‘It’s a very personal prayer moment with my Creator’ – that is probably something like what two songwriters would say if they were asked to explain why they said “I Need You More” in 1995. Lindell Cooley and Bruce Haynes were part of a burgeoning church in Pensacola, Florida (see its seal here) that they felt could draw closer to Him if each person would humble him- or herself at His feet. It’s not a lot more complicated than that, though they felt that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit would consequently be manifested in various and even unexpected ways. It’s an admission that anyone – even if you aren’t faithful to a Creator – would probably acknowledge: that life so often is out of my control, that I cannot handle everything on my own. So, the rational thing is to seek community and security. That’s one way. What Lindell and Bruce wanted to express is something more encompassing – someone even more able to take on all that I need. After all, He made me and the place in which I live. How’s that early 20th Century and 1950s pop-song go?…’He’s got the whole world in His hands’.
There have been other versions of what Lindell and Bruce said in the mid-1990s, expressing our need for Him to be there, to intervene and bring calm to the anxious spirit. They include (but aren’t limited to) two other stories told here in this blog – see Lord, I Need You (by a quartet of songwriters in 2011, see entry for 6/23/2023), and I Need Thee Every Hour (by Annie Hawks, some 139 years earlier, see entry for 11/12/2017). That one word that all three songs have in common is need. Is anything more humbling, than to make this confession? Lindell and Bruce had one particular habit in mind when they wrote their needy song, and that was to facilitate prayer in the Brownsville Assembly of God church where they were witnessing people begging for their God to make Himself known. It was one of many songs on an album called Quiet Songs for Time Alone with God: Volume One – Prayer that they dedicated toward this activity…what would one appropriately call it? It’s more than a rite, or a sacrament, as one can tell in the lyrics that these two songwriters wrote to describe the attitude of the person prostrated before Him. Need is posed in several ways, according to Lindell and Bruce, and always as more. ‘More than yesterday’ and ‘more than ever before’, telling us that the praying person can see mortal existence only grows more challenging, but not more so than His care for me. ‘More than words can say’, but that’s why He gives of Himself, so that even my groans touch His heart (Romans 8:26). ‘More than the air I breathe’, ‘…than the song I sing’, ‘…than my next heartbeat’, ‘…than anything’ – what other things are more essential than breathing, and having a heartbeat? Lindell and Bruce are music-lovers, obviously, so being able to express themselves with a song is right up there with all of the other needs they mention.
He gives so much. Examine that list of needs that Lindell and Bruce tick off for us, and see if He’s not the answer to needs you have. There’s a whole lot of tangible things that they don’t mention – food, clothing, shelter, employment, relationships, and reasonably good health are all on the short list, and who among us hasn’t prayed to our Maker-Sustainer for all of these at various points? But, what Lindell and Bruce offer, is to realize that being able to pray to Him is the most basic need, even if some of what He apparently does happens in my involuntary responses, like my breathing and heart-beating. What if those weren’t present? That would be a four-alarm emergency, ‘call 911, get that E-squad here ASAP!’ Though He’s physically invisible, would it matter to my world if something equivalent happened to Him, that His breath (Genesis 2:7) and His great heartbeat present at creation’s dawn might expire? For now, He is still taking care of us and our planet. Could it be that He’s still there because He wants to hear from you and me? What more do you need today, than Him?
Read about one of the two songwriters here: Lindell Cooley - Wikipedia
See here also: Lindell Cooley – Official Site of Music Missions International (archive.org)
Lindell Cooley | www.morningstarministries.org
Read here about the church where Cooley ministers: Grace Church Nashville
See here information about the seal of Pensacola and its public domain status: File:Seal of Pensacola, Florida.png - Wikimedia Commons -- This work was created by a government unit (including state, county, and municipal government agencies) of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a public record that was not created by an agency which state law has allowed to claim copyright and is therefore in the public domain in the United States.
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