Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight..

The above line, I have been pondering on, since I last sang the hymn on Sunday. It is no news that I don’t take words for granted. This post brought to light this fact. Apart from the tune, the main backbone of the existence of songs are words.

I have sung this hymn: It is well with my soul, so many times, but you will agree with me that there are times when words just penetrate the surface; it’s no longer the ‘default recitation’, the thought behind the lyrics is being pondered upon; and in those few moments, you are immersed into the spirit behind the song.

When I sang, Lord! Haste the day when my faith shall be sight… The Holy Spirit convicted my heart with a few questions…

Princess, what is your faith?

What’s the faith that you seek to be manifest?

A foundational point to make is just stating that;

Faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.. Hebrews 11 v 1 NIV

But the above scripture does not still answer the question that the Holy Spirit asked me. That’s a ‘general’ answer. He asked a personal question: Princess, what is your faith?

He was not pestering me for a response. He is all so gentle. But I had [and still am] pondering on this question. As simple as this question may look, it is deep.

When we talk about faith, we are so passionate about proclaiming our faith in the expectations of what we believe God can do. Is this wrong? No! Never! Faith in God is the fundamental fact of our existence. It is the firm foundation that makes life worth living. But we need to take a step back and ask ourselves: should our faith in God, trusting in His ability to bring to pass His promises, take priority over faith in seeing Him?

My faith should be that I see myself standing before God, and worshipping Him forever, in Heaven. My faith should be seeing God.

Unfortunately, I could not give that response to the Holy Spirit. I can lie to myself, but the Holy Spirit knows the truth even before He poses a question [does this ring a bell- aka Women. LOL]. So what’s our faith then?

• We believe God will establish us, as we work hard to being excellent and fulfilling purpose.
• We believe God will give us godly spouses, who we will run the vision with.
• We believe God will grace us with strength to reap profits from our hard work: drive great cars, live in our own mansions, own our private jets, be a person of influence, etc
• We believe God will bless us with amazing, intelligent children.

And the list goes on….

Oh! And there is nothing wrong with believing God for the above and more. Personally, I am believing God for nothing less.

Here is my point, in the midst of all these great ‘faiths’, where does The Faith come in?

Can we honestly wake up in the morning and say: Lord! Haste the day when my faith shall be sight.

Our faith being sight is the second coming of Jesus Christ, [the remaining lines of the last stanza of the hymn reveals more] when we shall reign with Christ; and worship the King. So do we honestly want God to haste the day we see Him?

More direct – Are we ready to see God? If Christ returned today, will our souls be satisfied and ready?

Being ready to see God is not a one day affair; it is an everyday affair. Our faith does not manifest while we passively anticipate. No! We get to work. Our everyday life is the premise of pinpointing the anticipation of our faith [seeing God].

If there is any mistake we make, is the mistake of separating our lives into distinct categories of ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’, in an attempt to live a whole and satisfying life; a coherent life with meaning and purpose, a life lived to the glory of God.

For instance, we cap our professional pursuits as ‘secular’, and our religious pursuits as ‘sacred’. How about having an understanding that the Holy One lives in us and whatever we get involved in, is sacred.

Let’s get this right…

This isn’t to say that, if I were to be a mechanic by profession, and an intercessor by calling; when I get a car brought to the garage, I should walk around the car, speaking in tongues and do an average job on it; and then say: Fix it, Jesus! Amen.

No! No!! No!!!

An understanding of our faith is being alert every second, every minute and every hour. That everything we get involved in, brings glory to God’s name, that indeed, we anticipate our meeting God.

Let it be that if Jesus were a Mathematics teacher, your lifestyle as a mathematics teacher is a mirror of how Jesus would look like. When we go to the mall to shop, let it be said that if Jesus went shopping, your behavior and actions depicts how Jesus Christ will be if He shopped. Having this consciousness of our Faith [meeting God] should drive every other faith [all our desires]; not vice-versa.

But you see, even though our faith should be to meet God, ultimately. The Holy Spirit asked me: ‘What is my Faith?’ not ‘What should my Faith be?’. They are two different questions. What something should be, may not be the same to you or me? A man should marry a woman, as the Bible says, but it is not the case in the world we live in today. He asked me a personal question, and I do not get to give a general answer.

As children of God, we do not live nonchalant lives, where there’s no discipline. We need to be reminded that there is eternity, whether the world believes it or not. So what do we do:

Be well-balanced [temperate, sober of mind], be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset-rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined]….. 1 Peter 5 v 8-9a AMP

I love the word, the Amplified Version used in place of ‘sober’; be well-balanced. Being well-balanced is to be seen in every sphere of our lives, it does not just speak to our spiritual lives; it speaks to our everyday living; everything that pertains to our living. We should not be Christians who are so Heaven conscious that we are of no relevance on earth; neither should we be Christians that are ‘worldly relevant’ but are not Heaven conscious. Our fulfillment of purpose on earth should be connected to our anticipation of seeing Christ, and reigning with Him.

So have I answered the Holy Spirit, not yet, honestly, I am soul searching. I am asking that He truly shows me my heart and motives. So if I have not given Him an answer, why I am sharing this with you? Well, because, I believe that evaluation of the life we are living is necessary. I am also sharing this with you, to give you an insight to the fact that, I have not arrived. I wake up everyday and take up my cross, and die daily in Him. I am not ignorant to the fact that the flesh still exists, but I am revived with the understanding, with Christ, the life I live each day is centered on the anticipation of seeing Him, soon!

Father, show me my heart, that I may repent of ways that  have assumed that pleased You, when in all truthfulness, they pleased the flesh. Help me to remember that The Faith is to see you. Help me to live a well-balanced life in discipline, wisdom and understanding. Amen!

P.S: The full stanza, where with the ‘Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight..”

And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Keep shining!

PT QUOTE OF THE DAY

The return of Christ is near, not believing in it taking place, does not negate its authenticity.

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Princess Okechukwu!