Product Description
About "Have Faith in God"
My name is Marc Aramian and I make my living scoring film and TV. Over the years, Ive dabbled in Contemporary Christian music, both as a producer, songwriter and arranger. I also sing in a church choir, both because its incredibly fun and because I want to do my part to support the churchs good works.
Heres the text I used for the lyric of this song. Its from Mark 11:22-26 (NIV): "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."
I find these verses in the Bible particularly challenging and decided to place them in a musical setting. Jesus very clearly says that when we have faith in God, we can command mountains to move, so long as we have sufficient faith in God and truly believe without any doubt that it will happen.
But experience tells us that the prayers of very faithful followers sometimes go unanswered. Some Christians who have suffered grievous tragedy, such as the loss of an innocent child, have turned away from God, saying, "How can there be a God who allows this to happen?" Much ink has been expended by many wiser than I trying to explain this dilemma. Some say that the only prayers answered are those which are in accordance with Gods will. Others say that prayers are not answered because we pray for the wrong thing or we dont have enough faith or we dont believe it will happen. This may all be true, but then why did he say it this way?
Jesus then goes on to add another dimension to my dilemma.
He says that when we pray, if we hold anything against anyone, forgive them; because Gods forgiveness of our sins depends on this. This, for me, is one of the greatest challenges in being a Christian.
In order to explore this dilemma in song, I focus on harmony more than melody. I use dissonance to set up tension and then periodically release using simple major chords. I hope this piece helps choirs and congregations explore the text as I have done.
If youd like to write to me, you can reach me through my website, Aramian dot com. As seekers of truth, perhaps we can help each other understand this challenging text.
PS: It gives me some comfort to know that the disciples, having failed to drive demons out of a man, were chastised by Jesus for not having enough faith.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.