The free track for March is And I Sing by Bristol singer songwriter and worship leader Loulita. Loulita released her debut solo album The Last Twelve Years in 2018 which led to her being approached by Andy Baker to become part of Handpicked by Homegrown Worship.
You get the original wavs, the Transition MultiTrack plus a chord chart – all free of charge.
The story behind the song
Recently, I spent quite a bit of time meditating on the scripture in Hebrews 12:2, which references Jesus and the cross. The thing that fascinates me about this text is that it says Jesus endured the cross and, at the same time, despised it’s shame. What’s further fascinating is that joy was what motivated Him. Jesus suffered on the cross while all the while looking ahead with joy.
Personally, I would not normally associate suffering of any kind with joy. Suffering usually indicates pain, hardship, distress, misery, adversity, trauma, torment, grief, sorrow… the list goes on. There have been so many times in my life that I have suffered. Some suffering was inflicted on me by people. Other suffering came through circumstances beyond my control, while other suffering occurred because I chose to give up my own ungodly desires and wants (and that is often a very painful thing to do!). It was this that motivated the writing of my song, And I Sing.
I thought a lot about how Jesus chose to suffer for our redemption. It was the joy of us being reconciled back to God that motivated Him to endure the sheer horror of the cross, especially since dying on a cross at that time was extremely shameful. And yet, He abandoned His dignity in order to save ours. While He despised the shame of the cross, He loved the ones He was enduring it for. It was His joy to give up His life so that we could have it, and the reward of what was to come was greater than any suffering He would ever endure.
In light of Hebrews 12:1-2, I realised that the motivating factor for me to throw off anything that will hinder me, or any sin that will entangle me as I run my race, should be joy. I might suffer momentarily while I’m throwing off those things, but it will never compare to the joy of experiencing the life that Jesus paid such a high price for. It will never compare to the joy of living in freedom and peace, or the joy of living without shame, guilt and condemnation.
My response can only be… Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! What a Saviour!
How to get the free MultiTrack
Download And I Sing from Worship Backing Band and with your free ‘purchase’ you’ll get the full wavs, the Transition MultiTracks and the chord chart all free-of-charge.
How to play the free MultiTrack
Unless you are confident with using a DAW such as Ableton, you will need a copy of Worship Backing Band’s Mac/PC or iPad Transition MultiTrack Player to play the backing track. MultiTracks are the simplest and least expensive solution to get a full band sound from your worship team, even if you’ve only got a couple of musicians.