The original version was recorded in 1982, credited to The Celestial Choir on the compilation Somebody Prayed For This, produced by Phyliss Joubert and the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights, Inc.[2] The 1985 Joubert Singers single is the well-known disco version.

launched a compilation in 2004 with the song (Miyage, Tigersushi records), that reached the underground European electro scene.

[8] The biggest commercial success of the song has been by the French musical project Keedz that recorded it in 2008 and was the title track of their similarly titled album Stand on the Word.,[9] The revamped electronic production of the soul and funk song remixed by MiMa made up of Michael Tordjman and Maxime Desprez did not enter the French charts in its initial release in 2008.

But it proved to be very popular after Keedz' version of "Stand on the Word" was used as a short introduction to Le Grand Journal broadcast on Canal+ for the week 29 September to 3 October 2008.

The Keedz version of the song was also used in 2008 in an episode of the Australian television series Underbelly.