Planetshakers – We Speak Life

Planetshakers church has two bands under its umbrella: Planetshakers and their youth outreach: Planetboom.  I have done one review for each band: You Call Me Beautiful for Planetshakers and LEMME TELLYA for Planetboom.  Both received favorable reviews.  This third review, the second under the Planetshakers name, is for We Speak Life.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Planetshakers-we-speak-life-live-in-melbourne-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.  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?

It is through the power and name of God that we may speak life into another individual, much like Ezekiel did to the dry bones that is the obstinate Israelite people in his day and age.  It also describes several attributes of God, including:

• Life-giver
• Healer
• Faithful
• Omnipotent
• Omnipresent
• Spiritual protector

The song’s two bridges and outro make up the bulk of the song, which is worship of God and inviting people to worship God.  While I am tempted to label “we worship you” as repetition ad nauseum, the talking portions (they are italicized on the Genius link provided) from the live version help to keep things interesting, where a recorded version may not contain these phrases, thus, lowering its score.  Still, it overstays its welcome, clocking in at 2 minutes and 20 seconds of repeating the same phrase over and over again.  Temptation accepted.

Score: 8/10

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

Almost all lines are Scriptural; However, Bridge 2 contains an erroneous line  I also provided a caution for the Outro’s opening lines.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-3: Not on our own steam, but in the name of God, as indicated in line 3.  It derives from Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14.  God breathes life into His people, an example of the many miracles that are done in His name.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-3: Though it is true that God, who spoke the universe into existence, is perfectly capable of healing those whom He made.  What is impossible for man is possible with God (Luke 18:27).  Of course, that does not guarantee that God will heal.  Capability and choice to heal are not the same thing.

[Chorus 1]

Line 1: See Verse 2.

Line 2: In syllogism format, if we start with the premises that God is love (1 John 4:8) and that love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8), we can conclude that God never fails.

Lines 3 and 4: God is faithful, even if we are faithless because He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

[Verse 3]

Lines 1-3: This is so because the joy of God is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

[Chorus 2]

Lines 1-4: Repeats Chorus 1.

Line 5: That is, God is omnipotent, meaning that God’s raw strength is limitless, as demonstrated through creation by merely speaking (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).  It does not mean that God’s power does not have limitations.  For example, God cannot:

• Lie (Titus 1:2 and Hebrews 6:18)
• Change (Numbers 23:19, Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, and James 1:17)
• Stop loving those who are His (Psalm 103:17 and Jeremiah 31:3)

Line 6: That is, an unbreakable refuge (Psalm 18:1-3, Psalm 27:1-5, Psalm 31:19-24, Psalm 46:1-3, Psalm 71:1-6, Psalm 91:1-4, Proverbs 14:26, Proverbs 18:10, and Isaiah 25:1-5).  Under the New Covenant, this is spiritual protection rather than physical.  This is so because our battle is with powers, principalities, authorities, and spiritual forces of darkness, not flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).

Lines 7 and 8: Repeats lines 3 and 4.

[Bridge 1]

Lines 1 and 2: There is life and death in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21 and James 3:1-10).  Also, see commentary in Verse 1.

Line 3: Acknowledges God’s omnipresence (1 Kings 8:27, Psalm 139:7-12, Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Colossians 1:17, and Hebrews 4:13).

Lines 4 and 5: Christ followers worship, demonstrating trust in God.

Line 6: We worship because God is worthy of praise (1 Chronicles 16:25, 2 Samuel 22:4, Psalm 96:4-5, Psalm 145:3, and Revelation 4:11).

Line 7: Jesus!

Line 8: See line 6.

Line 9: Essentially a repeat of line 1, with a cameo calling to Casper the friendly ghost.

Lines 10-14: Repeats lines 1-4.

Line 15: Invites Christ followers to join in praise and worship.

Lines 16-19: Repeats lines 5-8.

[Bridge 2]

Lines 1-14: Essentially repeats the message of Bridge 1, put in different words.  The first line makes another appeal to Casper.

Line 15: It is better to spend one day in God’s house than a thousand days elsewhere (Psalm 84:10).

Lines 16-24: More of Bridge 1’s message.

Line 25: This is a false statement.  What does “another level” look like?  What can be higher than spending time praising and worshipping God?  Nothing.

Lines 26-28: More of Bridge 1’s message.

Line 29: References Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 136:3, Daniel 2:47, Matthew 28:18, 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 1:5, and Revelation 19:16.

Lines 30-35: More of Bridge 1’s message.

Line 36: God is the source of our wants and desires, to which He supplies, according to the riches of His glory (Philippians 4:19).

[Outro]

Lines 1-3: We must be careful what we read into these statements.  As I mentioned in Bridge 2, line 36, God supplies our needs.  But, we must distinguish between need and wants.  We might pray for things in faith and await God’s response, but His saying no may, in fact, bring Him more glory than responding in the affirmative.  What we think we need may be a want in God’s eyes.  We often forget about the “according to God’s glory” portion that John 14:13, which is curiously absent in passage such as Matthew 18:19, Matthew 21:22, Mark 11:24, John 15:7, John 15:16, and John 16:23-24.

Lines 4 and 5: Same concept at Bridge 2, line 15.

Lines 6 and 7: An appropriate response to the glory that is God.

Line 8: As recorded in Hebrews 12:2, this line invites us to focus on God.

Lines 9-15: Discussed elsewhere in Bridge 1 and Bridge 2.

Score: 9/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

They should easily see this as a worship song to the Christian God, with little to no ambiguity.  The relentless repetition might drive some away; However, it doesn’t affect interpretation.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Planetshakers’ We Speak Life is a fantastic worship song, if we cut out much of the second Bridge’s daunting refrain.  It communicates many attributes of God and invites all to worship our Creator, bringing Him glory.

I can only recommend this for worship if:

1. Your congregation does not mind massive repetition, or
2. You are willing to cut out half (or more) of the second Bridge.

Bonus points for utilizing the pronoun “we” rather than “I”, which screams corporate worship!

Final Score: 9/10

Artist Info

Track: We Speak Life (Live In Melbourne) (listen to the song)

Artist: Planetshakers

Album: Legacy (Live)

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2017

Duration: 8:34

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

Updates:

10/26/2021 – Per Artist Theology announcement, I expanded the red text to encourage others to study Planetshakers’ theology.

03/27/2020 – Upon further reflection and prayer, I decided that repetition does not impact an unbeliever’s interpretation or the lyrics’ inherent glorification of God. Therefore, I changed my score in sections 3 and 4, raising this review from 8.5/10 to 9/10.