According to P. Job, the lyrics are based on the last words of Nokseng, a Garo man, a tribe from Meghalaya which then was in Assam, who converted to Christianity in the middle of the 19th century through the efforts of an American Baptist missionary.

The formation of the martyr's words into a hymn has been attributed to the Indian missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh.

[3] An American hymn editor, William Jensen Reynolds, composed an arrangement which was included in the 1959 Assembly Songbook.

[4] Due to the lyrics' explicit focus on the believer's own commitment, the hymn is cited as a prime example of decision theology, emphasizing the human response rather than the action of God in giving faith.

Four lines of the hymn are used as a bridge in the worship song "Christ is enough" (from the album "Glorious Ruins" by Hillsong Church).