Decision sat down with Grammy-nominated vocalist and songwriter Charity Gayle and her husband and musical collaborator, Ryan Kennedy, before their appearance at the Noi Festival with Franklin Graham in Naples, Italy. They discussed the theological richness behind the song Thank You Jesus for the Blood, a tune that has resonated with millions on radio and streaming platforms and in thousands of churches where it’s sung weekly. The couple discussed why Thank You Jesus—written with three friends—is so personally meaningful and how it came about.
DECISION: That song—Thank You Jesus for the Blood—has been received so well, not just because it’s beautiful to the ears, but it is so doctrinally rich. Tell us about the inspiration for the song.
CHARITY: We got together with some friends at a writing retreat in a cabin in Willis, Texas, in 2019. It was Ryan and myself, along with our friends David Gentiles, Bryan McCleery and Steven Musso. We knew we wanted to write a song about thankfulness. What’s amazing is all of us are from different denominational backgrounds. And as we were talking about what each person was thankful for, the No. 1 thing that we could all come together on was the blood of Jesus.
We also talked about the hymn we used to sing that says “Glory to His Name, there to my heart was the blood applied, glory to His Name.” And that made it so much more personal. The understanding that every single person can have their sins washed away by the blood of Jesus is so impactful. And so that started the chorus, “Thank you, Jesus, for the blood applied. Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank you, Jesus, it has saved my life.” It took about four hours to write, but then we actually didn’t finish the bridge until six months later.
DECISION: Obviously, the Holy Spirit was leading, in order for you to be able to do that in four hours.
RYAN: We definitely start with prayer.
CHARITY: Yes, and Ryan likes to say that you have a North Star because when you’re writing for that long, you can kind of get off on rabbit trails pretty easily. So having that North Star, knowing that we wanted to sing about being thankful for the blood, we went through the Scriptures and it took a while because you want to be as scripturally accurate as possible. So that for us is the most important ingredient in a song—Scriptural accuracy.
DECISION: The lyrics focus not just on the blood of Christ, but the blood of Christ applied. Why was that significant in the song?
CHARITY: I believe that repentance is a huge part of that. It’s one thing to know about the Lord. It’s another thing to be in relationship with the Lord. And when we repent and enter into relationship with the Lord and are saved, that gift of the blood being applied to us is a really important ingredient. I love the passages about the Passover. Anybody who had the lamb’s blood on the doorpost that dark night—whoever was behind that door where the blood was applied—they were saved. And so that’s super impactful to me, that it’s not just that a lamb was slain, but the Lamb’s blood is applied to our lives. It’s a really important part of that song.
RYAN: We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, which is the testimony that we have been made new creatures in Christ Jesus. And it’s a song that only we can sing. The angels can’t sing it. They look on it and they say, “How is this even possible, this glorious thing that has happened, that God has ransomed His people back to Himself?” And so I think it’s important for the church to sing this testimony that we have, that we have been redeemed.
CHARITY: And it’s the power of the blood that breaks the chains. It breaks the yoke of bondage. And so we are moved from the kingdom of darkness where the authority of hell is on our lives to the authority of Christ’s Kingdom, which is the kingdom of light, because He is light. Darkness reigns no more. And we are children, sons and daughters, of the King.
DECISION: What has singing this song, and seeing it sung so broadly in churches, done for your faith?
CHARITY: It’s incredible. It’s such an honor and a beautiful thing to experience something that the Lord birthed in our hearts, to be sung on the voice and the lips of the church, and also to see people who may have just met the Lord singing it for the very first time. There’s nothing like it. It’s so powerful and so beautiful to see it being used as a tool to lift up the Name of the Lord. ©2024 BGEA
Interviewed by Jerry Pierce, senior editor.
Thank You Jesus for the Blood
Written by Charity Gayle, Ryan Kennedy, Steven Musso, David Gentiles, Bryan McCleery
I was a wretch, I remember who I was
I was lost, I was blind, I was running out
of time.
Sin separated, the breach was far too wide
But from the far side of the chasm, You had me in Your sight
So You made a way, across the great divide
Left behind, Heaven’s throne, to build it here inside
There at the cross You paid the debt I owed
Broke my chains, freed my soul and for the first time I had Hope
CHORUS
Thank You Jesus, for the blood applied
Thank You Jesus, it has washed me white
Thank You Jesus, You have saved my life
Brought me from the darkness into glorious light
You took my place, laid inside my tomb of sin
You were buried for three days but then You walked right out again
Now death has no sting and life has no end
For I have been transformed by the blood of the Lamb
BRIDGE
There is nothing stronger
Than the wonder working power of the blood, the blood
That calls us sons and daughters
We are ransomed by our Father
Through the blood
There is nothing stronger
Oh the wonder working power of the blood, the blood
That calls us sons and daughters
We are ransomed by our Father
Through the Blood
The Blood
Lyrics printed with permission from Charity Gayle Music Publishing.
Photo: Rebekah Petrino / ©2024 BGEA