Behind The Song: Interview About Amazed

Kutless' guitarist, Nick DePartee, speaks with NRT contributor Kevin Davis about their latest single, "Amazed."

Nick DePartee: "God wants us to be in awe of Him and live our lives in such amazement of His grace."
    
 
It Is Well is the follow-up to Strong Tower, the biggest worship album Kutless has released. It Is Well is a perfect blend of well-known worship songs mixed in with some fresh new originals.

The heart of worship is something the band as a whole is very in tune with and they love bringing that to the forefront, sharing and coming together as one to give glory to God. With the new album, listeners will be able to sing along to the classics as well as add some new favorites into their time of worship.

I got the chance to speak with Kutless' guitarist, Nick DePartee, about the band's current single, “Amazed.”

Please tell me about the background of writing this song.

I co-wrote "Amazed" with Phil Wickham. I started writing the song about two years ago when I moved to Nashville. I had written the first verse and just put it away. I thought maybe I’d use it someday. We started writing for the new record, It Is Well, and I went out to San Diego to work with Phil Wickham and our producer Pete Kipley on some songs together. Pete started playing a song he was working on and I thought about how it was in the same key as the song I had started writing the year before. Sure enough, we were able to blend the ideas together. We kept hearing the word "amazed" and were in that state of awe about who God is. We get caught up when we write worship songs in that we want it to be real to us. e don’t want our songs to sound cliché or not real to us. We found that it was really challenging to write completely real and sincere worship songs. We prayed to God that the lyrics be real to us. We were blown away by the process, especially watching God move and letting Him move us to write how we felt about Him. God is so much bigger than anything in my life. I just want to be in a reverent fear of God.

My favorite line from the song is “So high above, our greatest song but still You call and we will come.” I remember that Phil and I were sitting on the patio and thinking that line really reflected how we felt as songwriters about our songs, that God is above any song that we could ever write.

Do you have a life verse or any Bible verses you used in writing the song?

My life verse is Romans 5:8: But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I actually have that verse tattooed on my arm now to remind me of God’s love for me.

What's the message that listeners can take from this song?

God doesn’t want us to be robots or have talents and not use them for His glory. The biggest lesson I’ve learned through the process of writing for this album is that God wants us to be in awe of Him and live our lives in such amazement of His grace. “Amazing Grace” is one of my favorite hymns. The more life I live, I see more and more how amazing it is that God would use me, or any of us, who are all truly wretches. Having toured with Casting Crowns earlier this year, one of the coolest things I learned from Mark Hall was that God doesn’t have to use any of us, He wants to use us. God doesn’t just love us, He also likes us. Realizing that makes me want to worship God more and more. Who knows what’s going to come in our lives? Whether it makes sense or not, God is truly amazing. That’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned recently.

Here are the lyrics:

Open up, my eyes to see
All of You, Your mysteries
I hold my breath, You hold my hand
As heaven melts the heart of man

How amazed I am

Your glory fills the sky,
a great and holy light
Shining like a million stars,
I'm amazed by who You are
Lord we lift You high,
Oh God be magnified
You have overwhelmed my heart,
I'm amazed by who You are

The universe, is at Your feet
And angels bow, when You speak
So high above, our greatest song
but still You call
and we will come

How amazed I am

Your glory fills the sky,
a great and holy light
Shining like a million stars,
I'm amazed by who You are
Lord we lift You high,
Oh God be magnified
You have overwhelmed my heart,
I'm amazed by who You are

Your glory fills the skies,
a great and holy light
Shining like a million stars,
I'm amazed by who You are
Lord we lift You high,
Oh God be magnified
You have overwhelmed my heart,
I'm amazed by who You are

You are...

I love the sincerity and humility of this song. I sing it at the top of my lungs in praise and awe of my Savior and King, Jesus. Worship is really about submission and our roles as worshippers are really defined in this song, which is to just be amazed and in awe of God. All we can do is submit to Him and give everything we have to Him. If you are a painter, paint in God’s Name. If you’re a teacher, teach in God’s Name. Everything we do is a ministry. Lift up your voice and your life to God and submit to Him. He is amazing!