Heart and Soul - A Worship Song: Love the Lord With Everything
About Heart and Soul
"Heart and Soul" is a scripture-rooted contemporary Christian worship song from Malachi Ben-David — CCM built for congregational surrender. It takes the greatest commandment as its foundation: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, / With soul and mind and strength." From there it moves through Jesus' promise in John 14 that love shown in obedience draws the Father and Son to make their home in the believer, the fatherly discipline of Proverbs and Hebrews, and the truth that anchors all worship — we love Him because He first loved us. It's a worship song for prayer and full-hearted response.
Lyrics for Heart and Soul
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, With soul and mind and strength, this is the first command. If ye love Me, keep My words, abide in My way, My Father will love thee, and We'll make Our stay.
Heart and soul, we surrender to Thee, Loving our God eternally. In faith and obedience, we rise to proclaim, Thy love ignites us, in Jesus' name!
The Lord our God is one, hear O Israel today, Love Him fully, let no other take His place. For whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth with care, As a father his son, in delight we share.
We love Him because He first loved us, In covenant mercy, faithful and just. Direct our hearts into Thy love so grand, Patiently waiting for Christ at Thy hand.
Heart and soul, we surrender to Thee, Loving our God eternally. In faith and obedience, we rise to proclaim, Thy love ignites us, in Jesus' name!
Behind the Song
The song opens with the command Jesus called the greatest of all: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, / With soul and mind and strength, this is the first command." There's no easing in, no throat-clearing — worship begins where Christ said everything begins, with the total claim of God on the whole person. Heart, soul, mind, strength. Nothing held back. And immediately the song answers the obvious question — how is that love shown? — with John 14: "If ye love Me, keep My words, abide in My way, / My Father will love thee, and We'll make Our stay." Love isn't a feeling the song works up. It's obedience, and the reward of that obedience is astonishing: God Himself comes to abide.
The chorus is the response the verses call for. "Heart and soul, we surrender to Thee, / Loving our God eternally." Surrender is the only fitting reply to a God who asks for everything, and the song frames it not as defeat but as ignition — "Thy love ignites us, in Jesus' name!" The love flows downhill first; the fire in the worshiper is caught, not manufactured.
The second verse returns to the source text — "The Lord our God is one, hear O Israel today" — the Shema itself, the confession that grounds the whole commandment. If God is one, then no other can share His place, and the line follows plainly: "Love Him fully, let no other take His place." Then the song does something many worship songs avoid: it welcomes discipline as an expression of love. "For whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth with care, / As a father his son, in delight we share." Correction isn't the opposite of the Father's delight; it's the proof of it. A love that never corrects isn't the Father's love.
The bridge names the foundation under all of it. "We love Him because He first loved us, / In covenant mercy, faithful and just." This is the hinge of the entire song — every command to love, every act of surrender, is a response to a prior love. We don't initiate; we answer. And the bridge closes with a prayer lifted straight from Paul: "Direct our hearts into Thy love so grand, / Patiently waiting for Christ at Thy hand." Even the ability to love God rightly is something we ask Him to work in us, as we wait for Christ.
Contemporary Christian worship is the natural home for this because the genre is built for congregational surrender — melodies a room can sing together, a chorus made to be lifted with lifted hands. The song's job isn't to be admired but to be joined. Message. Music. Encounter. Movement.
Biblical Background
"Heart and Soul" is built on the Great Commandment. Its opening is the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:5 as Jesus quoted it: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" (Mark 12:30; Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27). Verse two returns to its foundation, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4). The way that love is expressed comes from Christ's words in John 14: "If ye love me, keep my commandments… If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:15, 23).
The second half deepens the picture of the Father's love. Proverbs 3:11–12 and Hebrews 12:5–6 teach that love includes discipline: "for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." The bridge rests on the truth that our love is always a response — "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) — and closes with Paul's benediction, "the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ" (2 Thessalonians 3:5).
Every reference is listed below in the order the song travels through it.
Scripture References (song order)
Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27 — love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart" (Verse 1)
John 14:15, 21, 23 — love shown by keeping His words; the Father and Son make their home with the believer; "If ye love Me, keep My words… and We'll make Our stay" (Verse 1)
Deuteronomy 6:4 — the Shema: the Lord our God is one Lord; "The Lord our God is one, hear O Israel today" (Verse 2)
Proverbs 3:11–12; Hebrews 12:5–6 — the Lord corrects those He loves, as a father the son he delights in; "For whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth with care" (Verse 2)
1 John 4:19 — we love Him because He first loved us; "We love Him because He first loved us" (Bridge)
2 Thessalonians 3:5 — the Lord directs our hearts into His love and the patient waiting for Christ; "Direct our hearts into Thy love so grand, / Patiently waiting for Christ" (Bridge)
FAQ
What is Heart and Soul about? It's a contemporary Christian worship song about loving God with everything — heart, soul, mind, and strength. Built on the greatest commandment, it moves from that total call to surrender, through love expressed in obedience, the Father's loving discipline, and the truth that we love Him only because He first loved us.
What does "Heart and soul, we surrender to Thee" mean? It's the song's response to the greatest commandment. If God asks to be loved with the whole person, then full surrender is the only fitting reply — not as loss, but as the ignition of a love that flows first from Him. The chorus turns the command into worship.
What scriptures inspired Heart and Soul? The song is built on the Great Commandment (Deuteronomy 6:4–5, quoted in Matthew 22, Mark 12, and Luke 10), Jesus' teaching in John 14, the fatherly discipline of Proverbs 3 and Hebrews 12, and 1 John 4:19 with 2 Thessalonians 3:5. The full list is above in song order.
Is Heart and Soul based on the Bible? Yes. Every verse is drawn from Scripture — much of it quoted nearly word for word — and the lines stay faithful to the passages they come from.
What genre is Heart and Soul? It's a contemporary Christian worship song — CCM written for congregational praise and full-hearted surrender.
Where can I listen to Heart and Soul? Stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, and Audiomack, and follow Malachi Ben-David on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok. The song is also available in the Facebook, Instagram, & Threads Music Library and as a TikTok Sound.