In a season of prayer and fasting for our church, I asked God what are some of the problems our generation faces.

God began to open my heart and show me the times in my life when I was struggling but chose to hide and keep my problems to myself. Instead of coming to God just as I am, I would choose to hide.

And I only surrendered the things that I was comfortable to surrender. I realised it’s not something we like to admit, but we so often run away from problems rather than address and confront them.

On 19 October 2018 on a Friday night I decided to pick up my guitar in the comfort of my home and just strum some tunes.

It just so happened that as I was jamming, I spontaneously entered into a time of worship – and God started to reveal how great and how worthy He was of worship.

My casual jamming turned into an encounter with Jesus Christ, and I began to pour out my heart to Him. And I started singing a new song.

Worthy is the Lord, all the earth sing. Worthy is the Lord, all the earth sing.

Those words ended up being a part of the bridge for No More Hiding.

I want to be someone who encounters God. 

My encounter with God felt something like Isaiah 6, where Isaiah encountered the presence of God and couldn’t stay the same. God’s holiness revealed to Isaiah the state he was in, but also brought him to a place of surrender.

Whenever God shows us what our issues are, we so frequently choose to be numb towards change, or choose to run from surrendering. But I decided in that moment, I wanted to be someone who encounters God. I wanted Him to do a work in me that would completely change the trajectory of my life.

And that meant I had to come before Him in full honesty and transparency.

That evening, I wrote both the bridge and the chorus of the song. Here’s the chorus:

Here I am
With my heart now open wide
With my hands raised to the sky
Here surrendering my life

Here I am
No more hiding anything
You are all my heart pursues
Now my life belongs to You

Once I had penned those words, I knew in my heart that this song would help many young people come before God.

God doesn’t want to condemn us, He desires for us to come to Him. He is a God full of grace and mercy. He is a God who clothes us with lovingkindness, tender mercies and a robe of righteousness.

While many are running away from God, we should be running to God.

I had the privilege of roping in one of my good friends to write this song.

I spoke to Jason Oon, Corporate Music Director of Victory Family Centre, and I told him I wanted verses that encapsulated the power of the Cross – verses that demonstrated what our response to God should be. In a few days, we completed the song and we got it ready in time to sing at our annual youth conference, TheEDGE Conference, also now known as Elevate Conference.

When we sang the song on the first night, the atmosphere began to shift tangibly. I knew then that this song was going to be an anthem of freedom for many people.

Being a young person in this day and age is extremely hard. There are many expectations – said and unsaid – placed upon us, and there’s so much fighting for our attention. In this age of social media, it’s so easy to wear a mask and pretend like everything is alright. And sure, it’s not a problem unique to this generation, but it’s an exacerbation of a perennial problem.

No More Hiding along with the other 3 songs in this Part I EP were recorded live at Elevate Conference. I believe they capture a sound of passion, authenticity and surrender.

May these songs bring you to a place of encounter with Christ. Our hearts long for you to experience the reality of Jesus in your daily life.

You’re invited to TheEDGE’s EP launch party:

4.30 pm Saturday, 6 April 2019
Victory Family Centre
20 Tampines Street 43

No More Hiding (Part I) is the first of 3 releases leading up to Elevate Conference, where over 1,000 young people from 20 nations will come together to lift up the name of Jesus. For more information and music resources, visit www.theedge.org/music. Pre-save the album to listen once it drops on Spotify! Photos courtesy of Victory Family Centre.