Matthew West has a hit single at Christian radio, “Good.” The song, from a forthcoming new album, is written by West and AJ Pruis.

“Good” comes an astonishing 23 years after West’s debut single, “More.” The song is his own personal evolution, both in his faith and in his music.

“I wrote this song thinking about, I’ve spent so much of my life —  I’m a striver,” West tells Everything Nash. “I’m a worker. I got my work ethic from my dad, and I’ve always just been a hustler. I remember when I was in high school on my football team, I was like, ‘I’m not the most talented guy here, but I’m gonna outwork these guys.’ And so then, when I moved to Nashville and joined the music industry, I’m on Music Row like, ‘There are more talented people here, so I need to outwork them.’ And that served me well in my life, my work ethic. But in a negative way. I feel like that wiring has spilled over into spiritual endeavors.”

“Good” says, “I’m good at always falling down / You’re good at never giving up / I’m good at getting turned around / You’re good at saying I’m still loved / And I was wrecked by mercy / The day I understood / I’m not loved because I’m worthy / I’m loved because You’re good.”

West admits that he has spent a lot of time trying to do enough and work hard enough to be considered a good Christian. With “Good,” he flips the script.

“This song is just resetting the table in my mind and my heart to go, grace is not some kind of a ladder that you’ve got to climb and try to get high enough to reach God,” West reflects. “The cross is in place of the ladder that God proved to us in the cross, that He sent His only Son to come all the way down that ladder to reach us where we are. So I’m learning to kind of not work when it comes to spiritual. I’m still gonna give it my all. But when it comes to God’s grace, I gotta learn to rest in that on my best day, He loves me, and on my worst day, He still loves me. And when you start to learn how to rest in that, and just receive the gift of grace, that’s truly when your life begins to change.”

Matthew West Releases His 9th Book, ‘Don’t Stop Praying: The God Who Hears Us Is Just a Breath Away’

West also released his ninth book, Don’t Stop Praying: The God Who Hears Us Is Just a Breath Away. The title comes from his 2024 single, “Don’t Stop Praying,” which is also the title track of his latest album. It was West’s mother who first told him, years ago, that she felt like he would be writing not just songs, but books. At the time, West was unsure about her prediction. But years later, the father of two is grateful for another way to express his heart.

“The tipping point for me was that I would write a song, and then I’d feel like there was more to unpack,” explains the singer. “‘Cause when you’re telling a story through a song, you gotta do it in three minutes or less. You gotta make it rhyme, and you gotta have a hit melody. And sometimes you can only say so much. So with this new book, Don’t Stop Praying, it was like, there’s more to this story than just the song. That song kind of became a bit of a movement, too.

“I was like, this seems like it’s resonating with people,” he continues. “And I also want to go deeper in my prayer life. So that’s what the genesis of writing Don’t Stop Praying was. It’s broken down into 40 chapters, really short chapters, kind of like 40 Days of Prayer. And each chapter has some guided questions that have helped me in my own personal, quiet times with God.  I’m super excited, and I’m thankful for my mom planting that seed all those years ago.”

Find “Good,” Don’t Stop Praying: The God Who Hears Us Is Just a Breath Away, and all of West’s music and upcoming shows at MatthewWest.com.

Photo Credit: Elliott Eicheldinger