Find them all here:
- Website: https://www.archive.four12global.com/resources/messages/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLblBIDzmle6iKQcOYGE1ZvU0UCubA5GLf
- App: https://subsplash.com/four12global
- Apple Podcasts & Spotify: Search “Four12 Global”
Along with the incredibly key messages shared at this year’s Four12 Conference in South Africa, there were also wonderful times of worship, including the singing of this song ‘You Are God and I Am Not’. We thought to give you some background and insight into the song’s meaning and origin, and trust it will give you a little peek into some of the things God was saying to and through us, as a people, at the conference.
Background to ‘You Are God and I Am Not’
I (Howie) wrote this track back in March 2019, from a place of being immersed in a culture where the primary motto is ‘I decide my life, nobody else’, specifically in terms of gender and sexuality, where the trend now is to remake ourselves into our own images. I felt God bring up a melody during a church service in Khayelitsha, so I walked out of the building during the service (no offence to the one leading, aka Lovemore) and I recorded the melody on my phone.
God is God – He can do whatever He wants to do. I revolve around Him, not the other way around.
Then I went home and put the lyrics in, and the theme emerged as a reminder first and foremost to myself, that ‘God is God’ – He can do whatever He wants to do, and that I revolve around Him, not the other way around. I wanted to use quite specific lyrics that contrast with the current of culture today. ‘You’re the fire, I’m the wood; You’re the standard of what’s good; You decide how I should live’ is not something we sing about, but it’s consistent with the nature of God.
For me, the crux of the song is in verse 3, where it spells out the counter-argument to today’s culture: ‘Even when I disagree, crucify this flesh in me. Let my soul breathe, as I follow Thee’.
Specifically, in terms of sexuality, humans have such a strong bend towards selfishness in this area – whether it’s being inflamed with lust and wanting to run rampant, or a Christian facing same-sex attraction, or a spouse feeling entitled to have an affair because of unmet expectations in their marriage, or any other manifestation of today’s me-centred culture. This verse lifts up the tension of how, even when we don’t want to, we still obey, and when that occurs, we can truly breathe a sigh of relief as the Spirit fills us up and gives us the strength to remain pure.
YOU ARE GOD AND I AM NOT
– Howard James Fyvie (March 2019)
You are God and I am not
You’re the Potter, I’m the pot
I will follow what You say
You’re the Writer, I’m the page,
You’re the Star and I’m the stage
Make a masterpiece of me
Be worshipped and adored
Be lifted higher, Lord
Your name across the sky
A signal in the night
The mountains and the seas
Declare this mystery
The God of galaxies
Was crucified for me
You’re the Fire, I’m the wood
You’re the Standard of what’s good
You decide how we should live
Even when I disagree
Crucify this flesh in me
Let my soul breathe as I follow Thee
Be worshipped and adored
Be lifted higher, Lord
Your name across the sky
A signal in the night
The mountains and the seas
Declare this mystery
The God of galaxies
Was crucified for me
We’re the planets, You’re the sun
God, the Uncreated One
Help us follow what You say
Lord of heaven
Lord of all things
Now be Lord of me
God of ages
God of all things
Yet You love me
Find Howard Fyvie’s Album ‘Fyvie: Late Nights in Heaven’ on iTunes & Deezer.
