Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music (Feat. Joe L. Barnes) – Million Little Miracles

Elevation Worship was started in 2007.  Much like Hillsong and Bethel, they are a band that grew out of a church.  They released many albums and EP’s.

They also won eight awards, including two Billboard for Top Christian Artist (2021) and Top Christian Song (Graves into Gardens, 2021), and two GMA Dove awards for Spanish Language Album of the Year (Aleluya (En La Tierra), 2020) and Worship Recorded Song of the Year (The Blessing (Live), 2020).

Also, check out my other Elevation Worship reviews. 

Maverick City Music is the audience on stage.  Recently, they have collaborated with other artists such as Elevation Worship, Chandler Moore, and Brandon lake to produce music, including Million Little Miracles.

They released seven EP’s and eight albums, including:

• Maverick City Vol. 1 EP (2019)
• Maverick City Vol. 2 EP (2019)
• Maverick City Vol. 3, Part 1 (2020)
• Maverick City Vol. 3, Part 2 (2020)
• You Hold It All Together (EP, 2020)
• Maverick City Christmas (EP, 2020)
• Move Your Heart (EP, 2021)
• Jubilee (EP, 2021)
• Como En El Cielo (Spanish, 2021)
• Old Church Basement (with Elevation Worship, 2021)
• Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition (2021)
• Tribl I (with Tribl, 2021)
• Venga Tu Reino (2021)
• A Very Maverick Christmas (2021)
• Breathe (EP, 2022)

They won three awards last year, including one Billboard Music Award for Top Gospel Album for their album Maverick City Vol. 3 Part 1 and two GMA Doves: New Artist of the Year and Worship Album of the Year (Old Church Basement).

Also, check out my previous Maverick City Music reviews.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Elevation-worship-and-maverick-city-music-million-little-miracles-lyrics.

Side Note: For the remainder of this review, I will refer to Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music as “Elevation & Maverick”.

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.  I strongly encourage you to consider the potential blessings and dangers of this artist‘s theology by visiting Resources.

1. What message does the song communicate?

Elevation & Maverick celebrate immeasurable and undeserved blessings that God has given to them. Though they admit that there are times when God allowed them to suffer, they desire to know God personally while He guides them on their journey.  In Bridge, they list several examples of blessings they received, including family members who were healed, basic necessities, freedom from sin, and God’s closeness when a brother died.

Some may accuse this song of preaching the prosperity gospel, especially since it spends a lot of time on miracles.  Yet, it doesn’t teach that faith, giving, and positive speech causes God to perform miracles.

Others may think that Elevation & Maverick are downplaying miracles as common.  After all, aren’t miracles rare events?  However, None of Merriam-Webster’s definitions of miracle include rarity.  Instead, it mentions “extraordinary” and “unusual” as facets of the miraculous.  It is extraordinary that God provides underserved favor, blessing us with every good and perfect gift (James 1:17).  Besides, Elevation & Maverick makes a distinction between “big” and “little” miracles.

Side Note: To those annoyed by massive repetition, Bridge repeats “I can’t even, I can’t even count ’em all” 25 times.

Score: 10/10

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

The whole song lines up with Scripture.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-4: Elevation & Maverick recognize that everything they have is God’s extraordinary undeserved favor (Genesis 15:6, Exodus 33:19, Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 3:21-24, Romans 4:3-8, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 5:15-21, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 9:14-16, Romans 11:5-6, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:6, Galatians 5:4, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:4-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Titus 2:11, 1 Timothy 1:15-16, and James 2:23), manifesting from God’s foreknowledge via election (Exodus 33:19, Deuteronomy 7:7-8, Deuteronomy 9:4-6, Isaiah 65:1, Matthew 22:1-14, John 15:16-17, Romans 8:29-39, Romans 9:10-24, Romans 11:1-6, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Ephesians 1:3-14, Colossians 3:12-14, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15, 2 Timothy 1:8-9, 2 Timothy 2:10 James 2:5, and 2 Peter 1:3-11).

Line 5: By “scars”, Elevation & Maverick reference trials and tribulations that better their character (Romans 5:3-5, Hebrews 12:4-11, and James 1:2-4).

Line 6: Repeats line 3.

[Pre-Chorus (1)]

Lines 1 and 2: While grace doesn’t make logical sense to Elevation & Maverick, they know that God grants it (see commentary on Verse 1, lines 1-4) and are grateful to receive it.

[Chorus]

Lines 1-4: Grace described in Verse 1, line 1 includes countless blessings God has given to Elevation & Maverick.

Side Note: Later iterations adds additional lines that repeat parts of Chorus.

[Verse 2]

Line 1: God directs Elevation & Maverick’s path (Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 4:27, and Isaiah 30:21).

Line 2: Borrows from the letter to the church in Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-8.

Line 3: That is, Elevation & Maverick hope that their zeal for God does not wane.

Line 4: Not a heart open to sin, but that God opens the eyes of their hearts (Ephesians 1:18).

Line 5: Not that Elevation & Maverick wish to be fake in their relationship with Jesus, but that their actions reflect that they know God personally (John 15:1-11, Acts 17:27, Romans 8:15, Romans 11:16-24, and Philippians 3:8-10).

Line 6: Repeats line 3.

[Pre-Chorus (2)]

Lines 1 and 2: Essentially repeats Pre-Chorus (1), line 2.

[Bridge]

Lines 1-52: Almost all of it repeats parts of Chorus, line 3.  The outliers are examples of God’s providence, including:

• A mother healed.
• A father redeemed.
• God’s comfort when a brother died (Psalm 23:4, Psalm 71:21, Psalm 119:50-52, Psalm 119:76, Psalm 119:82, Isaiah 51:3, Isaiah 57:18, Isaiah 61:2, Isaiah 66:13, Zechariah 1:17, Matthew 5:4, Matthew 11:28-30, and 2 Corinthians 1:3-7).
• Freedom and victory over sin (Psalm 119:45, Isaiah 58:6, Isaiah 61:1, John 3:16-21, John 8:31-36, John 10:10, Acts 13:38-39, Romans 6:1-23, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 8:20-21, 1 Corinthians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 7:21-23, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 2:4, Galatians 3:13, Galatians 3:22, Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:13, Colossians 1:21-23, Hebrews 2:14-15, and 1 Peter 2:16), evidenced with statements about broken chains and salvation.
• Keeping Elevation & Maverick’s eyes fixed on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).
• Physical healing.
• Breath.
• Clothing.
• Plenty of food.

[Outro]

Lines 1-7: Essentially repeats Chorus, line 3.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

The word “Jesus” in the last iteration of Chorus gives away this song’s Christian context.  Unbelievers will conclude that Elevation & Maverick are reminding Christians to count their blessings.  Though some might become jealous that they aren’t receiving His blessing like they are, this view misses the point. Elevation & Maverick provides an example of God’s miracle of His presence amid losing their brother.

Score: 9/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God that Elevation & Maverick admit that they don’t deserve God’s miracles.  Yet, they are grateful to have His blessing, guidance, and correction to keep Him as the primary object of their affection.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music’s Million Little Miracles is a good reminder to remember God’s blessings.  They proclaim that His miracles are undeserved, with at least one example of His blessing that wasn’t what Elevation & Maverick expected.  Namely, comfort when their brother died.  This glorifies God.  Though some unbelievers might be jealous, those paying attention should find interpretation easy.

I find it difficult to recommend for corporate worship.  It seems more like a song that proclaims God’s blessing than His value and worth.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Million Little Miracles (listen to the song)

Artist: Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music (Feat. Joe L. Barnes)

Album: Old Church Basement

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2021

Duration: 6:46

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