Big Daddy Weave – Jesus I Believe

My first introduction to Big Daddy Weave came through my sister-in-law, who lost three children in three separate pregnancies.  She introduced me to Redeemed, which had a profound impact on her life and helped her cope with her loss.  Having lost a son myself a few years ago, I can understand why it deeply moved her towards healing.

Worship pastor Mike Weaver, along with his brother Jay Weaver and Jeremy Redmon, Joe Shirk, and Jeff Jones, started their band in 2001 after meeting during their studies at University of Mobile.  They signed with Fervent Records a year after their independent album Neighborhoods. The name “Big Daddy Weave” combines Mike Weaver’s nickname “Big Daddy”, given his size with his last name “Weaver”, with the last character “r” dropped for flow.

Big Daddy Weave won a Dove awards for Christmas Album of the Year in 2010 and was honored two years in a row at ASCAP’s 2003 and 2004 Christian Music Awards.

Jesus I believe, released initially as a single and is now available on Beautiful Offerings (deluxe edition) is the subject of today’s requested review.  It peaked at 13 on Billboard’s top Christian songs.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Big-daddy-weave-jesus-i-believe-lyrics.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

It is a prayer to God offered by Big Daddy Weave.  We, as their audience, listen to the wonderful desires he has.  He wants to walk with Jesus, stand on His promises, and to speak life to those around him as Jesus did.  It apexes during the Bridge (as many songs do), calling for Christ’s kingdom to come and will be done, borrowed from the LORD’s prayer.  Its core message is an example for us to follow: complete and total surrender to Jesus.

Speaking of Jesus: His name is not danced around like in other songs.  It is explicitly stated multiple times, clearly communicating the object of their affection and adoration.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

All of it!  There is a truckload of Scriptural references with a sprinkling of deep theology.

[Verse 1]

Line 1: That is, to follow Jesus (see John 15:1-10, 1 Corinthians 11:1-2, 1 Peter 2:21, and 1 John 2:3-6).

Line 2 and 3: This is a request to experience Christ’s presence in our lives.  The Scriptures teach us that He will always be with us (Matthew 28:20).

Line 4: Not physically but spiritually.  It is through Jesus that we can see the Father also (John 14:7-9).

Line 5: God’s power is demonstrated throughout the entire Bible, far too many examples to count.  The most prevalent is creation, eloquently captured in Genesis 1:1-31, Psalm 19:1-4, and Job 38:4-7.

Line 6: Yes, because God’s perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

[Chorus]

Line 1: Pairs with Verse 1, Line 4.

Line 2: We can test the spirit to determine the presence we experience is God (Jesus) or not (1 John 4:1-6), using the Bible as our guide (Acts 17:11, 2 Timothy 2:15, and 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Line 3: Though I myself have not personally studied all the promises of God, below are five promises I examined as of this writing:

1. He will supply all the things we need, but not necessarily the things we want (Philippians 4:19). It is according to His purpose that we receive them (Romans 8:28).
2. His grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9). When things go really bad for me and I cling to Jesus, I find that in those dark moments, I realize how blessed I am. I do not deserve them (grace literally means “unmerited favor”).
3. Whenever I face temptation, God promises to always provide the way out (1 Corinthians 10:13). That does not mean that I always take it, and when I fail to do so, bad consequences almost invariably follow. As I continue to study the Bible and spend time with God, I become more aware of what the way out is.
4. God promises to hear our request, so long that we ask in accordance to His will (1 John 5:14-15). Jesus makes a similar sentiment in John 14:14, which has the same undertone when He says “in my name”. A lot of people think that if we ask God anything, that He should always give us what we want. This is a misunderstanding of prayer. We are to pray in accordance to the will of the Father! We often ask with the wrong motives (see James 4:1-3, particularly verse 3), which is why sometimes we do not receive what we ask. Once I learned of this promise, I started praying according to God’s will. Sometimes I receive what I ask. Sometimes I do not. Sometimes it takes a while before I get it. I kinda see this like a traffic light: green for go, red for no, and yellow for waiting. I understand this is not a perfect analogy (especially the yellow), but that was helpful to me. Many will chalk this up as mere coincidence. I happened to get what I asked for. But, what I noticed in my life is that the more I pray, the more coincidences occur. In those times when I do not pray, the coincidences stop.
5. He promises persecution to those who follow Him (Matthew 10:16-23). This is not a pleasant promise or one that evangelists talk about much. However, when I do a proper Gospel presentation, I make sure to bring this one up. That way, should those who listen decide to follow Jesus, they will not be surprised when they are persecuted for the sake of Jesus (1 John 3:13, 1 Peter 4:12). it is because they hate Jesus that they persecute us (Mark 13:13, John 15:18).

While this is not an exhaustive list of God’s promises, it is important that we cannot hold the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit to promises they never made.

Line 4: Indeed, because:

1. Jesus is the Word (John 1:1 and John 1:14);
2. Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6);
3. God’s Word is truth (2 Samuel 7:25-28, Psalm 119:142, Psalm 119:151, Psalm 119:160, and John 17:17-19);
4. Jesus testifies to the truth (John 1:14, John 1:17, and John 18:37); and
5. Jesus is without sin (Isaiah 53:9, Matthew 27:24, John 19:4, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 Peter 2:21-23, and 1 John 3:5).

Line 5: God is larger than our immediate problems (Job 26:14, Job 37:5, Psalm 147:3-5, Jeremiah 32:27, Matthew 19:26, 2 Corinthians 13:4, and 1 Timothy 6:15-16).

Line 6: Refers to the “great exchange”; Christ’s life for ours; His covering for our sins (Leviticus 17:11, Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9) and in exchange, our right to become children of God (John 1:12-13, John 14:18, Romans 8:14-17, Romans 8:23, Romans 9:1-8, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:5-7, Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 2:11-22, Hebrews 9:15, and 1 John 3:1-3).

Line 7: Though often misunderstood, the idea of impossibility becoming real (through God) depends on context.  Consider the following passages of Scripture:

1. Genesis 18:14 – Literally, this is “Is any word too wonderful”, referencing the prophecy God gave to Abraham that he would bear a son through his old wife Sarah.
2. Job 42:2 – This is a reference to God’s omnipotence, specifically, in regard to His nature in juxtaposition to Job’s own feebleness.  It is not saying that God can do things that are, for Him, impossible (e.g.; square circles, mathematical errors, infinite rock He cannot lift, etc.).  Rather, it is a comparative between God’s raw power to Job’s.
3. Jeremiah 32:17 and Jeremiah 32:27 – The prophet Jeremiah makes the same point Job does in #2: God is omnipotent and Jeremiah is weak, hence, why he prays to God for help while imprisoned.  God responds later in this chapter, starting in verse 26, acknowledging Jeremiah’s opening in verse 17.
4. Matthew 17:20 – Though this sounds absolute, that nothing will be impossible for us, it does have a condition: faith.  It is a dependence upon the power of God.  Similar to my commentary in #2, this does not teach that we can do logically impossible things.  This is based on the principle of analogy: God cannot give us what He does not have Himself.
5. Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, and Luke 18:27 – The context of these passages is about salvation; we cannot save ourselves.  Only God can rescue us from our sinful state, consistent with commentary within #2.
6. Mark 9:22-24 –  Jesus took exception with the father’s lack of trust, though he did have intellectual assent.  This one is similar to #4 in that new possibilities open up when we have faith in God.  As stated previously, this does not teach we can do the logically impossible through faith, only that which is possible for God.
7. Luke 1:37 – Literally, this says “all words not unable”, it tells us that all of God’s prophetic words will always come to fruition, including Mary’s pregnancy as a virgin, within the context of this particular verse.

Lines 8 and 9: Oh good, I believe Jesus too!

[Verse 2]

Lines 1 and 2: This is an example of imitating Christ as written in John 13:12-15, John 13:34, John 15:9-11, 1 Corinthians 11:1, Ephesians 4:32, Philippians 2:3-8, Colossians 3:13, 1 Peter 2:21, and 1 John 2:6.  Indeed, life and death are within the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21).

Lines 3 and 4: Big Daddy Weave demonstrates a thirst for God the Son, finding application within Psalm 42:1-2, Psalm 63:1, Psalm 73:25, Psalm 119:20, Psalm 119:81, Psalm 143:6, Isaiah 26:9, Amos 8:11, John 4:13-14, John 6:35, John 7:37, Revelation 21:6, and Revelation 22:17.

[Bridge]

Lines 1-4: Directly from the Lord’s Prayer, recorded in Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2-4.  Matthew 6:10 is the quoted portion.

[Chorus (outro?)]

Second to the last line: This portion is not found within the chorus proper and quotes Mark 9:24, an account of a man whose son is demon-possessed and asks Jesus to heal his son “if he can”.  While the concept of believing and asking Jesus to overcome unbelief seems contradictory, there are two kinds of belief at play: intellectual ascent and active trust.  This dad had intellectual ascent, as does Big Daddy and myself.  They need help with active trust.  Quite frankly, I do as well.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

The thrust of Big Daddy Weave’s message will not be lost to any unbeliever who is half-paying attention.  They may not understand all the theological depth unpacked in section 2; however, it would be extremely hard to see how those outside Christianity could reinterpret these lyrics any differently without intentional self-deception.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

Given what I have written previously, it seems obvious that God is glorified throughout these lyrics.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Big Daddy Weave’s Jesus I believe hits all the right marks.  He is clear in communicating their prayers to Jesus to Christians and unbelievers alike.  He bathes it with Scriptural truth, glorifying God in the process.  It is truly a masterpiece that I hope will be individually and corporally sung for years to come.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Jesus I believe (listen to the song)

Artist: Big Daddy Weave

Album: Beautiful Offerings (deluxe edition)

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2015

Duration: 4:37

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