Photo by Austin Neill
I’m sure most of you know about Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation Worship. They are home-grown worship bands that are associated with their churches. Beginning in 1997, Passion City Church started its first Passion conference under the banner of Choice Ministries. This was held in Atlanta Georgia. Since then, they released many, many albums. I counted 23 live and studio albums!
Also, check out my reviews of Bigger Than I Thought, Whole Heart, Holy Ground, There’s Nothing That Our God Can’t Do, Behold the Lamb, and Glorious Day.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Passion-spirit-fall-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?
Passion requests the Holy Spirit to renew them and implores us to worship Jesus as the world’s liberator.
Side Note: For those who don’t prefer lots of repetition, it’s unsurprising to see massive repetition spread out in such a short song. I counted:
- Stanza 1 – Three times
- Stanza 2 – Four times
- Stanza 3 – Eight times
- Stanza 4 – Eight times
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
Since this song does not contain a Verse/Chorus/Bridge structure, I assigned Stanzas to each paragraph.
[Stanza 1]
Lines 1-4: I learned something new recently about the Disciples of Jesus who were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were filled more than once! Peter was filled during Pentecost (Acts 2:4), before speaking to the Sanhedrin during his arrest (Acts 4:8), and after he was released (Acts 4:31). For Paul, it was during his conversion (Acts 9:17-19) and in Acts 13:9, where he rebuked the magician Elymas. Finally, Acts 13:52 says that the “disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit”. When Passion says “Holy Spirit Spirit fall on me”, they are asking for the Holy Spirit to invade again.
[Stanza 2]
Lines 1-4: This is the same concept as Stanza 1 worded differently.
[Stanza 3]
Lines 1-3: Several references Casper the friendly ghost.
[Stanza 4]
Lines 1-3: This stanza begins with another Caper reference, followed by Passion’s call for us to worship Jesus, who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29) and offers hope of new life (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers will know it’s Christian based on references to the Holy Spirit and the Son as Savior. They will conclude that Christians ask God for a spiritual experience and praise Him for sending Jesus to die for us. They probably won’t know that being filled with the Holy Spirit is more than a mere spiritual experience. It’s also about God leading us to follow and obey Him.
Score: 8/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies the Holy Spirit as the One who continually fills us and Jesus as Rescuer.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Passion’s Spirit Fall is simple but not simplistic. It compels us to ask the Holy Spirit to continually fill us and worship Jesus as Lord and Savior, bringing Him glory. Unbelievers will comprehend this song’s general gist, but not the deeper concepts of following Jesus and obedience.
This song might be good for seeker-sensitive churches or congregations that enjoy massive repetition. But, it’s not for me.
Final Score: 9.5/10
Artist Info
Track: Spirit Fall (Live) (listen to the song)
Artist: Passion (Feat. Chris Tomlin)
Album: Here For You (Live)
Genre: Rock
Release Year: 2011
Duration: 7:27
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Comments
Lyrics Ruminator:
I came to The Berean Test to see your thoughts on another song today from Bethel, “Fall Afresh”. It seems Bethel has a number of songs on the theme of asking the Holy Spirit to “fall”, “fall afresh”, or to “come”.
I do not disagree with your point about believers being filled … in fact I think Eph 5:18 says were are to be being filled regularly. I do differentiate being the filling of the Spirit, and the falling of the Spirit. In one case, filling, the believer is to be sensitive and responsive to the indwelling Holy Spirit, the earnest of their salvation. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t go away and need to fall again/come again … the Comforter has already come and doesn’t need to come again.
In Spirit Fall, if the believer is praying for the Spirit to fill them (not fall as in Acts 2), I can see it here as well. But if the believer wants a new Acts 2 experience, the Holy Spirit to be given afresh, I have a concern here as well.
I raise Acts 2 because Fall Afresh also says “Come and fill this place Let Your glory now invade”. If this refers to the believer, I suppose that falls under your support above. If that is about the Church, along with the fall afresh, I am concerned.
worshipismorethansinging
I think you are now being too generous with repitition – can’t win 😂.
The lyrics of the song with Oh in. What does this mean? Is it just filling a section they could not find better wirds🤷🏻♂️. Personally I never get this.
Tomlin et al has written some amazing songs lyrically. I don’t think this is one.