Before we begin digging into the spiritual discipline of discernment, I would like to make sure we have a good understanding on what the word discern means.
Discern: to separate or distinguish between. 1: a: to detect with the eyes b: to detect with senses other than vision 2: to recognize or identify as separate and distinct 3: to come to know or recognize mentally, to see or understand the difference
Discernment: 1: the ability to judge well 2: (in Christian contexts) perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding. 3: the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure
We desire the ability to distinguish God’s voice from all others, and we need the ability to separate our imperfect will from God’s perfect will.
We need to be able to recognize, judge, and choose what is right, good, and true from what is wrong, evil, and impure.
For some of us, discerning what is right, good, and true from what is wrong, evil, and impure is black and white.
But what about the grey areas?
These grey areas appear more in our lives than the black and white ones. It is in these areas I want to be able to hear God’s voice, and follow His instructions. I most likely will never hear the audible voice of God, but I desire to distinguish His voice within me, from my own, and identify His presence with all of my senses.
How about you?
Folly is joy to him who lacks sense, But a man of understanding walks straight.
Proverbs 15:21
Being able to discern the voice of God above all other noise is key to obtaining the wisdom needed to understand your current circumstances, understand visions and dreams from God, make moral and just decisions, and maybe most importantly to distinguish truth from falsehood.
Being able to discern God’s voice and perfect will for our lives will lead us to new levels of faith, obedience, and blessings!
All believers have the ability to discern God’s will in their lives. Some people will even be gifted in discernment. I’m not one of those people. I have to work on this discipline in my own life. Honestly there’s a lot of grey, but I’m encouraged often, as I develop my personal relationship with God, to find that I am starting to discern situations and relationships correctly. I am clearly following the will of God in my life, in many situations, with continued acts of obedience.
Be encouraged! If I can do this so can you!
How can I tell you this so confidently? Because it’s in the Bible.
We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
1 John 2:3
If you believe in Jesus Christ, you have the ability to discern God’s voice in your life. You can not only obtain spiritual direction and understanding, you can also comprehend it. The Holy Spirit within you will be your direct guide, as He works to align your life with God’s will. The Holy spirit changes, renews, restores, and guides us to be Christ like. The Holy Spirit provides us with the strength and desire to do what is right. By following the promptings of the Spirit within us we will be able to discern the will of God in our lives.
Grace is the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives enabling us to do whatever God instructs us to do.
-Joyce Meyer, The Everyday Life Bible
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2
Can we just take a moment to say hallelujah! To rejoice in the fact that we have Jesus as our shepherd, and the Holy Spirit dwells within us! God provided the direct ability to discern His voice out of His pure love and grace. He has given the ability to me and to you! He desires a close intimate relationship with each and everyone us of. He knows me, and He knows you. I am so happy to be His sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27
Discernment is a spiritual discipline that should be a daily part of your life. I can’t stress this enough, but if your hearts desire is to live a righteous Godly life, than you have to seek God in every decision you make. AND then discern His response to your request accurately.
We must actively work to strengthen our Spirit and nurture in our relationship with God to truly hear His voice. Only then will we be able to accurately discern everyday decisions, and our next steps in life. Upon submitting to be led by the Holy Spirit we will begin to see God’s will revealed. We must be diligent in three things: taking the time to strengthen our relationship with God, knowing the attributes of Jesus and walking in His light, and obeying our Holy Spirit’s prompts within. Only then will we begin to walk in all the fullness and blessings God has for us!
But solid food is for the mature, who because of the practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
Hebrews 5:14
There is a reason discernment is number seven on our list of spiritual disciplines. We need to be practicing the prior six disciplines fluently within our lives, because the more we seek Him, the louder His voice becomes! God will communicate to us and reveal His perfect will for our lives, when we practice the other spiritual disciplines routinely.
The First Six:
The above links will help you start working on each spiritual discipline listed, each post above walks you through exactly what the spiritual discipline is, why it’s important, and how to start forming good habits within your life to make each one a routine practice. The result of practicing these disciplines within your life is transformation, as you start to let go of bad habits and develop a close, intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father. Your relationship with Him is the most important relationship you’ll ever have. You will also see the fruit of the Spirit unfold, because as we continually and purposely enter into fellowship with our Father we start to see His blessings pour out into our lives.
Let me be clear- I believe good works are evidence of solid faith, but I know that salvation is through faith alone. We are made right by faith through the grace of God. But my hearts desire for myself and for you is this, that our lives would show fruit. Jesus tells us that you can tell a tree by its fruit, my darling friend let us work to produce as much fruit in our lives as possible through practicing these spiritual disciplines within our lives. Allow yourself time to practice these disciplines routinely, you are worth the investment. You just have to decide what type of life you want. Do you want a life that is full of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?
If your life shows no “fruit” or “evidence” that you’re Christian, there’s good reason to believe you’re not actually a believer.
Angie Smith, Seamless
The more we seek Him within our lives the more we see Him.
It’s when we really start to practice all seven of these disciplines within our lives regularly that we start to see true life changing transformations happen. Our relationship with our Father grows so strong that discerning His desires for our lives becomes second nature to us. We will start to recognize that small voice within us, we become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s promptings, and we are able to discern the presence of God around us.
Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments.
Psalm 119:66
Be Aware of External & Internal Confirmations:
Look into blessings and provision with purpose, along with timing and aligning. If it’s God’s will, it will take place in His perfect timing. Do not push forward on your own, it won’t work. Listen to what your spirit is pulling you towards. Follow the quickening of your heart. The tugs and pulls within. For me its a sudden wave of heat, followed by the quickening of my heart, and a slightly nauseous feeling- and I know that’s the Holy Spirit within me prompting me towards obedience. (I really hope you’re nodding your head right now, like, yep that happens to me too.)
Write down random thoughts and ideas and then ask God to give you knowledge and wisdom beyond your understanding to discern the meaning within them. Notice reoccurring thoughts, dreams, and daydreams…these can be of significance.
Tips & Tricks to Help You Practice Discernment in Your Decisions Today:
- Ask yourself if God has already given you the answer in His Word. This is why discipline number one is helpful. The more scripture you know, the easier it is to use God’s Word to discern everyday situations and decisions.
- Ask yourself “What if everyone followed my example?” You are the light of the world, if you wouldn’t want others to follow your example, it’s probably not the right decision to make. If you have to keep it a secrete from others, then it’s probably not aligning with God’s will.
- Don’t let people influence your choices and decisions if you feel the Holy Spirit is leading you in a different direction. Try to be Spirit lead, not people driven.
- Take time to pray in solitude when making large decisions, don’t rush. Seek God first, not after.
- Let your choices be Christ like, not fueled by your current emotional state. Emotions change, but Christ doesn’t. Don’t try to make decisions in the heat of the moment, but wait until you can find peace in the decision you are making. Peace is a sign of confirmation from God that your decision and timing is right.
- Ask yourself “Does this glorify God?” In all things, glorify the only one who truly matters.
For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.
Ephesians 5:10
Find Strength in Numbers:
There will be situations that arise in your life that you belief you know what God’s will is, BUT you doubt yourself. That’s okay. I have found it extremely important to surround myself with a few Christian men and women whose faith is more mature than mine, and I have seen within them wisdom and knowledge. These are people I trust with my heart. I know they will pray on my behalf, support me, be truly honest with me, and offer me clarity.
It’s important to have these people within your life to confide in and help you correctly discern life altering decisions, or even smaller decisions you truly find struggle with. I have found in my own life that God has purposely set people in my path to become my teachers. I love them dearly. God will use other Christ minded people to communicate to you, just make sure the people you choose to trust and confide in are truly Christ minded.
It is better to ask for help, than to totally discount God’s voice, which leads to disobedience. The enemy is amongst us, he will work to spread seeds of distrust, confusion, and doubt within you. The last thing the enemy wants is for you to walk in God’s perfect will, easily recognizing, judging, and choosing what is right, good, and pure from what is wrong, evil, and impure.
I want to live in God’s perfect will for my life. I want my life to align with His plans, because I know that His plans are to prosper me, and to give me an abundant life overflowing with blessings. He would never harm me. I see the promises within His word for believers, and I want those promises within my life.
I want this for you too.
So let us seek His guidance and work on the spiritual discipline of discernment, so that as we mature as Christians we can be positive that our desires fade and His grow stronger within us. He has given us this life, we must make sure we are involving Him in everything we do and we learn to distinguish His voice from all others.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.
Psalm 32:8
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:11
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My darling friends are spiritual disciplines are coming to an end!! We only have one more left! God has been dealing with me, and my heart is that He is also dealing with you. I have experienced greater personal growth than I expected. I’ve shed tears as He’s revealed truths to me I had not seen before. My relationship with Him is closer than ever. I am starting to see life transformations take place as the fruit of the Spirit becomes more evident in my life. I pray this is true for you as well!
If you missed the first seven post in this series don’t worry, it’s not to late to join us! The links are below and I encourage you to get started today, you won’t regret it. Work through them at your own pace, taking time to establish good habits that last a life time.
8 Spiritual Disciplines: What Are They & Why Are They Important?
8 Spiritual Disciplines: One-Scripture Reading, Memorizing, & Reflecting
8 Spiritual Disciplines: Two- Prayer
8 Spiritual Disciplines: Three-Fasting
8 Spiritual Disciplines: Four-Worship
Lots of good discernment teaching. It helps to think of Jesus as perception and the devil deception. Headaches are also a way to tell if it is His power protecting you, He will back off a bit and ease it if you ask, sometimes a mental attack and sometimes nothing, just a headache from whatever, being tired or sinuses. The more you allow Him to help you with the better your discernment gets Thanks, Jen.
Rebecca, thank you! I agree that the more we allow Him to help us, the stronger our ability to discern His will becomes. Having a strong relationship with Him is key. Loved your point on headaches, thank you for sharing!