Justice: Past to Present
God speaks His message through all kinds of songs. Even when we don’t realize He is. When I wrote the JUSTICE song in 2008 with AJ Masters, it was written as a song pitch for a Wild West cowboy movie. Though it did not end up landing on a movie soundtrack, over a decade later I felt the familiar ‘tap on the shoulder’ I get from God when He has an assignment for me to do. It’s time to dust off the JUSTICE song… I heard Him say in my spirit. “Huh?” I replied, “I haven’t listened to that song in years! Why now?”
When I listened to the demo recording of the song, my first thought was, “Hmmmm it’s interesting that we put such obvious Biblical language in this song, since we wrote it for a Wild West cowboy movie pitch.” I didn’t feel my voice was right to deliver its rough-edged gritty message, so I sent it to my friends John & Michaela Lemonis to inquire if they might be interested in recording it. They are a musical duo with a “swampy delta” sound, and I had a feeling that their style infused into a new arrangement was just what the song needed. When they heard it, they envisioned it as a 3-way collaboration. So, we set about giving it a new sound with all three of us singing it together.
An interesting (and totally unexpected!) thing happened on the day I drove to the studio to begin instrument tracking and recording vocals with John & Michaela. Sitting at a stoplight waiting for the light to turn green, doubt suddenly flooded me about whether or not I had really heard from God about this song. “Lord,” I prayed aloud, “Did I really hear from You about this assignment? I didn’t even plan to put my voice on it… but here I am, headed to the studio to put my time and resources into recording an old song that was written for a cowboy flick that never saw the light of day. I just need to know if I’m really doing what You have asked me to do?”
Silence in the car. The light turned green. I pressed my foot on the gas pedal as my finger pressed the play button on the song demo CD. As I began to sing along with the demo track to warm up my vocal cords for the recording session, an amazing thing happened. Something completely different came out of my mouth than the words and melody of the song recording. Something that was not planned or expected. Something I knew was not from my own consciousness. An entire new lyric stanza was flowing out into the car, complete with its own fully-formed melody!
We’ve got swamp in the cities / We’ve got swamp in the land /
We’ve got swamp in the pulpits / They have forgot the Son of Man / And we the people
are on our knees now / with our praying hands for JUSTICE.
I was stunned. “What just happened? Where on earth did that come from? This song has already been written from start to finish. Why did I just sing an entirely new stanza of words and melody?”
I felt goosebump tingles from head to toe. It was not an earthly thing that just happened. I had a knowing that Holy Spirit was now in the car, literally “green-lighting” this song assignment with a-sign-meant to very directly answer the red light question I’d just asked moments earlier. This is My confirmation that You did hear from Me, and You are doing what I have asked You to do. You thought you wrote this song for a cowboy movie all those years ago, but I actually had you write it as a message for the Wild West state of the world you are now living in the midst of. And I have just given you a lyric and melody that I want you to add… for such a time as this.
Whoa. (Cue the cowboy movie horse reins being tugged to a halt)! I actually almost pulled my car to the side of the road — that’s how intense this communication was.
When I arrived at the studio, I shared with John & Michaela and Dennis (studio musician, engineer & co-producer) what had happened during the car ride. Their mouths dropped open when I sang the new stanza. Everyone expressed the feeling that it belonged…but where? We decided to move the previously-written bridge of the song (Knock - knock - knock, knockin’ on your door / Knock - knock - knock, no use pretending anymore / Knock - knock - knock, knockin’ on your door / Knock - knock - knock, you can’t hide anymore) to the end of the song, and make the new stanza the bridge.
I would soon find out that God wasn’t quite finished with ‘His production’ of this song; He had one more message to deliver. Standing in the studio vocal booth singing my background parts as we later finished up the tracking, I opened my mouth to repeat a background line that needed “stacking” for enhanced sound effect. This time, instead of repeating the vocal stack, a brand new line suddenly flowed out. Just as before during the car ride, it was not something I planned or expected — the words just flew out complete with melody. We were near the end of the song’s track as I heard myself singing into the microphone:
Comin’ to your city / Comin’ to your town / God’s gonna bring His justice down
Comin’ to your city / Comin’ to your town / God’s gonna bring His justice down
Dennis the engineer hit the punch button on the sound board when I was done, exclaiming with surprise, “Where did that come from?!” Through the vocal booth window glass, I’m sure my face looked just as surprised as his was.
“I have no idea!” I said, “Wait - yes, I do. The only explanation for that line is that God must want people to know WHO is about to bring justice to this earth right now. Not a cowboy, not an earthly courtroom. Not a man or a woman or an earthly government or an earthly system of any kind. It is God, Himself, that is bringing the justice that is about to come, and He wants people to hear it and know that it is His righteous justice showing up!”
I dedicate the release of the new JUSTICE song and music video to the memory of AJ Masters, who I co-wrote this song with in 2008, and to Andre Hunter. Andre went to heaven after helping film the music video. I am so grateful that God brought both of these men into my path. I have some special music memories with each of them!
Click here to stream the JUSTICE song on your preferred platform!