Heal Our Land

Planetshakers' “Heal Our Land” is a prayer for a nation. It takes its basic idea from the promise to a people who humble themselves, and the verse begins by saying that our hearts are waiting for you, earnestly seeking and awaiting our healing.

The second line repeats that the hearts are waiting for God and adds the phrase we humble ourselves and pray. The verse closes with praise: your love never fails and our God is ever reigning. The chorus is a short plea in four lines, heal our land, we need your love, restore us, we need your touch again. The bridge calls for arising, and for shining around us, and ends with the statement that finally hope is here. The words are brief, which leaves room for a congregation to pray in their own words between the lines. Planetshakers is an Australian church band, and this song follows their usual pattern of a plain verse and a chorus that can be repeated as a sung prayer. It would suit a national day of prayer, a service during a crisis or an event where a church is praying for its city. Because it mentions a land without naming a country, it can be used anywhere. The mix of humility and expectation is what makes the song useful, since it asks for healing while acknowledging the need for a change of heart.

The promise of healing the land is 2 Chronicles 7:14. Asking God to revive us is Psalm 85:6, and arising to shine is Isaiah 60:1.