{"id":1006,"date":"2016-02-22T14:26:54","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T14:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=1006"},"modified":"2016-02-22T21:30:59","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T21:30:59","slug":"sizing-up-a-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=1006","title":{"rendered":"Sizing Up A Situation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"05-20-15<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Prodigal is that a friend of yours?\u00a0 I can’t tell if he is smiling or growling at you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 No, he is a friend, but people tell him all the time that he looks mean.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Sometimes we have to look beyond appearances and discern with the spirit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 Please explain more of that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chuck Swindoll discusses discernment in his book Growing Deep in the Christian Life<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Discernment includes the idea of sizing up a situation or a person correctly.\u00a0 Spotting evil that is lurking in the shadows.\u00a0 Sensing something that is missing.\u00a0 But it doesn’t\u00a0 always have to do with matters of evil.\u00a0 Discernment also helps us sense truth and good.\u00a0 You discern when you are with certain individuals or listening to certain teachers that the person has character.\u00a0 Or that there is a lot of depth in that person’s life.\u00a0 You detect that the person is presenting only a bit of what he or she really knows.\u00a0 You sense that there is a lot more behind the counter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking back at my earlier years once again, it is clear now that I didn’t bother to cultivate discernment in my life.\u00a0 I was young.\u00a0 I was impressionable.\u00a0 I was caught up in the emotion, the momentum, the brilliance and persuasion of the teacher with hundreds of others.\u00a0 Maybe it is more accurate to say thousands.\u00a0 I silenced questions of doubt.\u00a0 I ignored a few inner reservations.\u00a0 Though in my heart I knew some things weren’t right, I rationalized around them.\u00a0 I bought the whole package.\u00a0 My reservoir of knowledge was growing…but at the expense of my discernment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Philippians 1:9<\/p>\n

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n

www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n

www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Me:\u00a0 Prodigal is that a friend of yours?\u00a0 I can’t tell if he is smiling or growling at you.   Prodigal:\u00a0 No, he is a friend, but people tell him all the time that he looks mean.   Me:\u00a0 Sometimes we have to look beyond appearances and discern with the spirit.   Prodigal:\u00a0 Please … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSizing Up A Situation - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=1006\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sizing Up A Situation - 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