Discernment

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Me:  Nice painting Prodigal!

Prodigal:  Thanks, I am no Michelangelo but I am enjoying it!

Me:  For a pig you really are not that bad.

Prodigal:  What book do you have there?

Me:  This is the book One Nomad’s Amazing Journey of Faith Abraham by Charles Swindoll

 

Discernment is “the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure; a power to see what is not evident to the average mind.”  When life is a blur, we miss all the details that make living worthwhile.  Without discernment, we see without observing, we hear without listening, and life becomes a series of experiences without meaning.  We are awash in random scenes that do not tell a story.  Without discernment, we are, in the words of William Irwin Thompson, “like flies crawling across the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel:  We cannot see what angles lie beneath the threshold of our perceptions.  We do not live in reality; we live in our paradigms, our habituated perceptions, our illusions; the illusions we share through culture we call reality, but true historical reality of our condition is invisible to us.”  Grow deep in your relationship with God, and you will begin to discern people and , therefore enjoy a depth in your relationship like never before.

 

Ephesians 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

This is an acknowledgement that there is a spiritual world.  As we surrender our life to the Lord and ask Him to use us for his Glory there will be spiritual wickedness that comes to play.  We have probably seen too many movies and think it means that some monster shows up in our bedroom in the middle of the night and tries to kill us.  In reality discernment shows us that sometimes the enemy wants to just distract us.

I have had several times where I was given two choices to spend my time.  Both seem as innocent as can be.  One would involved a couple of people around food and the other a couple of people around food.  Both situations involved Christians.  So what is the big deal you would ask.  Well without discernment one might not look to the Lord for the answer thinking that both of these do not matter because Christians are involved.  When the reality of it is that the Lord wants to show you the answer because at one of these events involves a person you must interact that night with.  Why?  Because it will lead down the road to an area that God is planning to use you.  So we pray, following the Lord’s leading and then allow the story to unfold.  The first step though is being obedient in something that does not seem impressive now but will be down the road.  This day as you make choices don’t forget to ask for God’s input, because you never know when today is the day you will start down  new road that will lead to God’s glory displayed in your life like never before!

 

Ephesians 6:20

For which I am an ambassador in bonds:  that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

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