I’ve been a part of songwriting for 10 years, parts of it flow and parts of it are really hard. But the song Jireh just flowed. In maybe an hour I had most of it written.

It was an intercessory song that was a cry for wholeness, not just for myself, but for a generation.

While writing this song I decided to go on a mission trip to South Africa that my brother, James Mark, was leading. As we were planning for the trip, we knew that worship would be an atmosphere shifter and our way of attracting people, whether it be in a township or a prison. Since African people have a music, dance-oriented culture, I knew I would really enjoy leading Jireh on their turf and it just made sense to do it.

When we came back from South Africa and played Jireh for the first time at church, it was breathtaking.

The song is a declaration: We are broken, but You can make us whole again.

So many parts of this song still surprise me. It started out as a prayer, then became this fun song African children danced to and ended up this battle cry, a fight song, for the people who sing it at World Mandate and Antioch. It went farther than what I intended it to be. I mean, had James Mark not wanted to sing it in worship in South Africa, it wouldn’t have been sung on Sunday morning, so to see the hand of God moving on that song, that’s humbling.

Of all the songs we do at World Mandate, there are so many awesome ones, so for people to yell Jireh, it just shocks me. At World Mandate 2014, they set the song to a beat people can actually dance to. I was able to come with my daughter, Ellie, and she was excited to see what they did with the song. She was like, “Dad, people love this song! It’s going to be fun to see everyone singing it.” When the song started, you could just tell the electricity in the room went to the next level. People didn’t know what to do, and James Mark came out and started singing and it was captivating. My favorite was when he was singing, and his voice goes up and the confetti dropped like a bomb.

When you read through the Gospels and you see Jesus taking a man born blind and healing a dead little girl who He brings back to life, the room becomes full with wonder. People are like, “God just made that broken thing whole.” That’s what this song is all about, a God who gives and makes us whole. Whether people are singing the 2001 version of Jireh, or this new version,

I want them to get lost in the wonder of who God is.

My prayer for my own heart and my family and the church right now is that we would be astonished with Jesus again, and captivated by the wonder of who He is. Being in a new line of work and interacting with different people from different businesses, I see how people get to the end of their day and they’re tired. I’ve just been carrying in my heart a promise that Jesus is going to astonish the world again. When I watched everyone worshipping at World Mandate 2014, I was awestruck. That was just a taste of the bigness of God and the bigness of the Kingdom of Heaven. I hope that whether it is kids at home dancing while mom is making dinner, or people working out or worshiping together at Lifegroup, that there would be lots of laughs and a sense of wonder at God.

By Jonathan Gulley

Jireh will be available on Tuesday, September 8th on iTunes. Check out this video if you want a preview!