Come And Tear Down The Walls
Come And Tear Down The Walls
"It all started in Sweden, before the trip to the US on which I met Mark Alan. The phrase that kept coming back to me: 'Come and tear down the walls I've built up'. I was realizing, more and more, that the barriers between me and the father had been put there by me, not the other way around. He knows everything and is always working in me to meet my desire for deeper intimacy with him. When I brought these thoughts to Mark Alan, we landed on writing a simple song about turning our hearts to the father." (Jenny Wahlström)
”There are so many barriers that we construct in our lives - barriers between ourselves and others who don’t look like us, between us and others with differing life views, and ultimately, barriers between us and God. This song is a simple yet bold ask, one that only comes about by humility on our part but when it’s embraced, can bring about powerful transformation in us and the world around us.” (Mark Alan Schoolmeesters)
COME AND TEAR DOWN THE WALLS
Written by Jenny Gajicki (STIM), Mark Alan Schoolmeesters (BMI)
© 2016 Common Hymnal Digital (BMI), Standing Room Only (BMI), The Underground Collection (BMI) (admin by IntegratedRights.com). CCLI 7068115.
VERSE
C Am
Come and tear down the walls I've built up
F
Every wall I've built up
Every wall I've built up
C Am
Cause you deserve every piece of my heart
F
Every piece of my heart
Every piece of my heart
PRE CHORUS
G Am Dm C/E
Lord, I am trusting that you are a faithful father
F G
And all that you have, it is good
Am
You're a generous giver
Dm C/E
Your love's like no other
F G
Won't you come and break through to me
CHORUS
C Am
Over and over and over again
F Dm
I am bringing my heart to you with open hands
C Am
Closer and closer, you're drawing me in
F Dm
As the depths of my heart lay before you again
More Songs Written By Jenny Gajicki (Jenny Wahlström)
More Songs Written By Mark Alan Schoolmeesters
Of all the relationships we’re in, the one with God should be the most straight forward. Right? Sadly, many of the songs we sing about God use language and imagery that keep us at a safe distance so we don’t really have to be real. I’m not saying that these songs are wrong, but I don’t want to be polite with God. He is supposed to be my closest friend, my saviur, my father and my brother.
This song came from a place where I really needed to be real with God, again.
I needed to come clean before him, again. I needed to repent, again. Admitting that I constantly seem to create this distance between myself and him. When I do my own thing, when I try to be my own God, when I try to figure everything out by myself, when I’m walking my own way.
So I started writing it as a cry for help. That I needed God. That I knew I’d messed up, and that I knew I would continue to mess things up and get things wrong.
Therefore, I needed him to come a tear down the high walls around me. Because I didn’t really believe in them. I really did not. Thats not how I wanted to live my life, being totally isolated, at a safe distance from him. I wanted to be close. And I wanted to go in closer.
But then when me and Mark Alan picked up the song together, it struck us that it also has to do with trust. Trusting God that he actually is that good father that he claims himself to be. Trusting God that he is generous and gives without holding back. Trusting God to come through when we really need him.
Jenny Wahlström
Jenny and I had never met before the day we wrote this song. Jenny was on tour from Sweden in the USA and on a day off, happened to be in my city.
As we chatted, I discovered that she had spent most of her musical life writing pop top-lines.
She shared the opening line of this song that she had been chewing on for some time and it instantly sparked.
There are so many barriers that we construct in our lives - barriers between ourselves and others who don’t look like us, between us and others with differing life views, and ultimately, barriers between us and God.
This song is a simple yet bold ask, one that only comes about by humility on our part but when it’s embraced, can bring about powerful transformation in us and the world around us.