What Does It Mean to Walk by Faith?
Each and every one of us is on a journey of faith.
When you said yes to Jesus, you started on a walk with Him. And if we're being truthful, if we were in charge of that journey, there are probably some places we would have skipped.
QUICK ANSWER
Walking by faith means choosing to follow God and trust His direction even when you cannot see the entire journey ahead.
Instead of making your own plans and simply asking God to bless them, you learn to seek His will, obey His Word, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and remain faithful even when the journey becomes difficult.
Walking by faith isn't something you do once. It's a way of life.
Prefer to Watch?
Watch Pastor Jack Pidgeon's teaching, The Faith Journey, and discover what Enoch, Noah, and Ruth can teach us about walking with God, following His direction, and remaining faithful throughout our journey of faith.
Walking by Faith Means Walking With God
Genesis tells us something remarkable about two men.
Enoch walked with God.
Noah walked with God.
Enoch didn't wake up every morning and say, "God, here's everything I'm going to do today. Now come with me and bless it."
His attitude was different.
It was more like:
"Lord, where do You want to go today? Because where You're going, I want to go."
There's a big difference between asking God to follow you and deciding that you're going to follow God.
A lot of times we come to God with our life already planned.
"Lord, here's what I want to do. Here's where I want to go. Here's how I want everything to work out. Now I need You to bless it."
But walking with God means surrendering the leadership of your life to Him.
Instead of saying, "Holy Spirit, follow me," we learn to say, "Holy Spirit, lead me."
Walking by Faith Is Intentional
Walking with God doesn't happen accidentally.
It has to become intentional.
Your relationship with God should affect your choices, your priorities, your decisions, and the direction of your life.
Think about the relationships that matter most to you.
If you're married, you don't maintain a healthy marriage accidentally. If you have children, that relationship requires your time and attention. Relationships have to be maintained.
Your relationship with God is no different.
Walking by faith means making a conscious, personal effort to maintain your relationship with Him.
You spend time with Him.
You spend time in His Word.
You listen.
You obey.
You follow.
And you do it again tomorrow.
That's why walking by faith isn't just something we do during a crisis. It's a lifestyle.
You Have to Learn to Be Led by God
Romans 8:14 tells us:
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."
If we're going to walk with God, we have to learn how to let Him lead.
And that means there will be times when God's direction doesn't match what we originally planned.
That's where our previous teaching on how to hear God's voice becomes so important.
The more you learn to recognize the Holy Spirit's leading, the more you can stop trying to force your own direction and begin following where God is actually leading you.
Walking by faith isn't saying, "God, come bless my plans."
It's saying, "God, I want Your plan."
You Don't Have to See the Whole Journey
One of the hardest things about walking by faith is that God doesn't usually show us everything at once.
We want the entire map.
God often gives us the next step.
Proverbs 20:24 says:
"A man's steps are of the Lord; How then can a man understand his own way?"
If God showed you every difficult place you would have to walk through before you reached His destination, you might never start walking.
There are things on the journey that you wouldn't choose for yourself.
But God sees something you don't see.
He knows where He's taking you.
Our responsibility isn't to understand every part of the journey before we obey.
Our responsibility is to trust Him enough to take the next step.
Ruth Took a Walk of Faith
The book of Ruth gives us one of the greatest pictures of what a journey of faith can look like.
Think about where Ruth started.
She was a Moabite woman outside of Israel. Her husband had died. Her father-in-law had died. Her brother-in-law had died.
From the natural perspective, she looked about as far away from God's plan for her life as you could imagine.
Then Naomi decided to return to Israel.
Ruth had a choice.
She could stay where she was comfortable and familiar, or she could follow Naomi into a future she couldn't see.
Ruth chose to go.
She left her home.
She left what she knew.
She walked into a place where she knew almost no one.
And when she arrived, she went to work gleaning in the fields so she and Naomi could eat.
Ruth didn't know how the story was going to end.
She simply kept being faithful.
Faithfulness Matters on the Journey
Then something happened.
Ruth ended up gleaning in the field of a man named Boaz.
Boaz wasn't just any landowner. He was connected to Naomi's family and had the ability to serve as a kinsman-redeemer.
Ruth didn't know that when she walked into his field.
She was simply being faithful with the step in front of her.
But her faithfulness had already developed a reputation.
Boaz had heard about her before he really knew her.
That's important.
Your faithfulness matters.
The things you do when nobody seems to be watching matter.
Serving matters.
Obedience matters.
Showing up matters.
Continuing when things are difficult matters.
Ruth couldn't have manufactured everything that eventually happened to her. She couldn't have planned all of those circumstances and forced them into place.
She walked faithfully, and God led her.
Sometimes the Journey Goes Through the Wilderness
Walking by faith does not mean every day is going to be easy.
There are things God wants to develop in you so that when you arrive at the place He's taking you, you're prepared to stay there.
You need patience.
You need endurance.
You need to know how to forgive.
You need to know how to handle pressure, disappointment, persecution, and difficult people.
Sometimes we want to quit in the wilderness because the journey gets hard.
We start looking backward.
That's exactly what happened with the Israelites.
When the wilderness became difficult, they started remembering Egypt.
Suddenly, the place God delivered them from didn't seem so bad anymore.
That's one of the dangers of a difficult season.
Don't allow a hard part of the journey to convince you to go backward.
God may be doing something in you during that season that you're going to need when you reach the next one.
Don't Let Offense Stop Your Walk
Sometimes it isn't circumstances that stop us.
It's people.
Someone hurts us.
Someone disappoints us.
Someone says something we don't like.
And we stop walking.
We leave.
We quit.
We hold on to what happened.
But if you're going to walk with God for a lifetime, you're going to have to learn how to forgive people.
Life is too short to spend your entire journey carrying yesterday's offense.
There comes a point where you have to decide that what God has ahead of you is more important than what somebody did behind you.
Don't let the affairs of the past hold you back from the future God has for you.
Walking by Faith Means Trusting God as Your Source
There's another trap we can fall into on our journey.
We start trying to meet every need ourselves.
We begin trusting our own ability, our own plans, our own resources, and our own understanding.
Instead of following God, we start building our own solution.
But that's not faith.
Walking by faith means remembering who your source is.
That doesn't mean you don't work. It doesn't mean you don't plan. It doesn't mean you sit around doing nothing and call it faith.
Ruth worked.
Noah built.
Enoch walked.
Faith requires action.
But the action comes from a place of trusting God rather than trying to live independently of Him.
Your Walk With God Has a Destination
Ruth started her journey far away from what God ultimately had for her.
But step by step, she moved closer.
She eventually married Boaz.
They had a son named Obed.
Obed became the father of Jesse.
Jesse became the father of David.
And Ruth, a Moabite woman who once seemed incredibly far from God's plan, became part of the lineage of Jesus Christ.
Think about that.
At the beginning of Ruth's journey, she couldn't see any of it.
She simply took the next step.
Then another.
Then another.
That's the journey of faith.
You may not see everything God is doing right now.
You may not understand where every step is taking you.
But God sees the destination.
What Do You Do When You've Stopped Walking?
Maybe there was a time when you were following God closely, but somewhere along the journey you stopped.
Maybe you got hurt.
Maybe something didn't happen the way you expected.
Maybe you've been asking why something happened to you.
Those can be real and difficult questions.
But you don't have to stay stuck there.
Go back to the last place where God spoke to you through His Word.
Go back to the last truth He showed you.
Go back to the last place where you received revelation from His Word and start walking in what He showed you.
Become intimate with the truth again.
God's Word gives you something solid to stand on when your emotions, circumstances, and experiences are trying to tell you something different.
How Do You Walk by Faith Every Day?
Walking by faith isn't reserved for pastors, missionaries, or people who have been Christians for decades.
You can begin today.
1. Spend Time With God
You can't consistently walk with someone you never spend time with.
Make your relationship with God a priority.
2. Know His Word
God's Word gives you truth to walk in.
When you know what God has already said, you have a foundation for your decisions.
3. Let the Holy Spirit Lead You
Don't make all your plans and then ask God to follow you.
Ask Him where He's leading.
4. Obey the Step in Front of You
You don't need to understand the entire journey before you take the next step.
Be faithful with what God has shown you today.
5. Keep Walking When It Gets Difficult
Hardship doesn't automatically mean you've missed God.
Sometimes the journey itself is developing the patience, endurance, and character you're going to need later.
6. Forgive Quickly
Don't allow offense to stop your journey.
Release what happened behind you so you can continue moving toward what God has ahead.
7. Be Faithful Where You Are
Ruth didn't begin by knowing she would become part of the lineage of Jesus.
She began by being faithful.
Never underestimate what God can do with a faithful step.
Will You Walk With Him?
Life is short.
Scripture describes it as a vapor.
So what are you doing with the journey you've been given?
What are you learning?
Who are you helping?
Are you following God, or are you spending your life asking Him to follow you?
God created you for more than simply getting by.
There is a plan and a purpose for your life.
You may not be able to see the entire journey today.
That's okay.
Jesus is still extending His hand and asking the same question:
Will you walk with Me?
Say yes to the journey.
Take the next step.
And keep walking by faith.
Ready to Grow in Your Walk With God?
At West Houston Christian Center, we’re passionate about helping people know God’s Word, grow in their relationship with Him, and become the disciples He has called them to be.
We are a Go Ye church—making disciples, living by faith, and walking in love.
Join Us This Sunday → We have service at 10:30am
Comments