Because of Who You Are

Jeremiah 10:6

No one is like you, Lord; 

you are great, and your name is mighty in power.

I have been challenged through this song to consider the focus of my worship and praise. Is it more focused on what God has done for me or on who God is?

I was looking up the lyrics to this song and discovered more than one song with the same title! One worship chorus by the same name was written by worship leader Martha Munizzi. I read a little about her journey in writing the lyrics (which are very similar to those we will be singing this week).

As Munizzi tried to finish the song she realized she had some work to do. “I realized that I had to go deeper,” she says. “[The song says] ‘Because of who you are,’ but… who are you? I really wanted to make that as plain as I could.”

Munizzi went straight to the Bible, studying the names of God, and scouring scripture for clues about His identity and character.

After she finished writing the song, but before introducing it to the congregation, she tried it out on her church choir.

“The first couple of times the choir sang it through,” she says, “They hadn’t learned it yet, so it wasn’t really getting into their spirits. But by the end of the rehearsal it was such a worshipful atmosphere we knew we had something special. It was such a revelation to people of who God is. Sometimes we sing about Him. But when you sing to Him about who He is, there’s such power in that.”

The attributes of God. The more we understand these attributes, the more we are in awe of the God we serve.

So let’s practice! I’d love to hear some of the attributes of God that come to your minds. I’ll start with ETERNAL. 

(Choir shared) FAITHFUL, PROVIDER, OMNIPOTENT, UNCHANGING, LOVING, I AM, and many, many more.  (My pencil couldn't keep up with all I was hearing!)

Spend time daily studying God’s attributes and then pray them, speak them, SING them to our awesome God. A resource that you might enjoy is the book “Praying the Attributes of God” by Rosemary Jensen, which looks at 31 attributes – perfect for a month-long study!

A Sandi Patti song from about 20 years ago says this:

Oh Lord I stand amazed at the wonder of your deeds 

and yet a greater wonder brings me to my knees

Lord I praise you, Because of who you are; 

Not just for all the mighty things that you have done

Lord I worship you, because of who you are; 

You're all the reason that I need to voice my praise

Because of who you are

1 Chronicles 29:10-11 

David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, 

“Praise be to you, Lord, 

the God of our father Israel, 

from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,

for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

Yours, Lord, is the kingdom."

For the complete article about Martha Munizzi, click here.