Naomi Raine isn’t one to waste a good opportunity.
“I can’t say no to these doors because they may not be there next time,” the worship singer said.
Whether it’s joining TAYA, Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Natalie Grant for a huge female-led worship tour called “It’s Time,” or writing a new worship song after hearing a powerful sermon, Raine is always prayerfully considering her next steps. And she’s been taking some pretty exciting steps lately.
From performing on the Grammy stage to selling out arenas with Maverick City Music, to releasing her new solo album, Raine is learning to say yes to the opportunities in front of her. And she wants to encourage others to do the same.
Raine spoke with RELEVANT about wanting to help future women in the worship industry, and how she hopes her new album, Cover the Earth, inspires listeners to open their hearts to God in new ways.
What advice do you have for younger female worship leaders?
I would say keep going. Be the best worship leader, singer, artist, guitarist, drummer, or whatever it is, because there are so many spaces to lead worship in this industry. Just be the best that you can be. Do it with your whole heart toward the Lord, and I believe that the Lord will place you exactly where you need to be.
It’s interesting. I was having a conversation with someone about this. I am so blessed. I have been on stages that many worship leaders, even big artists, have never been on. For a second, I almost took it for granted. I was like, wow, God did this. But then I remembered that most women don’t get this opportunity. This is not something that is often afforded to women.
I don’t have the luxury of passing on a tour like “It’s Time” or passing on an opportunity to do something like this again to make space for other women. I can’t wait for that space to be made for me; I have to make it. Since I’ve gotten this opportunity, I’ve been blessed like this. So, okay, how can I make this opportunity for other women?
So, I would say don’t get discouraged. Keep going after the dreams that the Lord has for you. Be prayerful, because there are women in some of these spaces who are now saying, ‘How can I open the door for other women? How can I open the door for other people?’
Many industries in the world are male-dominated. But we have an opportunity to come in and not to shrink back from those spaces, but to go, ‘Okay, how can I add to this? How can I be who God has called me to be in this area for His glory?’ And shine my light so that younger girls see it and go, ‘Okay, I can do that.’
Obviously, I try not to be bitter about where I am. But I can sometimes make me forget that there are other women that don’t have these opportunities.
So now I’m starting to go, ‘Okay, how do I look at this objectively? How do I not complain and be miserable and bitter in it, but also create opportunities for other people?’
I had to change my perspective. When I was looking at it for what it was, I could get disgruntled. I don’t want to do what I love unhappily. I want to serve the Lord with gladness and open spaces for other people to serve Him with gladness.
What was the inspiration behind your new solo album?
This project is really about the glory of God. It’s all for Him, all to Him, all about Him. But in different lights, it’s like we get to see God’s glory in a different light, a different facet of who He is.
It starts off with a song called “Cover the Earth.” The idea behind that is a scripture where Jesus says to the disciples, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Every time I read that scripture, I’m just blown away by it. But as I continued to talk to the Lord about it, I realized He was saying, “Be the best that you can be. Shine your light, do it as brightly as you can. Do it so much so that people would see it and go, ‘Man, that can’t be her. That has to be God.’”
So that’s literally how I try to live my life. I’m like, “Okay, Lord, I want to put my heart, my soul, my skill, my talent, but also my obedience into my life so that light can shine and that people would go, ‘Wow, it can’t be her, it has to be God.’”
Where did the inspiration for the songs come from?
I think sometimes we, as artists, get in the way of His story. I don’t want my story to get in the way of God’s story. I want to show who He is: His work, His power, His move in my life. So the whole album is all about that. It’s a worship project, and I think it’s beautiful. There are some really personal songs on there that I would use in my prayer closet, just talking to Jesus.
The first single is called “One Name, Jesus.” And at the end of the song, I’m literally shouting “Jesus” for 10 minutes. Just calling on His name. There’s just so much power in who He is. There’s a song on the album called “Costly,” and it’s basically saying, “Let my worship be costly. Let everything that I do be for You, not for myself.”
My favorite song is called “Drink Offering.” It literally says, “Let my life be a drink offering for You only, ever pouring. May my life speak of Your glory, pour it out, pour it out.” And I just want to pour it out for You. It’s about surrender and all the things.
“We Agree With Heaven” has also become a bit of an anthem. What’s the story behind it?
I went to my friend Tim’s church to minister. And when I was there, they were singing that chorus. He had written that chorus and they just had, “We agree with heaven. Oh, heaven.” They kept singing it over and over and it just hit me. And I told him afterwards I had to write something with that, and he was like, “Naomi, that’s a song the Lord gave me. Do whatever you need to do with it.”
So as I was listening to it more, I brought it to one of my co-writers and said we have to figure something out. And sometimes in those moments, I’m just praying to the Holy Spirit. I’m like, “Holy Spirit, what do you want to do with this? Like, what is this about?”
Eventually, I realized it was about prayer. It was about coming into alignment with the way God wants us to live and the way that he’s prescribed for us to do things. And I realized, what happened was all of the things that I see on social media and everybody’s opinions online was exposing to me how much Christians — I’m talking actual believers — don’t know about what a godly life looks like.
And I’m not talking about gray areas. I think sometimes we focus on drinking and smoking and stuff like that, right? But there’s a bigger thing here.
So a lot of this song came from realizing, “Oh, You’ve called us to live a life where we lay ourselves down.”
And I’m talking about stuff like how we’ve got Christians that say things like, “Well, if you’ve got a problem with me and I don’t know about it, then we don’t got a problem.”
In my Bible, it says if your brother has an ‘ought’ against you, you go to him and ask what’s wrong. That’s if he has an ‘ought’ against you. Because we only read the part that says, if you have an ‘ought’ against somebody you go to them. We don’t keep on reading, but this is how Jesus is calling us to live. It’s about character and kindness.
But I don’t see us operating in that. And I get concerned, so I want to ask the Lord, “How can I put my gifts, my skills, what I have and who I am to contribute to the solution? Oh, I’m gonna write a song.”
So there’s a line that says, “Counting up the cost of picking up our crosses we love not our lives even unto death,” because nobody’s singing that. We don’t want to sing that we don’t want to die, but that’s the call. That’s what we’ve been called to do, to crucify our flesh and to carry our crosses.
