Phil Wickham’s new album ‘Children of God’ was released on Friday and arrived at our house today, much to my joy. The title track revels in our identity in Christ: ‘we are believers – all our hope in the Risen One; we are soldiers – fighting with faith and love; we are pilgrims – on the journey to reach our home. We are standing together; we are the children of God.’
The album arose out of a period of personal difficulty: “A year and a half ago I lost my voice and was forced to have surgery on my vocal chords with the risk of not being able to sing professionally again,” said Wickham, who worked on this new album for more than a year.
“During the difficulty of that season, God spoke the simple, yet massive, truth into my heart that He loves me. That He loves us. That we are first and foremost His children. That whatever may come our way, we are His children. That whatever we may be faced with, we are His. Many of these songs were written out of this newfound sense of identity.” (see here for more details.)
Our identity as children of God is indeed a ‘simple, yet massive, truth.’ It’s so simple that the youngest child can grasp this truth; it’s so profound that we spend the rest of our lives exploring that identity. Phil 2:14-16 says ‘Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.’ There is so much more of our identity in God to explore.