Clara Rhoden

I’ve been a Christian a really long time. Growing up in the church, I’ve seen many people come and go. It has always broken my heart to see those who grew up in the church walking away. I have prayed about it and mulled over it for many years and my conviction about it is this: you can grow up in church, go through all the right motions, know all the right answers, but if you don’t have a personal encounter with Jesus, you don’t know Him.

For the last 30 years, I’ve been working hard and praying desperately for God to use my musical gifts as a means to help people to encounter Jesus personally. Over the last 5 years, I had the honour of writing many worship songs for my church in Taiwan. We released them in Mandarin, but my heart always longed to share these songs in English (my native language) as well. So, after many years, I have finally been given the opportunity to share these songs with you.

I’m currently working on an album of worship songs that express the unchanging truth of the gospel in fresh melodies for a new generation of believers. This song is the first single release from this collection.

It was written in response to a need for more songs about Jesus’ death and resurrection. Previously, my church had a default song for communion and any event with a focus on Jesus’ suffering. I felt it was too depressing, as it focused only on Jesus’ death and not on his victorious resurrection. In response, the chorus of this song was written as a declaration “Hallelujah! Jesus, You’re alive!”

Many of us as believers know intellectually that Jesus rose from the dead, but sometimes our lives don’t reflect this reality. My prayer is that this song can be a reminder to all believers that we serve a living Jesus and as we declare this glorious truth more lost sheep would find their way back to the Father’s arms.

With Easter fast approaching, this song is now available as a declaration for the local church during this season. Sheet music is also available for worship teams to learn at no cost. May God bless His church as we declare the greatest gift of all — Jesus’ death and resurrection for us.

Link to video in comments.