Growing up in church I have always heard the word discernment used, but I can honestly say that I have never looked at the term from this point of view. Discernment, to me, meant that a person had the ability to see past the first few layers of a person or a situation to see the truth behind the facade (if there was one). It was the ability to see the darkness hiding behind the light. Discernment had a slightly negative connotation behind it.
For some reason, some churches teach discernment as seeing the bad through the good, instead of how it should be, which is seeing the good through the bad. “Discernment is about knowing what is really going on, so that heroic daughters can turn what others see as a disadvantage into an advantage. The discerning warrior will know how to turn evil around for good” (pg. 159).
Let’s look back at a much loved scripture…
The good is there, it may be deep under the surface of the situation, but it is there. We are promised good in His Word, but that doesn’t mean that He will lay it in front of our eyes each time. We will have to use wisdom, discernment, compassion and prayer to see it.
“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and help them to become what they are capable of being.” – John Wolfgang Von Goethe (pg. 160)
We are a society that almost automatically labels those around us; we label ourselves just as much. Often times these labels focus on our negative characteristics, they focus on what we or others may see wrong on the outside, or on our brokenness. We create labels that we can’t look past…labels that others can’t look past. But there is more beyond those labels.
We as warriors, girls with swords, Godly women, need to look past these labels; we need to see those around us and the situations around us through God’s eyes. I’m not sure why it is so easy for us (people in general) to see the bad in most situations; I do this also. It’s easy to point out the bad instead of searching for the good. But God did not gift us with discernment to see just the bad things in people. He gifted us with discernment so that we could see the good and the bad in them. So we could help encourage the good and help us see ourselves and those around us for what He created us to be.
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Let’s Pray:
Dear Heavenly Father, with the world in the state that it is in, it can be difficult at times to see Your creation through Your eyes. We judge, and we label. We do this to those around us and we do it to ourselves. Lord, I pray that You touch our hearts. I pray that we see people and situations for what You created them to be. Remind us that our job is to lift-up and encourage. I pray that we walk with wisdom and discernment, that we walk in compassion, and in prayer. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
About Tonya Ellison
Tonya, Thank you for this message. I use to think discernment meant seeing the evil in a situation or person. During a portion of my life when we were under attack, God did give me discernment about situations but not to criticize anyone but to pray for them. There is a fine line between the both and I believe Satan can sometimes trip us up. I know I need to pray to ask the Lord to give me the words he wants me to say. I love the fact that Lisa shared her past with us.Like one of our visiting evangelist at our church said he can use our mess and turn into a message for Christ. We need to look at other people’s mess as an opportunity to Love them through it and see the possibilities for Christ to work in their lives. Like Lisa that small compassionate act from the Christian man and women turned her life around. I know I must pray for the discernment to see others through Christ’s eyes and act as a true forgiven and forgiving person of God.
Yes, Tonya, I’m right with you and Lorraine on this. It’s not always about discerning the bad but also about discerning the good. As I was studying the other day I immediately thought about the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’. It’s true we have to be discerning of those. but then the Lord showed me that there are ‘sheep in wolf’s clothing’ too. In other words, looking at a person’s outward life may look pretty bad but inside there is a sheep, a person with a good heart. I believe that is what those people in Lisa’s life saw. The little lamb needed to be nurtured, believed in, and encouraged. By doing that, Lisa was able to shed that wolf’s clothing and reveal who God intended her to be. I want to have that kind of discernment.
I also know that I need to be discerning of what is in my own heart. I love the prayer from Paul to the Philippians in Phil 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.” Amen.
I always understood discernment to be able to see the junk under the trunk. Sort of walk the talk sort of thing. If you are saying one thing and doing the other a person with the art of discernment would be able to see through the facade. I do not have the art of discernment, but I sure wish I did in a few circumstances in my life. The outcome may have been way different.
This chapter has been, oh-so, enlightening and I am absolutely loving this study even though it makes me think 😉
Great post today Tonya, as usual you nailed it! All you ladies that blog are absolutely amazing. See ya tomorrow at Campground USA!
Good to know that on not the only one who viewed discernment like this. I don’t think it is a wrong view but I truly believe that there is so much more to the gift of discernment, such as using it to see the good and using it to identify ways in which we can lift up ourselves and others.
I love how Lisa uses personal stories throughout this book, our pasts should be used as testimonies to help the future of others. ♥
tonya, for me, the discernment issue is summed up in part of your prayer:
“I pray that we walk with wisdom and discernment, that we walk in compassion, and in prayer.” we know that God has promised to give us wisdom when we ask; we have the awesome example of Jesus as He walked this earth…ALWAYS…being compassionate; and we know that prayer puts and keeps our hearts in the right place—humbly before our God and lovingly interceding for others. for me, i consider discernment in this light: God shows us through the holy spirit what is what…whether it is seeing the bad and not getting hoodwinked OR seeing the good inside in spite of the outside. that is HIS part! (and He is very, very good at it!) my part is to act with love on what He shows me. not what i perceive but what He knows! <3