5 Ways to Cultivate a Discerning Spirit
Discernment is a
vital gift in an age when false apostles, deceitful workers, demonic angels of
light, false signs and wonders, false prophets, false teachers, false christs,
false revivalists and other falsities are rising in the church.
Some
believers have the gift of discerning of spirits but every believer can develop
a discerning spirit.
Indeed, we need
to hunger for discernment in this hour because signs and wonders will mark the
next great move of God but the enemy will come in—as the Bible warns in 2
Corinthians 11:13-14, 2 Peter 2:1-3, Matthew 24:24 and other places—with
deceptions and counterfeit anointings at the same time.
Even
people who walk closely with God and hear His voice accurately can massively
miss it. The Gibeonites tricked Joshua into making a covenant with them and he
ended up having to go to war to defend them.
The Bible says he
"did not ask counsel of the
Lord" (Joshua 9:14).
A young prophet didn't discern an old
prophet lying to him and paid for it with his life (1 Kings 13:1-24).
Even Samuel, a
prophet whose words never fell to the ground, missed it by relying on his
natural eyes. He thought surely Eliab was God's choice to replace Saul (1 Sam.
16:6-13).
We
need discernment in the spiritual realm but we also need discernment to
navigate the many decisions in our life. We need to know what the will of the
Lord is.
Discernment is
not a feeling. It's a knowing. If you have a feeling, don't act until the
feeling is a knowing. Your emotions will betray your discernment. You
need to see with your spirit and not your soul. So how do we get discernment?
Here are five ways:
1.
Ask for discernment. Like wisdom, discernment flows out
of a fear of the Lord and you can ask for it. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of
God, who gives to all liberally and without criticism, and it will be given to
him." You could put "discernment" in that verse and it would
still ring true.
Matthew
7:7-8 promises, "Ask, and it
will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to
you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who
knocks it will be opened."
And remember
Solomon, who asked for "an
understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and
bad" (1 Kings 3:9).
God
wants you to have discernment. He wants you to be wise regarding the
manifestation of spiritual gifts and decisions about your life. If you need
discernment, ask for it. But don't just ask for it in the moment you need it.
Ask for it regularly.
2.
Seek godly counsel. Remember, our
emotions can betray us. Seek counsel from those who are more experienced in
life or more discerning than you. Personally, I always seek counsel from
various perspectives when I face a problem or need to make an important
decision. I hear the voice of the Lord in good counsel.
Proverbs 11:14 tells
us, "Where there is no counsel, the people
fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety."
And
Proverbs 15:22 says, "Without
counsel, purposes are disappointed, but in the multitude of counselors they are
established."
You
can sharpen your own skills by listening to good counsel.
3. Stay in the Word. The
Word of God gives us God's perspective on all matters of life. The book of
Proverbs, in particular, is an excellent tool for strengthening your
discernment. When we need discernment, we should pray and ask the Lord—then go
to His Word. Judge your discernment against the Word of God.
Hebrews 4:12 tells
us, "For the word of God is alive,
and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division
of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intents of the heart."
And Romans 12:2
warns, "Do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing
you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect."
If
you know the Word—and you know the character of God by studying His Word—you
will cultivate discernment. Anything that does not line up with God's Word does
not come from God because the Spirit and the Word agree (1 John 5:8).
4. Exercise discernment. In
a biblical warning of apostasy, Hebrews 5:11-14 says, "Concerning this we have much to say
that is hard to explain, since you have become hard of hearing. For though by
now you should be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first
principles of the oracles of God and have come to need milk rather than solid
food. Everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of
righteousness, for he is a baby. But solid food belongs to those who are
mature, for those who through practice have powers of discernment that are
trained to distinguish good from evil."
We
need to be open-minded but, as it's been said, we don't need to be so
open-minded that our brains fall out. When you meet new people, use
discernment. The Bible says to know people by their fruits (Matt. 7:16).
5. Don't go by what you see with
your natural eyes. Remember, Joshua and Samuel both
went by what they saw or heard. Paul, by contrast, didn't let what he saw or heard
move him. When the damsel with the spirit of divination followed Paul and Silas
around declaring, "These men are
servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation"
(Acts 16:16), Paul waited to discern what was happening.
On
the surface, she spoke facts. But the Bible says the girl did this for many
days. Paul was greatly troubled in his spirit—he discerned something was wrong.
Finally, he turned to the spirit and told it to come out in the name of Jesus.
Paul illustrated
what John 7:24 admonishes us to do: "Do not judge according to appearance, but practice righteous
judgment."
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Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma.
She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
co-founder of awakeningtv.com,
on the leadership team of the New Breed Revival Network and author of several books,
including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for
Spiritual Awakening;Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the
Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan's Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel,
Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join
Jennifer onFacebook or follow her on Twitter.
Jennifer's Periscope handle is @propheticbooks.
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