This song was a ‘long time’ in coming! I first got the idea after hearing a number of messages in the early 90’s on how biblical change is always ‘inside out’ change. One day, as I was driving down the road, the phrase ‘change me on the inside’ came to me, and I thought “That’s going to be a song . . . and the chorus will simply repeat that line as a prayer”. However I then set out to write ‘Refiner’s fire 2’; a song that was really gentle, slow and heartfelt . . . and all those efforts went nowhere (I tried to write it this way for over 2 years . . . talk about writer’s block!) Several years later, I was walking home from work while we were living in England , and the phrase came back to me. (Probably my first reaction was . . . ‘Oh no – here we go again!’) As I reflected on the phrase I started thinking about King David and how ‘desperate’ he was for this change as he cried out to God in Psalm 51 . . . and all of a sudden I realized that the solution for this song was urgent and driving music . . . and before I knew it was singing down the sidewalk in time with my footsteps ‘Just like King David I cry out to you’ and the song was born. Shortly after that I was at a worship conference in California . . . and decided to try the newly finished song out. Attending the conference that day was a producer and musician from LA, David Harris, who I met for the first time. Years later, David asked me for counsel on producing a worship project with Joseph Williams (former lead singer for the mainstream band TOTO in the late 80’s – lead singer on “Pamela” and “A thousand years”). I was amazed to hear that Joseph had heard and connected with my worship music and wanted to record several of my songs!

As my project came together, I realized that this prayer is one of our key responses to a fresh revelation of the holiness of God, so I decided that I would include this song. It came as a huge bonus that Joseph agreed to sing it with me . . . actually singing it with me isn’t really the right way to describe it . . . . Joseph takes over when he soars up there . . . and I just smile and sing along!