Citizens & Saints hooked me with their unique brand of gourmet alternative rock-infused worship with their stirring debut Citizens, which released while they were part of Mars Hill Music in Seattle. That project, the song "Made Alive" and the band name are all based on Ephesians 2. 

That type of bold exclamation about the truth of the grace of Jesus can be found in each of their albums, with "You Brought Me Back to Life" and "The Mighty Hand of God" keeping that vibe going in their sophomore release Join the Triumph, one of my top 10 worship albums of 2014.

The band recently premiered a new lyric video for "Day by Day," a track of hope and redemption from the Seattle-based worship group's upcoming release A Mirror Dimly, the band's third album. I had the chance to speak with Zach Bolen about "Day by Day."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

The way that this song came together is that we had already started writing songs for the album, and I was reading 2nd Corinthians 4:16 and it all started to click to me that these songs were telling a story. This song is the hinge point of the album. It is interesting that it ended up as the middle song on the album because I feel like it tells a lot of the story, as in reality we go through our ups and downs of wrestling with our doubts and experiencing extreme moments of faith. Even in the mundane moments, when I walk outside in Seattle and see a mountain, I stop and say thank You to God for putting it there. It immediately draws my heart to think of Him. 

This song is about sanctification and how God changes our desires and changes us. In reality, His love isn't indicative of our response to Him, but He changes us because He loves us. That's really what this song is about. Learning and growing, we may not believe everything we hear, but that doesn't make it less true, and that's where the Holy Spirit is changing us every day to see with a renewed heart and a renewed mind. He loves us and He is with us, and He is changing us for our good and His glory.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Lamentations 3:22-23 (Voice): "How enduring is God's loyal love; the Eternal has inexhaustible compassion. Here they are, every morning, new! Your faithfulness, God, is as broad as the day."

Deuteronomy 4:39 (NIV): "Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other."

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT): "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV): "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Romans 4:3 (NLT): For the Scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith."

2 Corinthians 4:16 (Voice): "So we have no reason to despair. Despite the fact that our outer humanity is falling apart and decaying, our inner humanity is breathing in new life every day."

1 Corinthians 13:12 (NKJV): "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."

Psalm 40:17 (Voice): "Meanwhile, I am empty and need so much, but I know the Lord is thinking of me. You are my help; only You can save me, my True God. Please hurry."

What is the takeaway message?

The album title comes from 1st Corinthians 13:12, and it ties into this song as well. We don't always see things as clearly as we think we do. We can be confident in something, and then new information comes along and our perspective changes or our interpretation changes. Since the New Covenant, there's been no shortage of information or opinions out there. 

God is infinite, and He's invisible, but He's also present and He loves us. We feel His presence sometimes, and other times He feels so far away. We can never fully understand within our minds the depth of God and His grace and His character. This song and this album is meant to remind people that we are moving towards a day when we will know God in a more full way. He knows us fully, but we are looking through a foggy glass and a mirror that never gives us full clarity. One day we'll stand before God, and we'll see everything we are meant to see. Right now we can't fully comprehend that. One day we'll be able to understand more. That's what this song is about. 

The Holy Spirit is changing and growing us, and the more time I spend with my kids, they understand that my love for them will never change, and their love for me is growing. I've held them since the day they were born, and they are still learning more about me. God created us and knows everything about us, and we are still learning more about God.

Faith and doubt aren't exclusive to Christian belief, but relative to the nature of the human heart. To believe in God is evidence of a power at work that goes beyond the bounds of human nature. A Mirror Dimly is the result of both personal struggles and conversations with those swimming in doubt. We're not the first people to go through hard stuff. We all suffer in different ways. There is hope beyond the foggy glass: the joys of being loved forever, free from the burdens of the wounds we all carry.

Lyrics:
Even when I'm at my worst, I am still of righteous birth
Covered by a saving grace, Past, present future debt erased
My heart is changing day by day

When I run like wild fire
I am still a ransomed child
Bought will blood bought on a tree
Sin, death, they have no hold on me
My will is changing day by day

I'm not who I was, I am who I am
A sinner saved, a stumbling saint
Still never alone, He's alive in my bones
The ghost of God, Sanctifies

Day by day by day

I am thrilled to feature the message behind a song which has quickly become one of my favorite songs on the album. So many people can relate to the message, and the song convicts me to know in my heart the biblical truth from Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:22-23. God's mercy is new each day, and it is not based on our performance or what we can do for God. He pours out His mercy despite what we've done, and there's nothing we can do except trust in His Son Jesus. We can't earn Heaven, it's only through complete surrender to Jesus and putting all of our hope in Him that we can be saved.

This song and this album is all about having a strong faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Sometimes we have a tendency to think we can try to know everything. God tells us in the Bible that with faith, we can do anything in Christ. One of the lessons I've seen about life is that we shouldn't wait to fix ourselves before we step out in faith. We need to fully trust God. Look for ways to obey God and to offer your faith to God.

As we look at the fallen world around us, we all need to lift our eyes up to God and put all of our faith and hope in Him. For the saved In Christ, one day "God will wipe away every tear, there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying." As believers, we all need to live for Heaven and not get depressed or angry about our fallen world. Pain and suffering point us to God and how much we need Him, day by day. While we can't see everything in our fallen world through life's mirror dimly obscuring grace and truth, this album will remind you we are God's "Kids" and "loved no matter what."

What's great about "Day by Day" is that the song is congregational and hits home with the poignant lyrics "I'm not who I was, I am who I am, a sinner saved, a stumbling saint." I can't get enough of the psalm-like confessional nature of the song, and I love when artists take prayerful concepts and turn them into a great and catchy song. The truth of "Day by Day" applies to each of us who are citizens and saints of Heaven when we remember the gift of His grace, that as followers of Jesus we are a sinner saved... day by day. It is a great reminder of what's most important.  The song is a daily reminder for me that "even when I'm at my worst, I am still of righteous birth, covered by a saving grace, past, present future debt erased." Amen to that!

Watch the lyric video below.