3 Steps to Develop Discernment

First, if you want to see things as God sees them, get to know His Word.

On the 1st of January 2019, I started reading the bible from Genesis to Revelation and I am still going through it. I made a decision in my heart that it wasn’t about reading it through in one year, though that was the app’s plan. I decided to read to ‘know’ God. Gloating, pride and theological advancement were aimless to me. Those motivations had no effect.

I wanted to know God and know him personally. I figured after being a Christian for 20+ years nothing else stood the test of unchangeability and surety. No other area of the faith is held more steadfast than written scripture.

That’s on a personal note and reflection, but scripture does not need my personal experience to qualify. I share this so you can have a personal connection through another person to connect with its impact. It speaks on its own behalf.

Scriptural foundations

2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

We must understand that spiritual discernment comes from the perspective of God’s word. The word that he has given. God inspires, God fills up and God gives, which is the heart of pure spiritual discernment. God giving you insight and understanding.

Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God [is] living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Yes, it is living and powerful, it’s alive. It is not an inanimate piece of clever literature. It is alive because we know from John 1:14 tells us that Jesus is the word of God. Yes and He is alive, risen conquered death and seated at the right hand of God the Father. So my friends the word ‘logos’ is alive.

God gives us his living and powerful word, which profits our spirit. It discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. Let us rely on the wisdom that breathes from the word of God.

Second, discernment comes through spiritual maturity

Hebrews 5:12 – For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need [someone] to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes [only] of milk [is] unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, [that is], those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The living word of God we found out about in part 1, tells us that discernment is something spiritual babies don’t have. The Apostle Paul references a baby for a reason. Let’s point out a few things babies do to compare; hopefully, through this comparison, we can see if we are spiritually immature.

Babies put anything in their mouths, they don’t test to see if it’s poisonous, don’t read labels and understand danger signs. They wander into any situation with a naive mindset. Okay, let us not wander too far ourselves. Paul kept it to the consumption of the baby, what goes into the mind, and what the baby understands.

Are you not standing and moving in the calling God has on your life as a sharer of Gods word?

Share the word of God

In many ways, we all who are saved by Jesus should share God’s word with others. We should be sharing the truth of God’s word with others.

The problem we find ourselves in nowadays is that some no longer study, understand or desire to know God’s word. We fill ourselves with anything the media throws at us through news publications, apps, reels and stories. Not in acceptable doses but in ‘binge’ mode, consuming and drawing in the well of secularism.

The scriptures teach us to have our senses ‘exercised’… How? We exercise our bodies by jogging, gym and doing workouts—our minds by intellectually studying books, culture and conversations.

We exercise our spiritual senses by studying and understanding the word of God through the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to set aside time each day to read and study God’s word. Perhaps like I did, get a reading plan started to build commitment.

My reading plan has been ‘chronological‘ on the Blue Letter Bible app you can download for Android and Apple.

It is a choice! To grow in spiritual discernment you must change what you consume. To see things like God does, you need the mind of Christ. Yes, that’s only in his holy word.

Third, discernment can be given as a gift from the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 12:10 – to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another [different] kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

For decades I missed this, as certain other gifts were placed on a pedestal and promoted more than others. What a great prayer to pray,

“Holy Spirit please give me the gift to discern spirits”

That’s a good prayer, in 2022 this gift is needed so severely. As deception rises like a flood in our societies and misinformation takes a foothold on a whole generation. Discerning the true intention of the heart and thoughts is needed.

Honestly, I need this more. It’s so easy to fall prey to emotionalism and fake stories. We are tutored to be ‘instant’ people who only digest information in short spaces. Think Instagram reels, YouTube Shorts and Facebook stories. We are disciplined to have information quickly not regarding the research and understanding to make the correct call or judgement on a narrative.

As Christians, we need to pray that we may not only discern those who seek to harm us and destroy the great work of God in our lives but also discern what is good.

Biblical commentator David Guzik puts it well;

“Anyone doing a work for God must contend with a hundred different noble causes, and a hundred things that might look good – and be good – but they are not what they are called to do at that time. Discernment gives us focus.”

Good but not God

Even good things need discernment. We must not only discern between what is good and evil. But whether we should engage with a good cause; if we haven’t been called to it by God. A good cause does not override the obedience God is expecting from you.

Ask the Holy Spirit to give you discernment for all areas, not just selected ones. Discernment operates in all areas, it makes us wise in our decisions and judgments of people.

When we know God’s word, we have the living mind of Jesus working in us. But we need to lay aside the milk, the easy areas of the word of God and go deeper. Not consuming secularism in large ‘bing-ful’ doses but using that time to feast on God’s word builds us up in maturity.

Discernment works on you first before it works through you on others. God’s word will discern your thoughts and intents first. But we must ask the Holy Spirit for this good gift that we need in our marriages, families, churches and communities.

Sober your mind through the gift of discernment of spirits.