Father, you have a strong heart,
Jesus, you are the Lion,
Holy Spirit, how I need more of you in my life.

Father, your love knows no bounds because
Jesus, you’ve broken my every bond,
Spirit, will you break the stone that has stolen my heart.

Everything I do is worship all for you,
my humble offering to honour the Great King.
Everything I do is worship all for you,
worship all for you, all for you, all for you.

Burn up all my pride so I can know your strength,
tear down all my lies so I can know your truth,
heal my every wound so I can run for you,
Father, how I need more of you [in my life].

Words and music by Roo Stewart
Copyright ©2007 Rooster Music, admin. by roostewart.com
Recorded on the album “Presence”

Story behind the song

‘All for you’ came together quickly but after a long gestation period. It was born out of two key ideas. Firstly, I perceived in my church that it was common to almost ’worship the worship’, putting the music and the sense of encounter we had on a pedestal, with an excruciating disconnect between that Sunday experience and the rest of our lives.

The second idea was around words found in the Book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament of the Bible.

A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26 (NRSV)

The end of the second verse alludes to this – ‘Spirit, break the stone that has stolen my heart’ and the verses were intentionally trinitarian, reminding me of God at work and expressed in various ways. The bridge (‘Burn up all my pride...’) was a deep prayer of my heart, reflecting on the frustrations I and others sometimes had of feeling inhibited in our worship through different circumstances. We are praying that instead of a cold, stiff stoney heart, we desire a warm, life-giving fleshy heart for worship and service.

The chorus was inspired by the language that I was hearing at lot at my church where I was a worship leader, such as who is going 'to do the worship' (they meant lead the songs) or 'that was great worship today' (a compliment, but largely my conviction was that the worship leaders provided an environment in which people could encounter God in a meaningful way for themselves).

‘Everything I do’ challenges the idea of worship only meaning songs or activities we do in church, and broadens that to include our acts of service and the choices we make about how we live our lives. It reinforces that worship doesn't stop when the music stops and people leave the building but, if we are serious about the words of the songs we sing, must continue wherever we go.

Check out the recording from the 'Presence' album here: