Songtexte THE JESUS WAY • DEVOTIONAL - Phil Wickham

It took me three years to finish writing
"The Jesus Way."
All the verse lyrics came to me in a single
Instance of pen to paper, during a season of
Frustration and confusion. I was asking God
Where I fit into it all, and He answered me
This is what was written

If you curse me, I will bless you
If you hurt me, I will forgive
And if you hate me, I will love you
I choose the Jesus way

If you're helpless, I will defend you
If you're burdened, I'll share the weight
And if you're hopeless, then let me show you
There's hope in the Jesus way

If you strike me, I will embrace you
If you chain me, I'll sing His praise
And if you kill me, my home is heaven
For I choose the Jesus way

The words came out so fast
That I honestly had to re-read
What I had just written to fully grasp it
As I did, I was moved to tears
Overwhelmed by the Heart and Person of Jesus
How good, patient, loving and kind He is
I was equally overwhelmed with how often and
Deeply I fall short of looking and acting like Him
God was simultaneously blowing my mind
With His character, and breaking my heart
With the reality of my need for a savior
At first, I just saw the words on the page
As a sort of prayerful declaration
Of who He is and who I aim to be
But as the months and years passed
The words didn't get lost in memory
Instead, they grew into a melody
That I would often sing to myself
I would hum it in the morning
Before tackling the day
I would recite it in moments of feeling
Taken advantage of or
Tempted to take a less holy path
I used those verses and the melody that grew
Around them to remind my heart of
Who He is and who I have chosen to be
To preach to my own soul what is
The Way, the Truth, and the Life
For a long time I thought this song
Was only for me
The idea of releasing and carrying a song
That says so decisively and unashamedly that
I choose the Jesus way felt daunting to me
I so often decide to choose
"The Phil way" instead, you know?
But I couldn't shake the pull inside
I felt that God wanted me to finish the song
And give other people the chance to sing along
So I set out to write a chorus that would
Carry the same heart as the verses
It took me months of writing
Several different choruses
And then one finally came flowing out
That I wanted to sing over and over
"I follow Jesus, I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I'll gladly wear His name
He is the Treasure, He is the Answer
I choose the Jesus Way"
I showed the whole song to my good friend
And producer Jonathan Smith
And together we wrote a bridge and
Buttoned the whole thing up
In 20 years of writing songs
I've never had a song personally impact me
The way that "The Jesus Way" has
And I believe it will continue to for
The rest of my life
I have no idea what God has planned for this song
But I'm excited to watch His story for it unfold
I hope and pray that this song turns hearts
And eyes to Jesus in the same way that
It has turned mine to Him
The Jesus way has never promised to be easy
But it does promise to be full of meaning
And abundant life
You and I were created to know
And be known by God
To walk in His presence
And His abundant life
Humanity lost its way
The Jesus way is our roadmap
From heaven to find our way back to Him
The more we align ourselves with Him
His Way, his Truth, and His Life
The more we become who
We were always meant to be
Peace follows, joy follows, life follows
May we now and forever declare together
That we choose the Jesus way