expressions of faith as well. I just am not sure how it can fit and how we can best care for these artists like yourself. I remember a friend of mine Michael Knott who was so screwed over and manipulated by the ministry machine that he became a bitter angry alcoholic, yet wrote some incredibly powerful songs.
I work for an agency that walks with people in discovering how to bring grace to their own neighborhoods and cultures, and this stuff is very important to me.
Anyways I love your rewrites, show a process which I find encouraging. Also wonder if you have ever heard Lord of the Starfields by Bruce Cockburn, probably my favorite worship song.
thanks mate,
john
pinnedagain2001@yahoo.com
August 29th, 2005 at 11:39 pm
What bothers me the most is that my songs and I have represented and totally dysfunctional pattern of spirituality
And who amongst us hasn’t? I think Dan has expressed what I wanted to say better.
Thank you for allowing Dan and Phil to share your work on this blog.
August 31st, 2005 at 4:03 pm
I’ve been going on about “Jesus-is-my-boyfriend” issue over at another thread, only to discover most of the rest of you had already adequately covered it here.
Keep up the good work.
September 12th, 2005 at 4:02 am
Thank you so much for posting these lyrics. We have sung the older version in churches for three years and could never quite embrace (or sometimes even sing) this song. Today we decided to research the song to determine the reason and found this site. We are excited to be able to share the newer grace-oriented version with our music team. And many thanks to the author, Geoff Bullock, for his gracious transparent explanation for the change. What a testament to God’s grace at work!
September 12th, 2005 at 9:15 pm
Thanks David and Amy.. that’s really lovely of you!
September 12th, 2005 at 11:29 pm
Geoff - I like the the spirit of the rewrites. And I think as the Author you have the privledge of making things the way you want them. But, Power of Your Love has been a pretty awesome song in some people that I knew. A woman named becky used to sing the song at an Aseembly of Gofd I went too. She was happily married and one of the most “annointed” singers i knew. Every week almost she would sing your song and it NEVER got old. She sang until she quit singing at church. 6 weeks later she died of the cancer that your song was helping her fight. She didn’t see this as Jesus her boyfriend - She saw it as Jesus her friend and she told me this song was her “war” song. I had forgot about this conversation I had with her until I read your re-write. Even though you may have problems with it, even though it may have been not exactly all you think it could have been - It meant a LOT to her. So I think this grace we talk about is quite sufficient even in the songs we write.
Are familiar with a writer named Scott Ezzy? from Dayspring in Castle Hills?
September 12th, 2005 at 11:35 pm
Oh, and by the way Geoff - It was the only song sung at her funeral, by her (instructions), and it was a recording of her singing it. Very moving for many people, she left on this note:
“And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love.”
September 13th, 2005 at 11:58 am
How many standard hymns of the church could use a rewrite also, or especially those Southern Gospel songs we thuoght were spiritual in the 70’s.
September 13th, 2005 at 2:06 pm
geoff i just read an article on you at another website. You said in that article … “I’d love to see an inclusiveness where this whole culture was broken down. I’d love to hear people sing but not striving to have a spiritual experience in it.”
AMEN!
September 26th, 2005 at 9:39 pm
[…] au/index.php/archives/2005/08/26/have-faith-in-god/”> Have faith in God You rescued me The power of your love The heavens shall declare […]
September 27th, 2005 at 1:03 pm
Geoff - you are right - you and Ms. Zschech (and others but not so well) planted the seeds of a now enormous tree and it will not be soon hewn down and indeed its branches are growing clear across Earth…and it has taken on all the trappings of a Christmas tree. A very lovely one.
We were never allowed a Christmas tree in our Holiness Church. Today one of my great delights is the silly lovely little baubles of purple and silver and red - the angel on top of the tree blowing with all his might (I am sure it is a he) the golden trumpet. The delightful gifts all cheerfully wrapped and tied up with bows and I search for my name and it is always there…my eyes still shine with wonder that He remembered my name.
You cannot so easily tear down His Tree (for I have no doubt He took a little boy and a little girl and said I have a miracle for you to plant, right over here at the edge of this lovely forest….). Nor can you change much more than the baubles…and that is probably futile and more likely will take more days of earth than you have been allotted! But you can I suspect leave that one to the Great Creator of the Worlds and plant another one in His Forest and indeed have a terrible responsibility to do so and I have no idea how to advise you on that - cheers!
September 27th, 2005 at 1:42 pm
…and one more thing! If you are going to change things and make them right, then you will need to forfeit all royalties from sales of your past music and I will need a refund…and oh dear do things get confusing! I say plant the new tree…
October 16th, 2005 at 11:29 pm
Hi Geoff
If it’s any consolation, I know of someone who claims to have been converted by this song in its original form. So God can still use these postcards from the past despite their weaknesses, and I’m sure that you’ll agree that this shows his grace even more.
October 17th, 2005 at 6:13 pm
Geoff; Our church has been very blessed in singing the original version of this song. I look forward to using the new version during a time of worship and meditation in our home group this week.
For a long time I’ve felt so much focus of modern worship songs is on ourselves and our experience. Of course that’s valid - “out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks”. However, we do need to speak of the wonders of God himself, and focus on him.
God bless you as you work out what you feel he has given you to do, whether it’s in revision or in writing new material.
Pam
October 20th, 2005 at 9:35 am
Dear Rana and Pam, thank you both so much for your encouragement…. I really do look forward to the reactions to these rewrites, it certainly is a catalyst for good thought and discussion. The lyrics as they are now are a much better way of defining my journey and my faith and how I would like to express that in art and song. This redefining process is very overdue and, I hope, will continue to challenge our unquestioning acceptance of all that is “popular” and “successful”. I pray that, in the next few weeks, the many challenges that will flow from my words.. my past and my struggles, will be seen in the context of these lyrics… and all that has inspired them.
October 21st, 2005 at 4:22 am
I’m not sure what everyone is talking about. You guys speak too poetically and abstractly for me. I’ve never seen the secon version of the song. If I would have heard it first, i probably would have thought, what a nice song, but God has never done that for me. At the begiining of a painful walk that began last year, I learned I could ask God to come and change my heart and proclaim from His word that as I wait I will be renewed and soar like the eagle. Now I can sing the second version with belief and repentence in not seeing how He’s always wanted to do things things for me. So, I’m glad I heard the first version first.
November 13th, 2005 at 3:20 pm
To be honest, I have never heard of this “Jesus is my boyfriend” type of thinking. I have heard many times ministers tell single mothers that Jesus is their children’s father, single ladies that Jesus is their boyfriend, and widowed women that Jesus is their husband. I never really saw anything wrong with that because I just thought that it kept them away from desperately wanting a partner. Plus, it never crossed my mind that the women would actually think of Jesus as their husband or boyfriend. The thought is not to be entertained. Of all the times I heard this song, I never ever thought of it as a Jesus is my boyfriend type of song. I always sang it (and yes, I’m happily married) from the bottom of my heart to thank God for keeping me close to Him.
Can anyone tell me why “Jesus is my boyfriend” is a bad thing. I’m a bit ignorant about this; I can’t really make sense of it, so I would really appreciate some clarification.
November 19th, 2005 at 11:47 pm
Hi nora
I’m no expert, but I think the main problem with the “Jesus is my boyfriend” mentality is when our relationship with Jesus (who is both God and man) is treated like, well, a typical human relationship. Popular music today abounds with stereotypical romantic songs, where love is described and portrayed as something so emotion-based, unstable, and rather conditional. Our relationship with Jesus couldn’t be more different - it is one secured but by His grace and death for us, not because of anything we have done. The danger of us seeing and treating Jesus as a ‘boyfriend’ is that it isn’t what He ever intended in the first place - He came to be our friend, saviour, and Lord. He’s not just a partner in whom I may display an uncertain relational interest in, He’s a God I can know and love, because He knew and loved me first.
December 12th, 2005 at 9:38 am
One thing that the Lord has revealed to me in my own walk with Him is that all human relationships - be that friendships, romantic loves, sibling or parent and child relationships - are in their ideal form a reflection of God’s heart and love for us. I believe that I can see in each of these human connections different aspects of His perfect love and His desire to have us connect with Him intimately, honestly opening our heart to him and resting our head on His being like the apostle John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23).
I believe that the book Song of Songs is a perfect example of this. It not only paints the union of human man and woman, but has, in a very powerful way, demonstrated the beauty of the Lord’s love for us His beloved.
I do not believe that God intends this aspect of His character, and our response to this, to overcome these human relationships. Instead, it should only strengthen our human relationships as we come to know and experience a deeper and purer form of love. Each of these relationships should be grounded firmly in Him and His love for us should be the example for which we strive in our human relationships.
Geoff, you seem to touch on this with the new lyrics to this song; “You let me see you face to face
In the knowledge of your love”. As our heads are raised to meet His gaze I do not believe it is possible to not fall more deeply in love with Jesus and to be drawn into a deeper union with Him. I have always shied away the glitzy “hyper church” phenomenon that many have embraced over the years, and possibly this “Jesus is my boyfriend” mentality is wrapped up with such meetings, but I do not believe we should disregard God’s desire to partake in a intimate spiritual relationship with every one of us.
February 15th, 2006 at 3:05 am
I really need to have a copy of the musical notes of this song (Power of your love) but its too difficult for us to get a copy. I was wondering if you can send me a pdf copy of the music so that I can introduce to our church here in Bangkok Thailand.
God bless,
Herland
February 15th, 2006 at 11:49 am
Does anyone have a scanner who is able to help Herland?
Herland, you may be able to get a copy from http://www.hillsong.com I’ll see what I can do. So, there’s three options… really hoping the first one is the answer!!
February 15th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
The phrase “Jesus my boyfriend” describes one way we can trivialise or distort how God wants to encounter us. It is not a problem that only young single girls have it is a more evocative symbol than that (especially if you could hear the tone of my voice as I type it):
* it suggests a relationship with Jesus that is immature. This kind of ‘having a boyfriend’ is a thing a young teen does. For example “Do you wanna hold hands?” “He is going to go with me to the school dance.” Do we want to worship God in a way that keeps bringing us back to immaturity or worship in a way that deepens and matures our faith?
* it suggests a relationship that is transient. This kind of ‘having a boyfriend’ can be quickly followed by “you’re soo dropped” or “I’m not seeing them anymore, I met a new beau” or “I’ll go with him unless someone better asks me.” Do we want to
worship God in a way that feeds our desire for the latest new thing, or in a way that challenges our addictions and heals our unfaithfulness?
* it suggests a relationship that is some-what self deceiving. This kind of ‘having a boyfriend’ is all about that crush or romantic dream that we project on someone else. We are not in love with the real person but the ideal we create in our mind. For example “I’m waiting for THE ONE!”, “We never fight” and “He is so cool he is nothing like my last boyfriend”. Do we want to worship God in a way that makes God fit to our ideal, or allows God to recreates us to his ideal?
* but most of all it suggests a relationship with God that is all about feeling closer to God. For example “I feel so good when I am next to you.” “You make me feel like dancing, I want to dance the night away” etc etc (insert the words of nearly any pop song here) Do we want to worship God in a way that tells us the aim of faith is how close I feel to God, or in a way that teaches true religion is ‘taking up my cross and following Jesus’ and ’showing mercy having a passion for justice and walking humbly with my God’ and ‘going, making disciples and obeying everything that Jesus has commanded’?
I am all in favour of ‘loving God with all my heart, soul mind and strength - and my neighbor as my self’ and in my own fallible way that is what I believe God is helping me to do. But if we tell people holiness is ‘feeling closer to God’ or ‘falling’ in love I think we have trivialised and distorted what God is really on about in our world.