It dawned on this song’s primary writer while he was at a retreat. Steve Fee was apparently mulling over something while intentionally engaged in songwriting, and his heart consequently lifted the words “Glory to God” at that time in 2009. (How or when Steve’s co-writer, Vicky Beeching, contributed to these thoughts is not known, though she included this collaborative effort on her album ‘Eternity Invades’ in 2010; see the Wikipedia article link below on her and these details.) Steve might have been at a retreat, but evidently, he was thinking about his day-to-day life in north-central Georgia (in Alpharetta, which is in Fulton County…see the map of it here) when he uttered a musical prayer. Was Steve sharing his personal prayer with some others at the retreat, something about how one’s ego can get in the way of a life commitment to God? He made us, and that was on Steve’s mind, and amid any conversation that he had with others, as suggested by what he penned. What’s the best way to respond to a realization like Steve had?
Steve said in an interview that ‘Glory…’ was really very simple, in both spiritual and musical content, though the core of the song was ‘massive’. He came to realize something personally, and so he prayed something in the middle-to-latter part of the song that expressed a renewed devotion. Steve must have felt his own ego was getting too much attention, especially in light of whose he really wanted to be. And, that helps explain how the song lays out the way it does – beginning with the Creator and what He’s done. Steve said this Creator-God was ‘before’ He ‘spoke’ and ‘made’, and then later acknowledged that his own ‘breath’ was God’s gift to him, for a purpose that Steve repeated 20 times throughout, as the song’s title. ‘Glory to God’, Steve wanted to pledge in this prayer, and not just in the moment, but ‘Forever’, an even broader aspiration that Steve had when he composed. Steve prayed a pretty simple – though not easily achieved – prayer, contained in three lines of poetry: ‘Take my life’, ‘let it be (yours)’…’for You…your glory’, and ‘forever’. While the world about him seemed to be focused on one type of ‘gospel’ about self-centeredness, Steve was trying to say that it’s not about trying to get everything for yourself. He thought the God who created is so great, that He’s the One who’s capable of saving each of us from ourselves. Steve’s prayer, in his own words, ‘(was) what anyone should pray in life, if they’re gonna pray anything.’ This glory to God is recognizing His grandeur, a declaration someone makes when he sees himself in light of his Maker.
The ‘massive’ part of Steve Fee’s song began with the admission about what was going on inside of himself. And, Steve wasn’t afraid to share that, to make himself vulnerable and admit he was human, just like everyone else. None of us likes to be dependent on others for our well-being, hence the psychological phrase ‘self-actualization’ that coaxes each of us to achieve our full potential in order to enjoy life fully. What’s the completely self-actualized Christian look like? That was the question that Steve Fee was evidently examining at the retreat where he found himself in 2009. Begin with the One who put you together, is what Steve concluded. And, that deduction leads to another life-altering behavior that Steve emphasized in one word, which doesn’t really end – forever. If He made you and me, in the very image of Himself who is All-Powerful, why would we want to stop?
See the song story here (the 3rd video at this link): The Meaning Behind The Song: Glory to God Forever by Fee - Beat Crave
Read about the primary author-composer’s band here: Fee (band) - Wikipedia
Read about the other author-composer here: Vicky Beeching - Wikipedia
See here for information on the image-map: File:Map of Georgia highlighting Fulton County.svg - Wikimedia Commons…the following statement on the image’s public domain status appears in the information: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
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