Sing Like The Battle is Over

Catherine Mullins' “Sing Like The Battle Is Over” makes praise the response to a fight that is still going on. It begins with the sound of praise, “a praise that breaks the silence, a sound that slays the giants, a voice that breaks down every prison door.” When voices are lifted, she says, praises go before the people, “for we know the battle is the Lord's.”

The chorus is the decision to act as if the outcome is already settled: “I'm gonna sing like the battle is over, I'm gonna dance like the war is won.” Prison doors swing open, and the King has overcome. The second verse recalls past victories and how God wrote her story, including the moment she crossed from death to life. If the battle rages, she is safe in his presence, because she knows he has never lost a fight. The bridge states, “Victory is mine before my eyes can see it,” and says nothing can keep her from the promise, and that she will not be moved because her hope is in him. The song fits a service where people are facing real struggles and want to praise before they see a result, and its message is that faith can sing ahead of the evidence.

The battle being the Lord's is 2 Chronicles 20:15. Singing in prison until the doors opened is Acts 16:25-26, and victory through Christ is 1 Corinthians 15:57.