Borrowed Oil

Verse 1

I grew up burning candles that my mother bought

I recited every lesson that my father taught

I held onto their heavy coats when winter came

I knew the stories and I knew the Holy Name

I sat in the back of the class and I nodded my head

I ate the fruit of the tree because they said it was bread

But the wind is blowing harder now that I am grown

And I’m standing in the midnight on my own

Pre-Chorus

The lamp is flickering, the flame is getting low

And I’m scared because I have nowhere else to go

I’m looking at the Bridegroom coming down the street

And I’m checking my supply, staring at my feet

Chorus

’Cause I can’t light my fire with borrowed oil

I can’t plant my garden in another man’s soil

I need my own supply, every earned drop

Before the Bridegroom comes, before the clock stops

Yeah, you can share your bread, and you can share your coat

But you can’t share the testimony, I gotta know on my own

No, I can’t run on borrowed oil

Verse 2

I knocked upon your door and asked for just a bit

But you looked at me with sadness in the way you sit

You said, “I’d give it if I could, I’d give it all away

But the cost is something only you can pay”

You can’t buy this at the market with a credit card

It’s pressed out of the olive in a garden that is hard

It takes a little bit of suffering, a little bit of prayer

To make the kind of fuel that burns clean in the air

So I’m going to the garden in the middle of the night

I’m staying with the pressing till it gives up light

Pre-Chorus

I’m trading in my apathy, trading in my pride

For a vessel that is burning on the inside

I’m paying the cost I didn’t want to pay

But I need a fire that will never fade away

Chorus

’Cause I can’t light my fire with borrowed oil

I can’t plant my garden in another man’s soil

I need my own supply, every earned drop

Before the Bridegroom comes, before the clock stops

Yeah, you can share your bread, and you can share your coat

But you can’t share the testimony, I gotta know on my own

No, I can’t run on borrowed oil

Bridge

Drop by drop

Line upon line

I gotta make it mine

Yeah, I gotta make it mine

It’s not enough to know someone who knows

I need to know the way the Spirit goes

Let it burn, let it burn, let it burn

Outro

Yeah, my lamp is full

My lamp is full

I’m ready