What "With Everything" means
Hillsong UNITED released this song in 2008 on "All of the Above," and it became one of the defining worship songs of the late 2000s arena worship movement. The song is a vow, spoken and then repeated in progressively fuller voice, that the singer intends to bring every available resource of their being into their worship and devotion.
The title is the thesis. "With everything" is a claim about scope. Not the parts of your life that feel spiritual, not the hours designated for religious activity, not the clean and presentable version of yourself. Everything. The song is working from the Deuteronomy 6 frame of loving God with heart, soul, and strength, translated into the contemporary idiom and given the emotional contour of a declaration.
What makes this song more than a general call to dedication is the way it begins. Before the declaration, there is an acknowledgment of who God is. The song opens in praise before it moves to vow. You do not work up commitment through willpower and then offer it to God; you see who God is, and the seeing produces the devotion.
The word "everything" in the song's title and lyric is worth sitting with. We are habitual dividers, keeping sections of our lives under our own management while offering the devotional portion to God. This song names that arrangement and refuses it, not with condemnation but with an invitation.
What this song does in a room
In a room, this song raises the ceiling of aspiration. It tells the congregation that where they are spiritually is not where they have to stay, and it does so through a collective declaration rather than individual instruction.
The build in this song is one of its most effective features. The verses are measured and intimate, establishing the terms of the declaration before the chorus opens it. The congregation is being gathered and oriented before being released. That gathering-releasing pattern is musically and emotionally intelligent, and it is why the chorus lands with the force it does.
At 74 BPM in E major, the song has an internal energy that creates forward motion without feeling rushed. The guitar-forward production of the original recording translates well into a live worship context. The song rewards a full band and a congregation that is already warmed up and engaged. It is not a song to begin a set with; it is a song to arrive at.
The song tends to produce physical engagement: raised hands, closed eyes, full-throated singing. That embodied response is not superficial. When a congregant sings "with everything, open my eyes" with their hands raised and their voice full, they are practicing a posture of openness that the body is teaching the soul. Embodied prayer and worship have a long theological history, and this song engages it.
What this song is saying about God
The implicit theology of this song is that God is worth everything. Not worth a lot, not worth significant portions of a life, but worth the entire offering. The song makes this claim not through argument but through the shape of the devotion it invites. The vow is calibrated to the object.
The lyric also says something about God's capacity to receive total devotion. The song's context assumes a God who is alive, responsive, and worthy of the kind of commitment a person reserves for the most important relationship of their life.
The "open my eyes" language is particularly rich. It acknowledges that the singer does not yet see everything they need to see, that God's fullness is not already comprehended. The request for open eyes is a posture of humility underneath the bold language of total devotion. This keeps the song from becoming self-congratulatory about the grand gesture of offering everything; instead, the offer is made with the acknowledgment that there is still so much more to understand about who God is.
Scriptural backbone
Deuteronomy 6:5 is the foundation: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Jesus identifies this as the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37-38. The song is an extended lyric response to this command.
Romans 12:1 provides the sacrifice language: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true and proper worship." The everything the song invites is the everything Paul is describing: not a portion, not a tithe of devotion, but the whole living self.
Psalm 86:12 mirrors the song's declaration directly: "I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever." The Psalms are filled with this all-of-me language, and "With Everything" stands in that tradition.
Ephesians 3:17-19 grounds the open-eyes request: "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
How to use it in a service
This song is a declaration song, which means it belongs after the congregation has been gathered, prepared, and oriented. Do not open a service with it. Place it where the congregation has already had enough time in the room to be present, and where the emotional and theological context has prepared them to mean what they are about to say.
A strong placement is after a sermon on consecration, total surrender, or the call to love God. The congregation has heard the theology; now this song gives them an avenue to respond by opening their mouths and singing it.
In a longer worship set, this song works well in the final third, after songs of adoration and response have established the character of God. The declaration of "with everything" earns its weight when it is preceded by content that has established who God is.
Consider a modulation or key lift for the final chorus if your musicians are comfortable with it. The song's build lends itself to a half-step or whole-step lift, signaling to the congregation that the climax has arrived.
Things to watch for as the worship leader
This song can be sung with enthusiasm that outruns authenticity. A congregation can shout "with everything" while holding significant reservations in their actual lives, and the shouting can function as a kind of spiritual adrenaline that feels like devotion without producing it.
Your job is not to police that. Your job is to lead authentically yourself and trust that the Spirit will do the interior work the song is inviting. But you can do some practical work by slowing the congregation down for a beat before the final chorus. A brief verbal cue, not a sermon, just a sentence: "Sing this like you mean it in the places where it is hardest to mean it." That kind of honest invitation can move a song from a corporate shout to a genuine offering.
Watch the build. Escalating arrangements can develop momentum that leaves the worship leader behind. Stay slightly ahead of the congregation's energy. Give the dynamic rises a breath or two before they arrive so the congregation follows your lead.
The bridge or breakdown section, if you are using the full arrangement, is often where genuine moments happen in a room. The lower volume and more intimate texture of a middle section creates space for individuals to have a personal encounter inside the corporate experience. Do not rush through it.
A note for the team behind you (techs, vocalists, band)
Band: this song demands commitment from every player. The energy must be authentic, not performed. If your drummer is not in it, the congregation will feel it. Electric guitar is carrying a significant portion of the song's energy; the main riff should be clear and driving without becoming muddy. Rhythm guitar and bass should lock together precisely on the downbeats.
Vocalists: the congregation is the star, and your job is to serve their singing. Give them the melodic line clearly and consistently. Hold back just enough volume that they feel they are contributing rather than following. On the final chorus, open up fully. If they are singing loudly together, that sound is the moment.
For tech: the mix should feel big and energetic without being fatiguing. Use your low-end carefully; too much bass and kick at high volumes exhaust ears quickly. A crisp vocal sitting clearly above a full band mix is the target. Lighting for this song calls for full output as the song builds, transitioning to full flood on the final chorus. The congregation's faces should be lit.