Photo by Ran Berkovich
Priscilla Marie Winans Love, known more for her stage name CeCe Winans, is an American Gospel singer. She began her career in 1977 as a duet with her older brother BeBe, known as BeBe & CeCe Winans. She began her solo career in 1995.
As a solo artist, she released 12 albums, including:
- Alone in His Presence (1995)
- Everlasting Love (1998)
- His Gift (1998)
- Alabaster Box (1999)
- CeCe Winans (2001)
- Throne Room (2003)
- Purified (2005)
- Thy Kingdom Come (2008)
- Songs of Emotional Healing (2010)
- Let Them Fall in Love (2017)
- Something’s Happening (2018)
- Believe For It (2021)
She received numerous awards for her work. I counted 51 awards between Grammy’s Dove’s, and Stellar’s.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Cece-winans-believe-for-it-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 contasts worldly thinking with Christian belief. The world says God is either non-existent, powerless, or doesn’t care about human affairs. Christians disagree, pointing to God’s care for mankind by His power manifested through Christ. He who rose from the dead is our hope.
The title Believe For It seems grammatically incorrect at first. However, it’s saying that for us to receive it (God’s strength), we must trust in Him.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
All of it.
[Verse 1]
Lines 1-7: Contrasts worldly thinking with Matthew 17:20, Matthew 21:21, and Mark 11:23. Unbelievers don’t believe God exists, has the power to heal, or is willing to do so. Christians disagree on all fronts. We have a personal relationship with God (John 15:1-11, Acts 17:27, Romans 8:15, Romans 11:16-24, and Philippians 3:8-10 ) and believe He is omnipotent (Genesis 1:1-31, Job 11:7-11, Psalm 33:6, Jeremiah 32:17, Romans 4:17, Hebrews 1:3, and Jude 1:24-25).
Lines 8 and 9: Repeats/essentially repeats line 4.
[Chorus]
Lines 1-6: We believe God can do things that are possible for Him, but impossible for us in our own steam (Genesis 18:14, Jeremiah 32:17, Jeremiah 32:27, Zechariah 8:6, Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, and Luke 1:37). Belief is required to receive God’s power (Matthew 21:22 and Mark 11:24).
Lines 7 and 8: Repeats lines 3 and 4.
[Verse 2]
Lines 1 and 2: Christ’s resurrection gives us hope, that we too would be raised with Him (Romans 6:4, Romans 6:9-11, 1 Corinthians 6:14, Ephesians 2:6, and Colossians 3:1).
Line 3: No matter our circumstances, God’s power still remains. A good example of this sentiment can be found in Daniel 3:17-18.
Lines 4 and 5: Repeats Verse 1, lines 8 and 9.
[Bridge]
Lines 1 and 2: The only way to hope is through Jesus (John 14:6 and Acts 4:12).
Line 3: We are firm in our faith (1 Corinthians 16:13, 2 Corinthians 1:24, Ephesians 6:11, Philippians 1:27, Philippians 4:1, Colossians 1:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 3:14, Hebrews 4:14, Hebrews 6:11, Hebrews 10:23, and 1 Peter 5:9).
Line 4: This is so because He is sovereign over creation (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 4:39, Deuteronomy 10:14, Joshua 2:11, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 45:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Psalm 93:1-2, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Isaiah 43:13, Isaiah 45:9-10, Isaiah 46:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:35, Romans 9:19-21, Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 1:8, James 4:15, Revelation 4:11, and Revelation 20:11). He gets to decide who receives His power and when (John 16:13).
Lines 5-8: Essentially repeats lines 1-4, except the final line contains “You are the final say”, which confirms my commentary in line 4.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers will likely understand that Winans contrasts defeatist thinking in unbelief with Christian faith in the power of God. Winans’ everyday language significantly eases them into this conclusion.
My only concern is for those who trusted that God would act and didn’t. Will they walk away because nobody told them that God sometimes says “no”? This is somewhat implied in Bridge, that God has and is the final say on how and when His power manifests. However, something more explicit like “even if God doesn’t act, we still trust him” would help clarify this.
Score: 8/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies God by calling us to trust Him, that He has the power to heal.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
CeCe Winans’ Believe For It contains a singular theme. Namely, we Christians embrace and receive that God has the power to break chains whereas those outside Christianity don’t. It also claims that our hope lies in the resurrection of Jesus, bringing glory to God. Unbelievers should be able to interpret similarly, though it would be helpful to state that, if God doesn’t respond in the way we expect, He is still God.
I recommend this for corporate worship, with a caveat in seeker-sensitive churches to offer such an explanation.
Final Score: 9.5/10
Artist Info
Track: Believe For It (listen to the song)
Artist: CeCe Winans
Album: Believe For It
Genre: Gospel, Rock
Release Year: 2021
Duration: 3:49
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Comments
Karla Thurmer
I loved the song until I got to the line when she says, “Believe for it.” It sounds like ‘name it and claim it’ and that God needs my help in order for Him to move- a Theology of Glory.
Frederick Bartlett
I found your site while searching for the reasons that this song, which I had an extremely negative reaction to, has become so popular.
It is an anthem of naked self-aggrandizement – it says, in so many words, that we should believe in God because He will give us good things. If that were not the case, the titular pronoun would refer to something – say, salvation – instead, it’s left up to the listener to substitute for “it” whatever goodies he desires in the moment.
A secondary problem is the they/we dichotomy in the intro, which tells those outside the faith that they’re bad and stupid, while we faithful are good and smart. This is emphatically not the message I get from Scripture (though it is the message I get from such as Joel Osteen).
Josh D
It’s hard to understand how this song is okay but Faithful Now by Vertical Worship is hounded for similar concept that is more biblically sound.
Vince Wright
Josh,
Thanks for letting me know!
My review of Faithful Now was reviewed by a version of me that believed that the word “all” literally meant “all” at all times. However, I’ve since been convinced that that’s not always the case. Even then, I shouldn’t have penalized it as much as I did. Thus, Faithful Now requires a major overhaul.
With that in mind, this song’s language points specifically to salvation from sin, whereas Faithful Now is a bit unclear on that point. Also, we must consider that sometimes God says “no”.
-Vince Wright