{"id":2155,"date":"2017-02-22T13:25:47","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T13:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=2155"},"modified":"2017-02-09T15:09:38","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T15:09:38","slug":"discernment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=2155","title":{"rendered":"Discernment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20160621_201622\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Nice painting Prodigal!<\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 Thanks, I am no Michelangelo but\u00a0I am enjoying it!<\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 For a pig you really are not that bad.<\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 What book do you have there?<\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 This is the book One Nomad’s Amazing Journey of Faith Abraham by Charles Swindoll<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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.”\u00a0 When life is a blur, we miss all the details that make living worthwhile.\u00a0 Without discernment, we see without observing, we hear without listening, and life becomes a series of experiences without meaning.\u00a0 We are awash in random scenes that do not tell a story.\u00a0 Without discernment, we are, in the words of William Irwin Thompson, “like flies crawling across the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel:\u00a0 We cannot see what angles lie beneath the threshold of our perceptions.\u00a0 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.”\u00a0 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ephesians 6:12\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

This is an acknowledgement that there is a spiritual world.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 In reality discernment shows us that sometimes the enemy wants to just distract us.<\/p>\n

I have had several times where I was given two choices to spend my time.\u00a0 Both seem as innocent as can be.\u00a0 One would involved a couple of people around food and the other a couple of people around food.\u00a0 Both situations involved Christians.\u00a0 So what is the big deal you would ask.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because it will lead down the road to an area that God is planning to use you.\u00a0 So we pray, following the Lord’s leading and then allow the story to unfold.\u00a0 The first step though is being obedient in something that does not seem impressive now but will be down the road.\u00a0 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\u00a0 new road that will lead to God’s glory displayed in your life like never before!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ephesians 6:20<\/p>\n

For which I am an ambassador in bonds:\u00a0 that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.<\/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 Nice painting Prodigal! Prodigal:\u00a0 Thanks, I am no Michelangelo but\u00a0I am enjoying it! Me:\u00a0 For a pig you really are not that bad. Prodigal:\u00a0 What book do you have there? Me:\u00a0 This is the book One Nomad’s Amazing Journey of Faith Abraham by Charles Swindoll   Discernment is “the quality of being able … 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-2155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDiscernment - 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=2155\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Discernment - The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Me:\u00a0 Nice painting Prodigal! 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