WATCHWORD:
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.” We cannot follow the ways of the Lord without discernment. Hosea 14:9
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14
Meditation:
Discernment
Discernment Defined: Discernment is learning to think God’s thoughts after Him, practically and spiritually; it means having a sense of how things look in God’s eyes and seeing them in some measure.
We cannot follow the ways of the Lord without discernment. We need discernment in order to understand the Bible itself. Our human minds cannot understand the Scriptures without the discernment that comes from the Holy Spirit.
God imparts discernment to us in many ways. I believe that the life experiences the Lord leads us through are designed to prepare us for something, yet to be revealed through discernment.
Case in point: The first two years of my son’s life was spent with an eye patch designed to strengthen the eye that was damaged at birth. After that he had to get used to contacts. I am convinced that his experience as a child planted a seed of compassion that began to be revealed later in childhood. He attended an elementary school where handicapped children were mainstreamed. During that year my son’s buddy in the classroom was a blind child and we heard many gratifying, often funny, stories about that tender relationship. Compassion — think discernment.
That story would take on meaning if you ever witnessed how children can be cruel, laughing at circumstances, accidents and maybe the inability of a child to do something in the course of a game. Too often we see where other people are failing and we witnessed or experienced the ridicule and derision from others, instead of intercession on our behalf. Reaching out, empathetically, with understanding, their circumstance and acting out of love accordingly. Through discernment, my son was a defender of the handicapped.
One of the most subtle and elusive burdens God ever placed on us as believers in Christ is the burden of discernment as it applies to others. He gives us discernment so that we may not only see the responsibility before us but act on it through the mind of Christ.
The mind of Christ? What a difficult concept to grasp. What does that mean? It’s not that we are able to bring God into contact with our minds but that we awaken ourselves to the point where God is able to inspire us regarding the people for whom we intercede.
A friend of mine gave me a book entitled Think Like Jesus by George Barna. I’ve read chapters in the book and one of the points that came clear to me is when we think like Jesus, we act like Jesus before we might know what Jesus actually said and did. That requires discernment. Having empathy with another person is another form of discernment that is helpful; to have a sense of what they’re going through from your own past experience.
May we learn to intercede so wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ will be completely and overwhelmingly satisfied with us as intercessors. Amen.
Prayer:
Oh, God, give us discernment; fill our hearts with humility, help us to be gentle, help us to love. Lord, help us to be generous, and help us to forgive. Help us not to be proud. When we fulfill our dreams, curb our boastfulness and make us more compassionate instead, help us to love you more than anything and everything, help us to act that out in love in our interactions with others.
Heavenly Father, you are the author of life and my source of hope. May faith arise in my heart as I pause to listen to you. You are the strength of my life, your promises inscribe my future. I rejoice in your great faithfulness. Your mercy sustains me in days of darkness and uncertainity. Deliver me from evil. I put my trust in you, my God, and my redeemer. In Jesus name. Amen.
