Tuning In

Always have your antennae up. A large part of a songwriter’s job is to find and retrieve inspiration. Notice the way words are put together, how they sound, how they will sing. Capture little phrases that will become hooks. You hear a good one and say to yourself, “Hey, that could make a good song.”Then be a doodler.  Remember, write it down. Get the heart, the human emotion from the nugget.  That’s what makes the song work. 

Listen to what the people of God are saying when they pray or praise. It shows you what they need and how they feel. Try to incorporate these into your songs. Go ahead and open your eyes and jot down what somebody is praying. If you feel odd about doing that, be at peace. Somebody wrote down what Moses prayed and Hannah prophesied. 

Paul was at a Youth With A Mission meeting when people were shouting out prayers: “Pour out your Spirit, Lord!” “We lift up your name!” “Send your fire, Lord!” “Send revival!” “Fall on us, Holy Spirit!” And he heard in his mind the phrase, Revival fire fall! “Hey, that feels good in the mouth. It will sing great and it says something vital.” Paul wrote that song during the service and taught it to the people at the end. It capsulized what they had been praying. It became a theme song each night at the Brownsville Revival and spread from there all over the world. 

You’re writing for the moment. Capture a moment that gives you a subject and an emotion. Pull down something from Jesus. If nothing else it’s a good spiritual exercise. 

Find that nugget, pull it down. It’s like a little gift from heaven. It’s all from God, and it all goes back to God.