David Diga Hernandez - This is What It Means To Live By Faith

If you followed Jesus for comfort, somebody lied to you because following Jesus is an adventure. The Scripture talks about three types of faith. Number one, the measure of faith. Romans 12:3 says, «For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.» Now, this can’t be saving faith, because we all have a different measure of it. But this is the measure of faith God has given you in life for your assignment.

Then there’s the gift of faith. First Corinthians 12:9 says, «The same Spirit gives great faith to another.» Now, this particular gift of faith cannot be for yourself because the Bible says in First Corinthians 12:7 that each gift is given to us that we might help each other. Therefore, the spiritual gifts are others-centered. The gift of faith is the ability to stir faith in others. So, we have the measure of faith, the gift of faith, and then the Scripture talks about the spirit of faith.

Watch this: Second Corinthians 4:13 says, «It is written: I believed; therefore I have spoken.» Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak. Here, the Bible is not directly talking about the Holy Spirit Himself; rather, it is talking about the spirit of the believer. But remember that the Scripture declares that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Therefore, whatever is happening in my spirit is a result of my walk with the Holy Spirit. Thus, this faith spoken about—the spirit of faith, this stirring of faith—comes by the Holy Ghost. You know you’re walking with the Holy Spirit if you have radical faith.

Look, Jesus never promised that your life would be perfect. Some of us think that God’s will for our lives is that we have everything we could ever want, that everyone we know is perfectly positioned as we want them, that all of our dreams will come true, and that God is going to clear everything out of our way so that we can have all of our desires. That’s just not what Jesus said. Jesus actually said, «You’re going to have persecution. You’re going to have trouble. People are going to hate you, reject you, and revile you.» He promised love, joy, and peace, and He promised oneness with God. He promised forgiveness of sins, but He did not promise a perfect life.

So, radical faith will require—hear me now—radical faith will require, at times, that you step out and do something that’s outside of what makes you comfortable. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say, «Well, that didn’t feel right in my spirit, so I didn’t do it.» But when they say it didn’t feel right in their spirit, what they actually mean is, «I was afraid, and I wanted to spiritualize my fear.» Now, I understand that the Holy Spirit does prevent us from doing certain things. We saw that when the disciples tried to go into Asia, and the Spirit of Jesus prevented them from doing so. So we know that the Holy Spirit does have preventative work where He corrects our paths and closes doors.

I thank God for the closed doors just as much as I thank Him for the open doors, even though I may not like the closed doors as much as the open ones. Regardless, the Holy Spirit will sometimes call you to stretch outside of your comfort zone. Listen to me now, people of God: If where you are doesn’t require faith, you’re not in the will of God. If where you are doesn’t require faith, you’re not in the will of God. If what you’re doing doesn’t require faith, you’re not doing the will of God. God will never just leave you in a position where you don’t need faith in Him. God will never just leave you and abandon you to the ordinary, plain settings of mundane life.

God will always call you higher. God will always pull you into the greater. God will always purposefully pull you into your destiny and help you walk along the path with the Holy Spirit that you might reach the assignment and accomplish the task that He has given you. You have to learn to step out in faith. I have to learn to step out in faith. Look, as I mentioned earlier, our ministry is expanding operations now. You know what I would love to do? I told Steve the other day, «Remember, Steve? I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we just kept everything as it is right now? Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine. Things are good. We’re reaching people. The money is stable. Our families are comfortable. They’re well-positioned. We have people and churches, and everything’s just as it should be. Everything’s just so.’ But we sense the Holy Spirit calling us to do more.»

Therefore, we’re taking a big risk, a huge leap into the hands of God, and saying, «Lord, You spoke, You promised, You directed, and we will respond.» That’s what radical faith does. We have to stop thinking that Christianity is just this boring, lifeless, dull existence where we just go from day to day. The Christian life is a great adventure. The Christian life is full of ups and downs. The Christian life has risks involved with it. Why would I need faith if it wasn’t risky?

Now, I’m not talking about being presumptuous and just doing everything and saying, «Okay, God, You take care of the rest.» I’m talking about responding to the voice of God. Someone asked me, «Well, what’s…?»