Once For All

Album: Your Mercy (2016)
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Songfacts®:

  • Written by Paul Baloche with English worship singer-songwriter Matt Redman, "Once For All" was included on both the 2016 album Your Mercy and also on the 20-year retrospective Ultimate Collection.
  • Baloche told NewReleaseToday that Redman and him set out to expand their "sanctified imagination" on this song. He explained:

    "A lot of times you can say concrete things in a worship song like, 'Lord we come before You.' Oftentimes, I'm challenged to think about if there is a word picture we can paint in a three-and-a-half-minute song that creates a visual. Ergo the beginning of this song, 'behold this King so innocent,' the implication of thinking about beholding our King on the way to His crucifixion and thinking about 'the crown of thorns upon His head.' 'Feel His heart of grace' points out to people that we can experience Him personally. We go on to sing 'behold this Man of suffering, who bore the cross and all our shame,' reminding us to 'breathe again this mystery.' That's for us as the church now. We've become so accustomed to the fundamentals of the gospel that we kick into autopilot, and we wanted people to remember to 'breathe again this mystery.'

    I remember when my kids were small, and we were sitting around the table before a meal, and they would kick into some fast prayer. Sometimes I'd remind them that we don't talk to one another in a speedy, 'let's get it over with' way. We are talking to our Creator and Savior, and we need to breathe that in. He's our provider who provided our meal. The song continues in that light, like you are talking to a stranger who has wandered in and you are telling them about Jesus."

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