In heavenly armour we'll enter the land

The song by Jamie Owens-Collins combines the imagery of Joshua’s conquest of Canaan with texts such as 1 Samuel 17:47 (resistance to Goliath), 2 Chronicles 20:15 (defence against Moab and Ammon) and Isaiah 59:19 (return from exile). With the help of Luke 21:28 (in 3.3) all these things are to be interpreted spiritually and Christianly, though this is assumed rather than spelled out in the text. It was the 2 Chronicles verse which prompted her writing ‘as a result of a private worship-time’ in 1984. The song is sometimes indexed as The battle belongs to the Lord.

The author’s own tune is IN HEAVENLY ARMOUR. From the song’s appearance in American books, Songifts in 1987 and the ‘Spring Harvest’ collections (Geoff Baker’s musical arrangement, ‘Rock feel’) the composition came into MP (arr Christopher Norton) and now into others; the arrangement here is a new one by Linda Mawson.

b Castro Valley, California, USA 1955, daughter of the songwriting couple Jimmy and Carol Owens. Surrounded by music from the early days, by her mid-teens she was well known in the USA as a solo Christian singer and musician, having a key role at 15 in the musical written by her parents, ‘Come Together’. Already a recording artiste, in 1976 she married Dan Collins with whom she ran the Fairhill Music Co, representing many other performers; they live in Newbury Park, California, where they have home-schooled their 3 children. She has travelled widely in order to teach music and worship in Canada, Europe, New Zealand and elsewhere, and has a speaking ministry especially among women. She is represented in Praise! by her best-known song, which features in other UK books as well as in the USA. No.885.