I really enjoyed The Power of One—from beginning to end—and there are three songs that I really, really liked: "Everywhere That I Go," "Every Prayer" and "Moving Forward." I have a few lines that I pulled and I would like for you to give some insight into the inspiration behind the lyrics. The first set of lyrics comes from "Everywhere That I Go": "You promised me, you'll never leave. You promised me, I'm never forsaken. I believe goodness and mercy will follow me—surrounding me—where I go—everywhere that I go."
Lyrically, a lot of what I draw from – especially for songs that are congregational and everybody singing along – come directly out of Scriptures. You'll see that I borrowed from different things. You know, Peter said, "I'll never leave you nor forsake you." My response to that is, "I believe what you're saying here." The goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life reference is out of Psalm 23. A lot of it is taking familiar passages that we all grew up hearing in different context, in different psalms and finding that sort of attachment for people. Then maybe adding to it a little bit more, just making it a little bit more updated in its melody and in its concept. But it always borrows from something established as well.
The next set comes from "Moving Forward," where you state that "I'm not going back / I'm moving ahead / Here to declare to you / My past is over."
"Moving Forward" was written going into a new year, just that beautiful concept that you get a fresh start, you get a clean slate. But it's not just an annual thing; it's a daily thing. The Bible says that His mercies are new every morning so the concept there is that every day you wake up, you get a fresh 24. You get a chance to experience life all over again. You get another opportunity. None of us really have a say on whether we're going to wake up alive or not, you know what I mean? Tomorrow's never promised to anybody. All you got is today. When you wake up and you got today, you can basically say, "I'm not going to waste today and the currency of today on looking backwards," or "I should've done this yesterday," or "I wish last year I would've done this." At some point, you got to say, "I'm moving forward." That part for me is kind of self-explanatory. I see a lot of people hemmed up and in jail in their lives because of past mistakes and so instead of going into tomorrow, they sort of going into their future backwards because they keep looking back at what might have been and what wasn't and that sort of thing. It's just one of those challenges and encouragement to stop all that and move forward.
Article comments
1 - David
In reading this article I am deeply touched by the words of both the journalist and My Favorite Gospel Artist Israel Houghton. I'm always wondering what's the next agenda, idea, goal, passion. I have the place where GOD wants Me to go in Life, that much HE has shown Me, yet I'm not there and so I'm constantly saying to Myself what can I shed to lighten My load so that I can get there...not necessarily faster because the race is not given to swift, but what can I do to lighten My load to make the journey easier? More conducive to the terms in which GOD has set for Me to reach the Destination, that mark that We all so desperately press toward. Am I even desperately pursuing the things of GOD like I would like to confidently say I am desperately pursuing? The question still remains, how...
2 - Dianne Knowles
Just to let you know....your article is very good, however it was difficult to read because it is covered with half-naked women. I am supposing that you are unaware of this and am bringing it to your attention.
Thanks to Israel Houghton for all the great worship music.
3 - Jordan Richardson
Dianne, I assume you mean the advertisements? None of the writers can do anything about the ads here.
4 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Diane, you should try surfing the web with Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. With Firefox, you can either use NoScript or AdBlock Plus. Trust me, you'll never see an ad again!
5 - Kawanzaa King
Wonderful interview! I was clinging to every word :-). Thank you Mr. Perry and Israel for sharing your hearts. The Power Of One is just, (sigh), right on time! Like you Mr. Perry, the track "Moving Forward" is one of my favorites and the song just gets right to heart of my own matters, just like- "Rejoice", "Rise Within Us", "Another Breakthrough", "You Are Good" and so many more. Again, thank you both Mr. Perry and Israel for sharing your gifts.
Abundant Blessings~