Matthew West Explains Why We Need God’s Word in Our Hearts
By Movieguide® Contributor
Christian artist Matthew West recently shared a powerful story about a performance he did in a maximum security prison.
“I received an invitation from one of our ministry supporters, who does work at the prison,” he said in an episode of his podcast. “The door opened for me to go into the prison and perform a concert for about 150 inmates. It was an incredible experience.
He continued, “One of the things I remember…they were very specific about what I could bring and couldn’t bring, but one of the things that alarmed me [was] they wouldn’t even let me bring my Bible in. It was alarming because it was like ‘Man, you’re not even going to let me bring God’s word in!’”
West explained that, without his Bible, he “started to realize the importance of memorizing God’s word and hiding it in your heart, because it returns to you when you need it.”
“And I realized that, even though I didn’t have a physical copy of my Bible, it was there, in my head and in my heart, and I was able to quote one scripture of God’s word after the other as I shared my testimony and my songs with the inmates,” he said. “It was a really special time.”
West is currently on his “Don’t Stop Praying” tour, named after his most recent single.
“Every year I land on a personal theme that becomes a mission statement for my own faith journey. This year’s theme is don’t stop praying,” he wrote in an Instagram post about the single. “We’ve all been to a place where discouragement can make us wonder if God really hears our prayers. I wrote this song for anybody who’s ever felt like giving up or losing their faith. I couldn’t be more excited to start the new year off with this new song. I hope it encourages anyone who hears it to join me in a commitment to prayer in 2024.”
The singer-songwriter talked about the song’s inspiration in an interview with Crosswalk, saying, “As a follower of Christ, I need to remember [that] if your mission is to do at least one hard thing a day, I need to do that — first things first. The hard thing is to sit down and be still and talk to God. And it’s hard to pray, especially when you’ve prayed for something over and over again.”
West continued, “This song is really a call to prayer. It’s a call not to give up. It’s an invitation to remember that the Bible says there’s power in prayer, that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. And it’s a reminder that we serve a God who hears us when we call on Him.”
Movieguide® previously reported on West’s encouragement to keep praying, even in hard times:
“Daniel and the Lion’s den. God shut the mouth of the lions and protected Daniel because Daniel was brave,” West explained. “He said I’m not gonna stop praying.”
“So, I want to encourage you and say, Don’t stop praying. Like Daniel did. Keep praying just like Daniel did,” West added.
West then shared with listeners one thing that God revealed to him.
“As I read the story of Daniel for like the one millionth time. And I know I say this all the time, but I’ll be a broken record about this until I go home to heaven,” he explained. “I love the reminder that God’s Word is alive and active.”
“And you can read the same page, the same Scripture, the same story over and over over again,” West continued. “If you ask God to show you, he will always show you different things. He just never ceases to amaze me. God can speak to me in different ways through the same old story I’ve read a million times.”