Everything I Need

"Everything I Need" is one of those songs I just sat down and started playing. It came at one of those moments when you realize "it's all good" and that God is in control. There was nothing spectacular that happened that day. There were no particular blessings or circumstances that put me in the mood to write this song. It was just a simple moment of recognizing Who God is and what He meant to me, in my life, at that particular moment. It was a recognition that everthing good in my life is a result of Him.

This song isn't teaching the "Prosperiety Gospel" when it says, "You give me everything I love". But rather this phrase is the final thought in a progression of thoughts. God gives us everything we need, He has provided us with everything we have, and everything that He gives us, and only what He gives us are the things we love! The song then goes on to state that everything we need, everything we have, and everything we love is found in Him, when it says "I need You, have You, love You." And the bridge makes it's perfectly clear, as we declare that "You! Are everything I need. You! Are everything I have. You! Are everythng I love".

The apostle James says in his book, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created (James 1:16-17). God is the Father of light, who gives us good and perfect gifts from above. James makes it perfectly clear that God is not the author of temptation, or sin, or death; but God is in stark contrast to these things.

Ron Blue, in the Bible Knowledge Commentary, says that the phrase "every good and perfect gift is from above" is actually a Greek poetic cadence that is literally translated "every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above." This is interesting in light of the context of James' passage being about temptation and the process of evil desires giving birth to sin and sin giving birth to death. In contrast to the process of death, God gives birth to us through the word of truth and He gives us good and perfect gifts so that we in turn will give birth to more "perfect gifts" through "every good act of giving" as God's gift of life is passed on to all who will receive it.

So what better reason could we possibly have to shout to the Lord, "You! You're everything I need Lord!" He has provided us life through His son, Jesus, and this good and perfect gift has been passed on to us through the ages. God alone is the source of everything we have and everything we need.