What "With Everything" means
This song is a full-body commitment. The title is not a suggestion or an aspiration. It is a declaration: with everything. Hillsong Worship wrote this in the tradition of the Shema, Israel's oldest confessional prayer: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." The song is not adding anything new to that ancient command. It is giving a contemporary congregation a way to mean it again, out loud, together, in a room. The specific weight of "with everything" lands harder in a culture that has trained people to hold parts of themselves in reserve. To be strategic about where they give their full attention. To protect their interior life from total expenditure. The song refuses that reservation. It calls for complete surrender, not as a feeling to be achieved in the moment but as a posture to be practiced in the room and carried out into the week. Hillsong has always understood that worship songs can function as confessions, words that form the person who speaks them rather than simply describing a state the person is already in. "With Everything" is that kind of song. Singing it is an act of re-commitment, not a report on current spiritual status.
What this song does in a room
Watch the room during the chorus. There is usually a visible shift from performance to prayer around the second or third time through "with everything." People who came in distracted begin to engage. People who came in guarded begin to open. The song has a way of breaking through the surface-level participation that characterizes the first two minutes of a worship set and pulling people toward something more honest. The declaration "open up my eyes in wonder" carries a particular weight for people who have been going through the motions, who have been showing up but not arriving. It gives them language for what they actually want, which is to be awakened rather than just to feel good. The bridge, which tends to concentrate all of that longing into a few repeated phrases, is often where the room's temperature changes. People who normally don't move begin to move. People who normally hold their expressions flat let something come through. You are not manufacturing that. You are creating conditions for it by leading the song faithfully.
What this song is saying about God
The song's theology is oriented around worthiness and response. God is presented as one whose greatness exceeds the fullness of any response the congregation could offer, and who is nevertheless worth everything they have. There is an implicit claim about God's character here: he is not merely adequate for the devotion of a Sunday morning. He is worth the totality of a human life. The song also carries a pneumatological note, asking the Spirit to open eyes, to fill the room, to move among the people. This is a song that expects God to be active in the room, not just observed from a distance. The request to be filled is a claim that the congregation is not self-sufficient in their worship, that they need something from outside themselves to do what they are attempting to do. That is a theologically sound and pastorally honest posture for a congregation to hold.
Scriptural backbone
Mark 12:30 is the direct source: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Jesus names this as the greatest commandment, which means every time a congregation sings "With Everything," they are rehearsing an answer to the question Jesus said mattered most. Romans 12:1 is also present in the song's DNA: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." The song is asking the congregation to do what Paul asked them to do, not in a moment of private devotion but together, out loud, in the company of the gathered body.
How to use it in a service
This song functions well as a response to a call. After a pastor has preached a sermon on devotion, surrender, or discipleship, "With Everything" gives the congregation somewhere to take the conviction. It is also a strong opener for a series on whole-life worship, giving the congregation the theme song of the series before the first sermon. At 76 BPM, the song has enough drive to energize a room without becoming frantic. It holds attention. It builds. The chorus lands with enough weight to punctuate without overwhelming. Consider using this song in a season of commitment, whether that is stewardship season, a church covenant renewal, or a period of prayer and fasting. The language of the song aligns naturally with those moments of re-dedication.
Things to watch for as the worship leader
The danger with this song is that it can become hollow through repetition. If your congregation has sung it dozens of times, they can sing it without meaning it, because the muscle memory takes over and the mind disengages. Your job is to make it mean something again. One way to do that is to slow into the second verse instead of letting the set's momentum carry you through it. Another is to pray briefly before the bridge, not a long pastoral prayer, just a sentence that locates the congregation in the honest intention of what they're about to sing. Watch for people who are clearly not singing. They may be exactly the people the song is for, people who want to mean it and don't know how yet. Lead for them as much as for the people who are already engaged.
A note for the team behind you (techs, vocalists, band)
Band: the rhythmic pocket of this song is essential. The groove needs to feel solid and unhurried, even in the chorus where it lifts. Drummers, lock in with the bass and don't try to add embellishment in the verse. The song's power comes from the collective dynamic build, not from individual instrumental moments. Guitarists, the chop rhythm in the verse should be clean and on the grid. Vocalists: the background vocal on the chorus needs to be fully committed. This is not a song where background vocalists should be tentative. The declaration of "with everything" should sound like the room means it, and your commitment communicates that to the congregation before they get there themselves. Techs: compression on the room mix matters here. The dynamic range of this song from verse to chorus is significant. Make sure the chorus doesn't clip, and make sure the verse doesn't get lost in the room's ambient noise. In-ear mixes for vocalists should emphasize the click and the kick so the rhythmic confidence stays locked in throughout the extended chorus repeats.