Discernment

"The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands." Psalm 138:8

Discernment is defined as the quality of being able to understand clearly. I once heard it described as those places in our lives where the line between "right" and "wrong" gets fuzzy.

From time to time I get super frustrated with myself because I don't feel like I am hearing from God (especially as quickly as I want to). I am learning that the best way to have discernment is to get somewhere and get still and quiet and pray for God to come in and give me a word. I notice when I am at my most confused is when I haven't been in prayer, haven't been studying the word, and spending time with God in the way that I know I should be. Our discernment comes in when we give God a space to work in. If we are all confused, emotional, stressed, and worried, then the Holy Spirit won't dwell there.

What tends to happen when we are within ourselves is we start relying on how we feel and what we think, which is okay to a certain extent, but when we remove God out of it, it becomes dangerous. Hebrews 5:14 says, "But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." This scripture makes me think of maturity. Discernment comes with maturity, which comes from experience, wisdom, knowledge, etc.

There are certain areas in my life that I am so much more mature in than what I use to be. I would make foolish decisions, decisions off of emotions, and decisions about what I want not what's best. Now that I am older, it is becoming as clear as a bell. Even when I mess up, I quickly see where I messed up and am able to fix it.

Even if we discern and our discernment is wrong, I don't feel that God will punish us because our heart was in the right place. We just have to make sure we don't continue to make the same mistakes over and again.

I will leave you with this,
Philippians 1:9-11

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Love to you all!