LIVE BY FAITH

TITLE: LIVE BY FAITH
ARTIST: THE NAZARENE
STYLE: Prophets in the Gate series, children’s prophetic wisdom rap, honest questions, lo-fi thunder, prayer psalm, faith anthem

[INTRO]

Habakkuk was a prophet with questions.

He looked at the world and asked:

“Lord, how long?”

He saw violence.
He saw injustice.
He saw wrong people winning.

But he did not run from God.

He brought his questions to God.

[VERSE 1]

Habakkuk stood where the streets felt wrong,
violence loud and justice gone.
People twisted what truth should be,
and the prophet cried, “Lord, do You see?”

“How long shall I cry and You not hear?
Why does evil feel so near?
Why do the wicked surround what’s right?
Why does justice lose the fight?”

That is not fake faith, that is prayer,
bringing real pain into holy air.
Gen Alpha, hear this, God is not scared,
when your heart has questions it needs to share.

When news feels heavy, when wars don’t cease,
when screens keep shouting and stealing peace,
when bullies laugh and lies look strong,
you can ask God, “Lord, how long?”

Faith is not pretending pain is small,
faith is still calling on God through it all.
Habakkuk teaches the honest art:
pray your questions with a faithful heart.

[HOOK]

The righteous shall live by faith,
even when night feels long.
The righteous shall live by faith,
God is still true and strong.

When I can’t see the whole road,
when I don’t know the way,
I will stand on the watchtower,
I will wait and pray.

[VERSE 2]

God answered Habakkuk, strange and deep,
“I am doing work while nations sleep.
Look and wonder, watch and see,
but the road will shake before victory.”

The answer was hard, not neat and clean,
Babylon rising on history’s screen.
Habakkuk asked again with awe,
“Can evil judge what evil saw?”

He stood on the watchtower, eyes made wide,
waiting for the Lord to answer inside.
God said, “Write the vision, make it plain,
though it waits, it will speak again.”

Pride puffs up like a swollen soul,
but faith walks steady when God is whole.
The proud build towers that cannot last,
but trust in the Lord outlives the blast.

Gen Alpha, that speaks in algorithm days,
where pride gets likes and humble ways
can look too quiet, too slow, too weak,
but God sees truth beneath the sleek.

[CHOIR COUNTER]

Write it plain.
Wait and pray.
Pride will fall.
Faith will stay.

[HOOK]

The righteous shall live by faith,
even when night feels long.
The righteous shall live by faith,
God is still true and strong.

When I can’t see the whole road,
when I don’t know the way,
I will stand on the watchtower,
I will wait and pray.

[VERSE 3]

Then came the woes like thunder drums,
against the proud and violent ones.
Those who steal, exploit and lie,
God sees every empire eye.

Woe to greed that builds too high,
woe to bloodshed dressed in pride.
Woe to idols carved by hand,
silent gods that cannot stand.

But in the middle of the shaking land,
Habakkuk heard the holy command:
“The Lord is in His holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

Silence before the Holy One,
not because justice is undone,
but because God still holds the throne,
and evil never rules alone.

Children, when the loud world screams,
when every feed is breaking seams,
remember Heaven is not asleep,
God’s justice runs wide and deep.

[BRIDGE]

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
though the vines have no fruit,
though the fields give no harvest,
I will still trust You.

Though the flock leaves the fold,
though the stalls are bare,
I will rejoice in the Lord,
my strength is there.

Not because life is easy.
Not because pain is gone.
But because God is faithful,
and His mercy sings on.

[VERSE 4]

Habakkuk points us straight to Christ,
the righteous One, the faithful life.
Jesus trusted through the night,
through false courts and cruel sight.

At the Cross, injustice roared,
yet mercy opened Heaven’s door.
The innocent One was lifted high,
while darkness covered the watching sky.

But God was working deeper still,
through Roman nails and human will.
The grave looked final, sealed and stayed,
but resurrection broke the shade.

So when you ask, “Lord, how long?”
remember Jesus entered wrong.
He carried grief, He bore the pain,
and He will come to judge and reign.

[FINAL HOOK]

The righteous shall live by faith,
even when night feels long.
The righteous shall live by faith,
God is still true and strong.

When I can’t see the whole road,
when I don’t know the way,
I will stand on the watchtower,
I will wait and pray.

[OUTRO]

Habakkuk asked questions.

God did not disappear.

Habakkuk waited.

God gave him vision.

Habakkuk saw trouble.

But he chose faith.

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
I will rejoice in the Lord.

The righteous shall live by faith.