Philippians 1:9-10 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
Hebrews 5:14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Discernment….whoa!…This is big and complicated word and you all know I’m not a complicated person…so I will have to try to break this down in my own way.
My little granddaughter is 2 years old and I tell you that little girl has this gift. She studies faces and a person’s actions to the point I think she can see right through you. If she perceives you to be a little off beat… she will give you a look and she may address you or not.
When my children were little I felt they were much friendlier to adults who I knew were really nice than people who were a little off balanced or less kid friendly. I think we all have some basic skills of discernment as humans such as knowing the difference between good and evil….but…I believe there is much more to discernment when you add maturity from the knowledge and experiences from your life.
For a Christian discernment is what we need to have if we want to be able to know what God would have us know and understand about spiritual situations. This is for our protection against things that are not his will or direction for our lives and the lives of others.
Discernment is a strong sense and awareness about a situation that you can’t see straight out but you know that something is just not right. Maybe the Holy Spirit (who is living inside of you if you’re a born again Christian) is connecting with your spirit and is letting you know that the situation is unstable or out of God’s approval or will.
When you have an ongoing close relationship with the Lord through prayer and the study of God’s word…discernment will be a natural enhancement of your spiritual growth that is a gift from God for you protection and also to bless others from your maturity and guidance.
I use my spiritual discernment a lot. When I’m in church I am there to worship the Lord but….I’m very aware of those around me and I can discern when a person is going through something and I will reach out to that person after the service or go up to the altar if they go and pray with them. I also use this discernment with complete strangers, friends or family. It’s part of my ministry of being a prayer intercessor.
I also discern things when people tell me spiritual things and when I’m listening to any sermon, speech, talk, seminar or anything that could affect my life. Anything that can enter your mind or anything that you see with your eyes should be discerned. A Christian’s body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and we should be careful of who or what enters our temple. We should be on special alert for our children too.
To recap…..Be spiritually aware….discerning about the things that concern you spiritually. Know what you are dealing with. Knowing what discernment is…is scriptural as you can tell from the scriptures at the beginning of this blog and there are many other references in God word as you will find in doing your own bible study.
Discernment should not be used in a judgmental attitude about others… but use it as a guide to let you know what the Lord may be leading you to know about a person or situation that is either beneficial or a detriment to you or someone else. Discernment is getting an understanding about a situation that isn’t apparent to you. Don’t be afraid of discernment but use it and use it wisely.
Jesus had great discernment when He was here on earth and He used this gift as a guide for himself and to bless others…let’s do the same.
Message for today: Keep your eyes open, your mouth closed and discern what’s going on….pray….then act if necessary. Discernment is a good thing…Thank you God for thinking of everything we need.
God Speaks I Listen 