The name of the album, as well as the title track, stems from a battle that Luke Smallbone's wife, Courtney, faced with an addiction to prescribed medication, coupled with an historical incident during the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1519 AD, where a Spanish commander named Hernán Cortés, landed his ships on enemy shores unaware of what awaited his arrival. To ensure that the men were committed to their mission, he proclaimed, "Burn the ships!" Joel Smallbone expressed to Lee Clarion that "Burn the Ships" was "very much dedicated to the whole concept of no retreat, to very aggressively leave the past in the past and move forward."