What "This Is Our God" means
"This Is Our God" is a creedal song structured like a portrait. Each verse adds another line to the image, God's faithfulness, his nearness, his power, the cross, the empty tomb, and the chorus arrives as the congregation's collective verdict: this is who God is. Not a generic divine being. This specific God, with this specific history, who did these specific things.
Hillsong Worship, whose musical output has shaped contemporary evangelical worship across more congregations and cultures than any single institution in recent decades, released this song as part of a sustained effort to anchor the modern worship movement in clear theological content. The song's structure reflects that intention: it is explicitly doctrinal without feeling like a lecture, and it arrives at the cross, 1 John 4:10's "God sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins", as the defining act that names God most completely.
The key of Bb (Db for female-led worship) at 78 BPM gives the song a steady, unhurried quality. Measured enough to allow the lyrical content to be heard and processed, and full enough in its production to support the corporate, declarative quality of the chorus. This is not a song for quiet contemplation, it is a song for a room making a statement together.
Deuteronomy 4:35 provides the anchor claim: "The Lord is God; there is no other besides him." What the song does is fill in who that God is across the narrative of Scripture, arriving at the cross as the fullest answer.
What this song does in a room
Congregations that have been in a season of spiritual drift or theological ambiguity respond to "This Is Our God" with something close to relief.
The song does a specific thing: it gathers what the congregation knows about God into a single act of corporate declaration. That gathering function matters more than it might initially appear. Many congregations carry fragmented theological knowledge, they know pieces of who God is from different sermons, different songs, different life experiences. "This Is Our God" puts the pieces in a frame and invites the congregation to look at the whole picture together and say, "Yes. That."
The verse-building structure amplifies this. Each lyrical phrase adds to the portrait, so by the time the chorus arrives, the congregation has already been through a summary of God's character. "This is our God" carries the accumulated weight of everything that came before it. The declaration is not empty confidence, it is a conclusion the song has earned.
Congregations can be invited to respond to the chorus as a corporate affirmation, almost a call-and-response where the room answers the question "Who is God?" with the chorus. That participatory framing, when the worship leader facilitates it with awareness, turns the song into something close to a liturgical creed.
What this song is saying about God
The song builds a profile of divine character and then names the cross as its fullest expression.
The God of this song is faithful, consistent across time, reliable through change. He is present, not distant or disengaged but near to his people. He is powerful, capable of what he promises. And then, centrally, he is the God who sent his Son to rescue what was lost. That final element is where the song locates the highest definition of God's character: 1 John 4:10 tells us God loved first and sent the sacrifice. Before the congregation asks who God is, God has already answered the question with the cross.
Isaiah 40:28-31 adds the endurance dimension: the everlasting God who does not grow weary gives strength to the weak. The song's faithfulness theme connects to this passage, the God who has been faithful in Israel's history and in the congregation's own history is the same God who "will renew their strength." The creed and the promise are the same God.
Scriptural backbone
Deuteronomy 4:35, "The Lord is God; there is no other besides him." The foundational monotheistic claim. All subsequent description of God's character is description of the only God there is. The song's "This is our God" functions as a continuation of this affirmation.
Isaiah 40:28-31, "The everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary." The faithfulness and endurance themes of the song find their Old Testament anchor here. The God who does not grow weary is the God worth declaring together.
1 John 4:10, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." The cross as the definitive statement of God's character. The song arrives here as the climactic declaration.
How to use it in a service
"This Is Our God" works well as a declaration song following a message that has surveyed God's character, teachings on the attributes of God, series on the character of Christ, or weeks where the congregation has been walking through Old Testament narrative about God's faithfulness.
It also functions as a foundational opener when the service is designed to orient the congregation around a specific theological identity. Starting with "This is who we believe God is" sets the frame for everything that follows.
Consider projecting visual imagery that tracks the lyrical descriptions of God, creation imagery for God's power, cross imagery for the redemption theme. When the visual layer reinforces the lyrical content, the portrait-building structure of the song becomes more vivid.
For a series closer or a teaching series bookend, this song works well as the congregation's response to accumulated teaching. They've been learning about who God is all series; now they declare it together.
Things to watch for as the worship leader
The creedal structure of this song is its greatest strength and its primary pastoral challenge. When a congregation sings a creed without inhabiting it, the form becomes rote. The worship leader's task is to keep the declaration alive rather than comfortable.
One approach: take time in the first verse to let the congregation hear what they're about to agree to. Lead slightly more slowly than performance tempo at the start, making space for the words to register before the room is singing them back on autopilot. Then let the chorus be a genuine response, not the next section of the song, but the congregation's actual verdict.
Watch for the corporate tone drifting into complacency as the song cycles. The final chorus should sound like a congregation that means it more than the first chorus, not less. That's a leadership challenge: keeping the declaration building rather than flattening across repetitions.
A note for the team behind you (techs, vocalists, band)
The production on this song builds through the verse structure, the arrangement should reflect that intentionally. Players who front-load their dynamics lose the portrait-building effect the song depends on. Each verse should add something: more instrumentation, warmer harmonics, a sense of accumulation that the chorus then gathers.
Keys and piano are the harmonic foundation. The warmth of the chord voicings in the verses supports the congregational sing-along quality. Save the bigger piano moments for the chorus and final sections.
Backing vocalists: the chorus declarations need to sound like a community rather than a section of a performance. Blend and commitment over individual brightness, the congregation follows what it hears from the backing vocals, so make sure what they're following sounds like something worth following.
For the tech team: lyric projection should be clean and steady. This is a creedal song, which means some people will be reading the words as a form of reflection rather than singing from memory. Legibility at reading pace matters here, sufficient contrast and font size serve this song better than elaborate visual design.