The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come, your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us today our daily bread
And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us
Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For the kingdom, the power and the glory
Are yours, now and forever, Amen

Music – Dave Bankhead and Mike Burn
© 1998 Daybreak Music

Story behind the song
There have been countless settings of the Lord’s Prayer throughout the ages, and this version is simply another attempt to fix the words in the minds, and hearts, particularly of children. I was startled to discover that in the UK now, well below half of the children now know the words to this prayer. Turn back the clock only a few decades and you would have probably been hard-pushed to find a child who didn’t.

The key to the prayer, of course, is that it is a pattern for the kind of things we should be praying for every day, and it is not enough in itself to simply repeat the words as some kind of formula or mantra. We need to discover the power of prayer for ourselves, and teach it to children as a lifestlye.

(On a practical note, at least this song has a clear answer to the chicken and egg question often asked of writers – which came first: the music or the lyrics!)

Let praise break out

Let praise break out and let worship flow
God’s name be praised and his glory known (x2)

Build up build up the highway
Raise a banner for the nations
Righteousness, righteousness and praise
Shall spring up before all nations
See your Saviour comes, see your Saviour comes
So let praise break out and let worship flow

Mike Burn
© 1993 Chasah Music

Story behind the song
Based on scriptures from Isaiah 62:10-12, which talk about preparing a highway for the Saviour to come. We are told that God inhabits the praises of his people, and so one way that we can prepare the way for him to dwell with us now is through praise, and we are also building a “spiritual highway” for his eventual return, whenever that will be. As well as being a blessing to the Lord, (and to us), true worship will always have an impact on the spiritual atmosphere around us. There is often debate in our churches on whether the emphasis should be on worship or on evangelism. The argument goes something like this: worship can become inward looking, and an activity “for christians only”, with no evangelistic impact. Surely the answer is that both are crucial: we need to worship as much as we can, and we need to evangelise as much as we can – they are complimentary, not exclusive.

If heaven will be populated with every tongue, tribe and nation, then the gospel must first go “to the ends of the earth”, in order to reach every tongue, tribe and nation – a task yet unfinished. The name of Jesus is the banner that needs to be raised above every nation: we should do all that we can to raise that banner over our own nation, and pray that it would reach to the ends of the earth. So, always be prepared to be the answer to your own prayer: the last command that Jesus gave us was to GO!

If we were to keep quiet

If we were to keep quiet
the rocks they would cry out
If we were to stay silent
Then the stones would surely shout
But now we’ve seen the Lord of lords
We won’t keep quiet any more
Because Jesus is coming soon

Once he came to die upon a cross
Now he reigns, alive for evermore,
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest heaven
Jesus is coming soon

Mike Burn
© 1993 Chasah Music

Story behind the song
There’s a huge, dramatic rock face on the edge of the Pyrynees mountain range in the South of France, near the Spanish border, where Ichthus Christian Fellowship has a small church congregation. The rock face is called La Serre, which means Jagged Edge (as in a serrated knife edge), and it’s a beautiful sight, especially at sunset, where the rock is silhouetted against the sky, strong and defiant. I wrote this song, looking at the rock one day, thinking that in it’s way, it was already expressing praise to its creator in heaven. France is one of the least-reached nations with the gospel in Europe, and less than 1% of the children there attend church or Sunday School. I’m desperate for the children of that nation to find Jesus, and so find the reason to join nature in praising God.

Based on the words that Jesus spoke during the Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem. The Pharisees criticised the noise that the disciples and crowd were making, and were indignant at the sight of children shouting “Hosanna”
in the temple. Jesus said that if they kept quiet, the stones themselves would cry out. (I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can imagine the bricks in our church buildings are struggling to keep quiet!)

Jesus, thank you for the cross

Jesus, thank you for the cross
Holding nothing back, you did all your father asked
I’ll never know just how it felt
As you died, lifted high
I know It hurt I know the pain
Was more than words could ever say
You had a choice, you chose to die
Your sacrifice has saved my life
What can I say?

Oh Jesus, you gave your life for me
So precious the blood you shed
You made a way to heaven by dying in my place
Jesus, thank you for the cross

Mike Burn
© 1996 Daybreak Music

Story behind the song
Two motivating factors behind this song: one was that I heard a missionary from Borneo talking a few years ago about the revival that they had experienced amongst some of the tribes in that country. He had been asked about features of the revival, and he said that one feature was that “9 out of 10 songs that were being written there were about the cross”. It struck me that of the songs that I’d written, my ratio was somewhat lower than that, and I resolved then to write more songs on the subject of the cross, in an attempt to express my desire for revival in my own nation.

The second factor was a wish to try to write about the cross in a way that a child might express it, and the line “I know it hurt” went round in my head for weeks before the rest of the song fell into place….it moves me very much when I hear my own daughter sing that line, and I always hope and pray for the reality of what Jesus did to become personal for her, and every child.

I’m singing your praise, Lord

I’m singing your praise, Lord
I’m singing your praise
To show the world that I love you Jesus
I’m singing your praise

So many ways Lord, so much that I can do
To lift your name in all the earth
To show that l love you

I’m clapping my hands, Lord…

I’m shouting your name, Lord…

I’m jumping for joy, Lord….

Mike Burn
© 1993 Chasah Music

Story behind the song
In 1993 we were on a family holiday in the south of France, staying with some friends in their house in a small village on the edge of the Pyrenees.

Our second daughter, Sophie, who was 4 at the time had just had a tumble down the stone staircase, and whilst she wasn’t hurt badly, she was shaken, and crying. She came into the room where I was sitting playing the guitar, and in an attempt to cheer her up, I started making up some words to the chords I was strumming: “Slip, sliding away, slip sliding away, I’m falling down the stairs, I’m slip sliding away” I’d like to be able to say that she stopped crying straight away, but hazy as my memory is, it’s far more likely that she went to find her Mum for some proper comfort ! In the meanwhile, the chord progression and melody stuck with me, and eventually evolved into the song “I’m singing your praise, Lord”. You’ll be pleased to hear that I have resisted the temptation, even in my most dry and barren times, to push my other daughters down the stairs in order to provide inspiration for more songs…

I reach up high

I reach up high, I touch the ground
I stomp my feet and I turn around
I’ve got to praise the Lord
I jump and dance with all my might
I might look funny but that’s alright
I’ve got to praise the Lord

I’ll do anything just for my God
Cos he’s done everything for me
It doesn’t matter who is looking on
Jesus is the person that I want to please

May my whole life be a song of praise
To worship God in every way
In this song the actions praise his name
I want my actions every day to do the same

Judy Bailey
© 1993 Daybreak Music

Story behind the song
Judy Bailey, now one of Germany’s most popular Christian artists, comes originally from Barbados, and her songs have a powerful mixture of joy, enthusiasm, a deep love for God, and a resolve to worship no matter what. All of those qualities come across in this song.

For me, this could be described as the ideal family worship song, because it combines the simplicity and fun of the chorus (including actions that even the most introverted would find it hard to avoid joining in with!) with verses containing profound truths that challenge adults and children alike, especially in verse 2. (A W Tozer said of worship: “If you cannot worship God in the midst of your responsibilities on a Monday morning then it is unlikely that you were worshipping him on the Sunday before”)

Fire and Rain

Have you not seen, have you not heard?
The Lord is pouring his Spirit out
Have you not seen, have you not heard?
The Lord is pouring his Spirit out today

Come Lord Jesus, more of you we cry
Open heaven, answer with your fire

Fire on the church, rain on the nation
Fire on the church, rain on the nation

Let the fire burn in our hearts, O Lord
Let the rain pour down on thirsty souls (repeat)

Mike Burn
© 1996 Daybreak Music

Story behind the song
Remember the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel? Of course you do (1 Kings 18, I hear you cry), but briefly:

Elijah challenged the prophets to a duel – two altars were to be built, and they would call on their respective gods, and the one that answered by fire, well, he would be God.

Despite the frantic efforts of the prophets of Baal, their sacrifice remained untouched. Elijah’s sacrifice however, despite being soaked in water, was consumed after he called out to God to “answer by fire”. Shortly afterwards, the drought that had been in the nation for over 3 years was ended.

The prophetic vision behind the song is in the phrase “Fire on the church, rain on the nation”, which takes the parallel from the story that we should cry out for the fire of God to fall on his church, that the rain the Spirit might fall on the nations.

These are not new, nor original concepts – there have been prophetic words and songs concerning the powerful images of fire and of rain, the world over, but I was struck by the linking of the two images in this passage of scripture. I was also very struck by the idea that we should pray for the refreshing rain of the Spirit to fall not on the church, but on the nations.
Sometimes, perhaps, we can become introverted, and even self-indulgent, in seeking the refreshing spiritual rain for ourselves, rather than for those outside of the church. I know for myself, it comes far more naturally to ask for God’s rain rather than his fire, but the challenge is there for us – will we let him refine and purify us, painful though that may be, for the sake of the gospel to reach to the ends of the earth, and for the rains of revival to fall on our own nation?

Dance on the streets

I’m gonna dance on the streets
I’m gonna sing in the rain
For the Spirit of God
Is poured out again
I’m gonna shout it aloud
I’m gonna let the world know
That the river of God
Has started to flow

And we sing Jesus, Jesus come
Oh we will lift your name on high
You are the Son of God, Saving One
Jesus, Jesus, come

Mike Burn
© 1996 Daybreak Music

Story behind the song
The story is a very simple one – I wasted to write something up-tempo that children and adults could dance to, that would be both a celebration of what God is doing now in our lives, churches and nations, but also looking forward to the day when revival hits our streets, so that the world will join in the dance. The vision of the river flowing from the throne of God is a common biblical theme that seems to crop up in many worship songs – old and new.

I heard a story about a joint church celebration involving a few hundred people, held outside in the north of England where the worship leader had suggested using this song. The event organiser had said that surely it was asking for trouble, singing a song outside with the line “..dance in the rain”, but the worship leader told him not to worry – it was a metaphor for the rain of God’s Spirit, and not literal rain. Sure enough, however, at the very moment in the service when they began to sing the song, the skies opened and the rain fell! The worship leader told me that it became a powerful time of worship and celebration as they took the physical rain as a sign of God’s promise of the spiritual rain that is to come…

Come and sing

Come and sing, come and sing
Come and sing to Jesus now (x2)
Give him thanks for who he is
Give him thanks for what he’s done
Come and sing

Jesus won it all for us
When he shed his blood on the cross
Sin and death were swallowed up
They don’t have a hold on us now
That’s the reason to sing (dance)

Come and dance, come and dance
Come and dance for Jesus now (x2)
Dance for joy before the throne
Let your inhibitions go
Come and dance

Mike Burn
© 1995 Chasah Music

Story behind the song

It’s been suggested that one of the reasons that I learned to play the guitar and keyboards was so that I could hide behind them in worship, and not have to “join in”! There’s an element of truth in this, in that I can be very self-concious, and inhibited in my worship, and it’s something I’m longing to break free from, and gradually I am…

It’s my belief that often as adults, we pass our hang-ups and inhibitions on to children, sometimes sub-conciously just by the way we are, and sometimes the things we say and do (or don’t do…)

So, I wrote this song as an imperative to myself as well as an encoragement to others, to be free in expressing worship in to the Lord. Of course we’re free to choose how we express worship, and I would never impose anything on another indiviudal. However, just a glance at children in the school playground, or in unguarded moments on their own, will reveal that they really do love to sing and dance, and I want to be free like that! How about you?

A time to mourn

A time to mourn and a time to dance
A time to weep and a time to laugh
The Lord makes everything beautiful in its time
A time for silence and a time to speak
A time to fight and a time for peace
The Lord makes everything beautiful in its time
Though the grass will wither and the flower fade
God’s word forever abides
Throughout my days in all I say or do
May the fragrance of Jesus fill my time

A time to love, I will seek your face
A time to trust, I will hold your gaze
Oh Jesus, how you are beautiful to my eyes
A time for passion, pouring out my soul
My heart belongs to you alone
Oh Jesus, how you are beautiful to my eyes
Though the grass will wither and the flower fade
My Lord, I’ll always love you
Your presence here is more than life to me
To be with you is all that I desire

Mike Burn
Copyright 1995 Chasah Music

Story behind the song
This song evolved over a few months during 1994. Initially, I was personally trying to come to terms with the “Toronto blessing” or refreshing, that was starting to have an impact in many UK churches. One of the results of what happened for many people was to express extremes of emotion – weeping or laughing, sometimes uncontrollably. I wasn’t quite sure about the whole thing, and during a personal time of prayer and reflection, I felt that God was speaking to me through Ecclesiastes 3 – the wonderful scriptures that talk about there being a time for everything. The scripture includes the verse: “A time to weep, and a time to laugh”, and it helped me to come to terms with what was going on. (I’m not making any kind of judgement, by the way, on the “validity” of the experiences – we need to test everything, with spiritual discernment, and need to make wise personal and corporate decisions for ourselves and our churches)

In writing the song, I was wanting to express that there is a time for all of life’s experiences, and in the midst of them, we can seek the face of God, who truly can make everything beautiful in its time. I actually wrote the song in lovely surroundings in the South of France, and my prayer was that it would help bring healing for those in the midst of painful life experiences.

Tragically, in the same place in France, friends of ours were taking a family holiday a few months later, and the husband suffered a sudden, and fatal, heart attack, leaving a young wife, with their three lovely children. In dedicating the song to him and to the family at that time, it was, and still is, my prayer that God will bring comfort to those who mourn.

My own brother died as a teenager, when I was 6, and I know that there are no easy answers to the question: “why does God allow such things to happen”, but I do know that God is good, and in heaven he will wipe away every tear.

The second verse of the song is an expression of love and worship – whatever happens in our life, it’s still our obligation, privilege and joy to worship Jesus through the best and worst of times…