Understanding The Times And Seasons: Interview with Carribean Gospel Artist, Chevelle Franklin

To mark the release of her two new singles (‘Go In Your Strength’ and ‘I Prevail), the gospel vocal powerhouse that is Chevelle Franklin virtually ‘sat’ with the founder of HeartSong Live, Eloho Efemuai in a recent interview

The depth of wisdom shared in this interview is crazy good complete with prophetic undertones. Enjoy!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

EE: Congratulations on the release of your two new singles. I love ‘Go In Your Strength”’…

CF: Oh, I love that song!

EE: I love it! Honestly, I don’t know where you get your lyrics from but they are so deep! So can you just share a little on the response you have gotten so far from that song and the other single, ‘I Prevail?’ ‘I Prevail’ is another song that just does it for me, seriously. 

CF: The response has been so refreshing! It’s like water to my soul. I’m always an encourager so to be getting encouragement from so many people…

Everybody is saying it is such a timely song. People have been asking: ‘Did you just put it out now because of COVID-19?’ And I’m saying, ‘No, it was set for this time.’ We didn’t see this pandemic coming but God had orchestrated it for such a time as this. So, the response has been so positive and I’ve been so humbled not just for ‘Go In Your Strength’ but also for ‘I Prevail’. I Prevail doesn’t speak about anything else but a declaration of prevailing over sickness. 

As I said, we didn’t see this season coming but God foreknew it 

EE: Yes, He saw it coming! The next question I was going to ask was: Are there any life events that have impacted your songwriting? Because right now, you’ve released ‘Go In Your Strength and ‘I Prevail’ but who would have thought that when you were preparing these songs we would be in such a time as this? 

CF: Let me tell you the back story for ‘Going In Your Strength’. I remember a year ago I went to South Africa and I went with the intention of recording 2 songs. While I was there, the Spirit of the Lord spoke and He was saying ‘No, it’s an album.’ 

And then He said ‘What if I don’t want all you brought with you?’ And my answer was, ‘Okay Lord, whatever You want’. Then He said to me ‘The heavens are open. Are you ready?’ I said, ‘Yes, Lord’. And (Go In Your Strength) was the first song that He gave me. It was written in probably about 5 minutes- the melody and all- everything came together in about 5 minutes. 

When it was given to me, everything about the production and coming together of the musicians- everything was moving in a different rhythm. You could taste the presence of God while pulling this project together. 

Also, ‘I Prevail’ was not a song I was going to do on the (eventual) album. I did not go with that song in mind. It came in on the last leg and it just dropped in my spirit and I thought, ‘OK, let’s do it’. And that was how ‘I Prevail’ got involved in this. 

So, it’s just weird that the very two songs that are creating such an impact were not planned. ‘I Prevail’ has been a song I’d been testing for years- singing it here and there- but not really anything serious. And then it just dropped in my spirit to record it. So that has been the backstory of recording ‘Go in Your Strength’ and ‘ I Prevail’

Finally, with ‘I Prevail’, my sister was ill for a long time and every minute the doctor kept saying this and that and all manner of things. I was just singing that song, declaring it over her life that by the blood of Jesus, she would prevail- and then she passed! She was about a year or two older than me and I’m like, ‘But God, it doesn’t make any sense putting that song up because I believed in you to heal her’. Then He sweetly spoke to me and said ‘Even in death, the seed of the righteous prevails’

EE: I love that!

CF: And it brought such joy to my soul and boom! I was led in my spirit to push it out soon after her funeral

EE: Wow, That’s amazing! You know, as you were speaking what was coming to my mind was that we make our plans but God is the one who decides finally what is going to be there. You didn’t plan for ‘I Prevail’ and ‘Going In Your Strength’ But God wanted those songs

CF: Whatever He wants He gets! (laughs). By force or by fire. That’s why He is sovereign. That’s why He runs things and He is the only boss around here

EE: He is the only boss! I’m sorry about your sister…

CF: It is well! Thank you

EE: Awesome. Ok Chevelle, we are in this time that no one has ever been before and by the grace of God, we will never be in this position again. So tell us your experience with COVID-19- how has it impacted you?

CF: You know, it has impacted a lot of people for the better. For people who think it has impacted them for the worse, I think they are not in the understanding of what is happening. 

I came to England on the 4th of March this year to attend a concert in Birmingham and I stayed a few more days after the concert was over. 

By the time I was ready to go home the borders were closed. But I didn’t panic because I believe the steps of the righteous are ordered by God. I solidly believe this. So, It depends on how you choose to look at it. 

There’s a spiritual way of looking at things and there’s a natural way of looking at things and if you don’t pray enough for God to open your spiritual eyes to what is happening, you will miss it. It’s like how God had to open Moses’ eyes to where he was standing. It is important to understand the place we are. If we do not, we will apply the wrong protocols to approach it. We will do the wrong things.

So my desire has been that I don’t need to see a Chevelle thing. I want to see a God thing! God is doing a new thing. God is relocating some of us in the spirit. So this Covid-19 is a process that He has allowed to happen because it is necessary to know Him on another level than we’ve been exposed to before.

It is a level where when this is all over, it is going to birth a level of trust in us that we never had before, for God. At the end of this thing, God is going to show forth Himself in a new way. And if we (the body) are not able to understand it, we’ll make things very bad for ourselves. 

 

This process is an incubation season to grow and for His heart to be revealed to us in a different way. So as I said, it’s all about understanding the place we’re at. We’re all at a particular place and we need to know what we’re to do in this place. God said to Moses “The place you are standing IS“. So what is the place you are standing? What is required of you in this season? Maybe what is required of us is to weed out some stuff. Ask God to weed out some stuff because there’s another side of the Jordan we’re going that we cannot carry those things for us to be effective when we get there. We have to leave it on the other side of the Jordan. 

Right now is a season of prepping, preparation, stillness and intimacy. It is a place where we desire to see God. We desire God more than the material things we’ve been chasing. It’s a place of re-focus, rebuilding and refurbishing because, in the end, there’s going to be a glorious place of display. And it is coming when we get through this. So we just have to understand the place we are in right now

EE: Wow, that was so deep! Do you know I was just taking notes as you were speaking? We need to understand the place we all are at and we need to know what to do in this place!

CF: Yes, do you know what? Moses was not aware of the place he was. The place didn’t look like something supernatural could possibly happen there. That’s why he stood there looking. 

When God spoke to him that was when his posture became different. We’re in a place- the place Moses probably was was probably dry- a desert up in the mountains. It didn’t look like God would show up in that place but God is saying while we are going through this dry season, there’s a ‘weeding’ out. 

It doesn’t even look like God is there but He is right there in the midst of it. I tell people, ‘Christ is in this crisis’ and He wants us to know. So it is to recognise what is happening. Many people don’t recognise what’s happening that’s why they weep and they panic and I understand there are things going on; There’s death all around us. But because you are chosen of the Lord, no sickness can come near thy dwelling. It will pass over you. Don’t think because it happened to your neighbour, it’s your portion. No, because you are children of the Lord…

EE: Yes, I think that’s what scares a lot of people

CF:  (But)You will thrive, you will prosper. So, it’s a place where God just wants us to know He is more than just a financial increase. He is not a God you can just believe for a financial increase. He is more than that. So in this place, He wants us to know more about who He is

EE: I love it! Thank you so much for sharing that. You talked about the season of preparation, you talked about intimacy, growth, a place where we desire to see God. A place of re-focus. I pray we will not miss out on what God is doing at this time. Because it is easy to get carried away or get discouraged, you know. But like you’ve said, there’s so much God wants to do in us and through us this season so we come out on the other side. Wow, thank you so much, Chevelle! That was beautiful

CF: Thank you

EE: So, tell us: what’s next for you?

CF: Well, I’ve been doing a lot of promoting for these two singles and as I said to you earlier, I’m just so excited about what God is doing in this season right here.  I continue to seek the Lord on what He wants for me. 

So I’m in a place of incubation and I’m trusting God to use me in a different way, which I know is going to happen. You will hear the birthing of a new prophetic voice; a new kingdom rising within me. So He’s refurbishing my life. He is restoring and giving me back my confidence that was nearly snatched by the enemy but it has been taken back by the power of the Holy Ghost. So I will emerge in a different way

EE: Ah, I love that word ‘Emerge’

CF: We WILL emerge. God is doing it even in your life right now. You will emerge after this as a different voice. If you went in as a regular voice, you are coming out as a prophetic voice. Whatever you were in for, you are coming out as something else and it will be greater

EE-: Amen!

CF: I probably have not answered your question(laughs). But my expectation of God is so huge right now and I’m going in the flow. I’m seeing things begin to change already, things I’ve never seen before, even in my requests- things I’m asking God to do- and within 24 hours, boom! I see things turning and working differently. So I’m just going in the rhythm and flow of God. I’m just vibing to His beat (laughs)

EE: Thank you so much for that answer. It just shows where your heart is. We are going to emerge from this season as a prophetic voice. I must say your voice in ‘Going In Your Strength’ is different from every other song…

CF: That was God, you know. When I was recording the song, it was my intention to sing a bit higher (I’m naturally a ‘C’) but somehow because of the altitude that was there, it was difficult for me to manage it. So i didn’t fight it. I said, ‘God, I’m going to work with it’ and it just came out brilliantly, thank God!

EE: It’s so beautiful

CF: You see that’s the thing: We have to be at peace where we don’t push things, you know? We don’t fight what God is doing because sometimes God is trying to take us to a different space. But because we are used to the rhythm of something else and it doesn’t look like what we know, we don’t want to go there. 

But God wants to take us to that new place called ‘there’. Where you are is expired- it’s not where God wants you anymore and if you’re not careful you try to restrain and we don’t want to restrain. So i was there and I saw where it was kinda difficult because of the altitude, I had to lean into God and lean away from myself

EE: ‘Lean away from myself’…Thank you so much, Chevelle. This has been really amazing and I’m looking forward to seeing you again soon 

CF– Same here!

Listen to ‘Go In Your Strength‘

Listen to ‘I Prevail‘