David Diga Hernandez - How to Become A Spiritual Discerner

There is no higher authority than the Word of God. Now, we say that it’s almost a church cliché: we believe the Word, we believe the Word, we believe the Word. How can you believe the Word if you don’t know the Word? I believe the Word; I believe the Word. When was the last time the Word of God corrected something you believed? Really, ask yourself that: when was the last time the Word of God corrected something that you believed? Because if the Word of God always agrees with you, it’s probably because you’re forcing your beliefs into the Word rather than using the Word to form your beliefs. The Word of God is the final authority, the highest authority. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. This generation, sadly, and this is not something I’m saying from a place of anger or arrogance, my heart is broken for the fact that, at least in America, this generation suffers from a Word deficiency. We just don’t know the Word; we just aren’t firmly established in the Word. The Instagram reel of the day has replaced devotion to the study of God’s Word. Tweetable quotes have replaced time in God’s Word. Netflix series and YouTube binging have replaced time in God’s Word. Psalm 119:89 says, «Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.» The Word creates boundaries, and without boundaries, it’s impossible to build. If you were to build a structure and you laid a foundation, and that foundation didn’t have a definite shape or an even surface, then as you begin to build, you would find that the structure would fall. You see, we think that freedom is throwing off all restraints and rules, but true freedom is found within the boundaries of Scripture. We have to stop adding to the Word and creating our own ideas, especially when it comes to spiritual matters, especially in the spiritual realm. We add so much to the Word, and we do our best to cram it in there. Why? Because that’s what I was taught, or that’s what I experienced, or that’s what I believed it was, or that’s what I want it to be, or that’s what makes me feel special. When in fact, we ought to humble ourselves before the Word of God and say, «If there’s anything in that Word that contradicts anything in me, then that which is in me will bow to the authority of God’s Word.» The Bible is not a fortune cookie; it’s not up for however you want it to be that day. We say things like, «Well, that portion of Scripture, yeah, I get that it means that to you, but to me, this is what it means.» Do you realize that when the Holy Spirit inspired the Scripture, He inspired the writers with actual intention, with an actual message, with actual truth He wanted to communicate? And what do we do? We take the stories of Scripture and just kind of make up anything we want from them. I’ll give you an example: In the Book of Acts, we read of a man who fell asleep during a sermon. He fell out of a window, died on the road, and then he was raised from the dead. You know how many sermons I’ve heard on that text? You know what it’s about? It’s about a church account, a historical narrative that was about God’s power over death through resurrection. You know, we make it about different things. I’ve heard it preached in so many different ways: «Well, you know, the guy fell out the window because he had one foot in the world and one foot in the church, so this portion is talking about lukewarmness. That’s what it means to me.» Or I’ve heard it said, «Well, you know that represents your dreams, and it may have fallen a long distance, and you may feel like, ‘God, it’s impossible for me to accomplish these dreams, ’ and God’s going to come and resurrect your hopes and dreams.» I’m thinking, «That’s not even what it says!» I said, «Well, that’s what I got out of it, ” and people go, „Oh man, I never saw that before.“ I’m saying, „That’s because it was never there.“ Why do we do this? Well, spiritual laziness is one reason, because we don’t want to study to get actual truth. We just kind of slap a truth on that: „That seems like a good allegory.“ The other reason is that we do have our own preferences that we would rather believe. We do have certain lenses through which we see the world. People use the Word like a thermostat when they should use it as a thermometer. See, a thermostat changes the temperature; a thermometer measures it. We try to get the Word and use it to adjust to our comfort when the Word is actually a thermometer that tells you what temperature you are. The Bible says in Matthew 7:24–27, „Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.“ Here, Jesus is talking about building your life on the foundation of His Word. So many times, we build on other things. We build on church traditions; we build on what our family taught us; we build on our preferences and the way we see the world. Society has already lost its reverence for the Word, and…