Here is an excerpt from my new book "The Heart and Art of Songwriting." It is the story of how the song "I Rest In You" came to be. You can order the book from www.davidbaroni.com

I Rest In You (Not Afraid)

Here is another example of a song that has just three parts; a verse, a chorus and a bridge. It is a special song inspired in Lagos, Nigeria called “I Rest In You (Not Afraid.)

I had been in Africa for almost two weeks. I had sung and taught and spoken in Abuja, in Kaduna in northern Nigeria, and for the last week of the trip in the sprawling Lagos area. The ministry had gone exceptionally well but two weeks is a long time to be away from my wife and family and by the last day of ministry I was ready to be back home in good-ole Franklin, Tennessee.

So wearily I rode in the car driven by my friend (and sometimes co-writer) Kunle Fadahunsi across town to the Rose of Sharon Church pastured by Olatunde Odusote. We call him Rev. Doc.

It was only 7:30 in the morning, painfully early for this musician. I was tired and homesick and frankly wanted to get the day over with and get home to Rita. But God gives grace…

As Kunle and I walked into the church, Reverend Doc, a wonderful, wiry, strong and gentle man of God, was leading some of the church volunteers in worship before the service started (I was going to minister in two morning services back-to-back.) The people were singing with such passion, and there was such an overwhelming, obvious, tangible sense of the Presence of the Lord in that place that I was instantaneously refreshed; not just emotionally but physically!

What had happened? Well, the Psalms say that God is enthroned in, inhabits, lives in, makes Himself known in the praises of His people (Psalms 22:3) The word also says that there are times of refreshing that come from the Presence of the Lord and that …”in His Presence is fullness of joy, at His right Hand are pleasures forevermore!”

Led by Rev. Doc, the believers in Jesus were singing praises that He made Himself at home in. As we experienced His Manifest Presence, we were refreshed and experienced fullness of joy!

All this, and the church service hadn’t even started yet. The first service went well. We took a short break and a different group of folks from the congregation gathered for the second service. At the end of the meeting Pastor Odusote (Doc) got up to encourage the people and, I thought, dismiss the service.

But God wasn’t through.

Reverend Doc started singing spontaneously a new song inspired by the Holy Spirit. God is the best songwriter by far who ever was or will be; and He is the reason for any impact my songs have had on people!

Doc sang a simple melody and this simple phrase:

“I rest in You, O Lord, I trust in You O God,

I’m not afraid anymore, I’m not afraid anymore.”

He sang it, acapella. He sang it again. People joined in. “I rest in You O Lord…” The music team joined in, playing a simple “Heart and Soul” chord progression. We “owned” the song; the words were not only coming from Rev. Doc, we all sang them and meant them and those words became a powerful declaration of faith: “I’m not afraid anymore.” As I wrote in the first chapter of this book “The Power of Song” this spontaneously inspired song was a prophetic proclamation in the middle of Lagos, and people were set free from fear by the grace of God and the Power of the Name of Jesus through the words of faith we were singing!

The next day, the day before I returned to America, Kunle and I were remembering the wonderful time we had on the day before and we started talking about Doc’s song. Before we knew it we were inspired to write a verse. We called Doc to ask if we could put our verse with his chorus and he graciously and excitedly said yes. Great things happen in the Kingdom of God when we don’t worry about who gets the credit and we give God the honor and the glory! (I know some songwriters who actually count the words that they contribute to a song in order to split songwriter percentages, and I suppose in some cases that could be valid for some personality types, but as we say in Mississippi: “Oh for cryin’ out loud!”)

So, in this case, the chorus came first- but if you notice the following verse follows the speech-giving formula of using the verse as an introduction, a “reason why” that builds into the chorus. Then, a bit later, Kunle and I added the bridge which reinforces scripturally and emotionally the reason why we can rest and not be afraid. As we sing the bridge we are literally and spiritually singing the Word of God to our own souls!

Here is the song, notice the three parts:

“I Rest In You (Not Afraid)”

Olatunde Odusote/ David Baroni/ Kunle Fadahunsi

Verse:

When I’m down, darkness all around

And it seems like no help can be found

Fear wants in, I feel like giving in

Oh what can I do?

Then I cry to God Most High

Who gives me grace to say

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvlG2S-mCbU

Chorus:

I rest in You oh Lord

I trust in You oh God

I’m not afraid anymore

I’m not afraid anymore

(repeat)

Bridge:

Return to your rest Oh my soul

Return to your rest Oh my soul

For the Lord will be faithful to you

For the Lord will be faithful to you

Here is a link to a "live" video of this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvlG2S-mCbU