Phil Wickham – Your Love Awakens Me

I am starting to become an avid fan of Phil Wickham ever since I heard and reviewed his beautifully written masterpiece Living Hope.  His other songs, This is Amazing Grace and Great Things also received perfect marks.  What about Your Love Awakens Me?  How will it rank on the high-score list?  Let’s find out together!

He recently released Singalong 4 (Live) (shameless Amazon link), which features Bethel Music’s popular artists Matt Redman and Brian and Jenn Johnson.  Joining Living Hope and Great Things. are other songs I previously reviewed, including Mosaic’s Tremble, Hillsong’s What a Beautiful Name, Matt Redman’s 10,000 Reasons, and Kari Jobe’s Forever.

Also, check out my reviews of Great Things, Living Hope and This is Amazing Grace.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Phil-wickham-your-love-awakens-me-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?

Despite its many words, the core message is simple: Though we were spiritually dead, Christ’s death and resurrection reconcile us to Himself.  We become spiritually awakened, worshipping Him for His greater and stronger love.

Side Note: Though a good message, it strikes me as the kind of song that checks all the boxes for a Christian song, but doesn’t go beyond that.  This could explain why I do not feel particularly excited when singing this song.

Score: 10/10

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

All of these song lyrics align with the Word of God.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-3: The divide between man and God caused by sin was reconciled at the cross (Romans 5:10, Romans 11:15, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, Ephesians 1:3-10, Ephesians 2:15-18, and Colossians 1:20-22).

Lines 4-6: That is, the weight of sin and shame has no longer a stranglehold over our lives (Psalm 116:16, Mark 5:8, Romans 6:20, and Galatians 5:1).

[Pre-Chorus]

Lines 1-4: Christ calls us from spiritual death (

John 3:36, Romans 5:12-15, Romans 8:13, Ephesians 2:1-3, Ephesians 2:1-2, Ephesians 4:18, Ephesians 5:8, Colossians 2:13, 2 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 John 5:12, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 20:6, Revelation 20:14-15, and Revelation 21:8) to spiritual awakening (John 3:3, John 9:25, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:5, Ephesians 5:14, Titus 3:5, and 1 Peter 1:3).

[Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: That is, His everlasting love greater and stronger than anything else (Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 17:7, Psalm 36:5-7, Psalm 63:3, Psalm 69:16, Psalm 117:2, Isaiah 54:8, John 3:16, John 13:34, John 15:13, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 8:37-39, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 2:4-5, Ephesians 5:25, Titus 3:4, 1 John 4:8, and 1 John 4:16-19).

Line 3: See Pre-Chorus.

Lines 4-6: Repeats lines 1-3.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-4: Though I am tempted to think this refers to the final resurrection (Luke 20:34-38, Acts 24:15-16, Romans 6:1-5, Romans 8:11-13, 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 1 Corinthians 15:50-56, 2 Corinthians 4:13-14, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), spiritual awakening seems to be a closer fit given its context.  See Pre-Chorus.

Line 5: Let everything that has breath praise God (Psalm 66:4 and Psalm 150:6).

Line 6: A subtle nod to the resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20, Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

[Bridge]

Line 1: See Chorus.

Line 2: See Pre-Chorus.

Lines 3 and 4: We are dependant upon God and cannot live without Him (John 15:1-11 and Romans 11:17-21).

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

It should be a fairly simple task for a non-christian with a rudimentary understanding of Christianity to grasp the essence of this song.  Thankfully, no boyfriends here!

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

The greater, stronger, awakening love of God is on full display.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Phil Wickham’s Your Love Awakens Me is a safe song.  It meets all the marks: good message, biblically sound, understandable to unbelievers, glorifies God.  But, it does not excite me that much, admittedly my own personal problem.

Feel free to sing this one at church if you want.  It is useful as the first song within a set, preparing our hearts for worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Your Love Awakens Me (listen to the song)

Artist: Phil Wickham

Album: Children of God

Genre: Rock

Release Year: 2016

Duration: 3:53

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

Updates:

03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.  I also placed my personal feelings as a side note and increased section 1’s score, raising the overall rating from 9.5/10 to 10/10.