JUSTICE 524: Comin’ to Your City
Welllll…I thought I completed this “assignment” in October of 2022, when the LORD first put it on my heart to release JUSTICE in October of 2022 (as a collaborative performance with Crosby Lane friends). Then—there it was again—that ‘tap on the shoulder’... with a whisper I heard in my spirit during the summer of 2023: “There’s more on the JUSTICE song I want you to do.”
What more could there be for me to do with a song that has already been released and featured in a music video? I wondered. I prayed about it for a while to make sure I’d heard Him right.
The tap persisted over the following weeks and months. As I prayed about what the ‘more on this song’ could be, I felt an impression that the ‘22 version was only Part 1 of the assignment: It was the “announcement” message of His justice coming to a world in need. In the music video for that release, I had included Proverbs 21:15 on the ending screen:
“When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.”
It was an encouraging promise for God’s people who have been praying and waiting. It was also a message to all perpetrators of evil — a stern warning from the LORD Himself: This is your last call to repent and turn from your wicked ways!
Now, I was sensing God telling me that a new version with a different sound was the next assignment: One that serves as a proclamation and declaration that the time is NOW for My righteous justice to begin — heavenly justice that will be seen and heard by the world. The last call for repentance window is now closing!
It was a bit strange going back into the studio, feeling my way through the journey of a new sound, vibe and arrangement for an already-released song. Once again, I questioned whether my voice was really the right one to deliver this message. Dennis (studio musician and co-producer) and I bounced new production ideas off of each other that gradually took shape into what felt right.
As I sang the various parts during our tracking dates, my vocal delivery was stretched beyond what I thought I was capable of. After a few months of tracking, tweaking, then mixing steps finalizing the new version, I kept asking the LORD the same question:
When you say the time is NOW…what exactly do You mean by that? How am I supposed to know what day to release the new version of this song? When, exactly, is the date of Your proclamation?
It was the end of 2023 when I received the answer. Just like the car ride experience I’d had with my questions about the first recording of JUSTICE [see story here], a green-light goosebumps moment came suddenly on my way to the studio one day. I was praying in the car that the Lord would show me which Bible verse I should feature on screen at the end of the music video for this new version. Immediately I was led to a verse in the Bible I had never seen before:
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! - Amos 5:24
I spoke the verse aloud, feeling a knowing that this was the one. God’s righteous justice is about to begin rolling out…and we are all going to see it with our own eyes!
When I arrived at the studio that morning, I told Dennis about the verse I’d been led to. That’s when the knowledge of the release date hit me: The date is identified in the verse, Amos 5:24. During the 5th month of the year 2024, that’s when this new version will be released. I pulled up my calendar to see how many Fridays there are in May (since music industry advisors always say that Fridays are the best day of the week to release new songs).
“Wellllll look at that…” I said to Dennis, “It turns out that the 24th of May, in the year 2024, just happens to fall on a Friday.” It felt like clear confirmation: even the calendar date was syncing up with the Amos 5:24 bible verse.
Isn’t it great when God shows up and shows off like that? I hope you enjoy this new version of what first started as a Wild West cowboy song that has been born again…and again.