Tag: discernment

October 4 – Discernment Now and Always.

“But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” – Hebrews 5:14 (NASB)
“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,” – Philippians 1:9 (ESV)

So suppose you are on a journey in a country you don’t know like your home country. On the road before you are crossroads. Without a map or anyone to ask for help. You must now discern to the best of your ability what the best choice is. Discernment is sometimes a fearful thing because it requires one to think of what the options and outcomes are before them. But discerning the right way to live is an important step in toward making the best choices. In our Christian lives, we are called to be discerning. But doing so requires more than going according to our feelings. Using emotions as a guide is not the best way. That is why the writer of the book of Hebrews boldly told his readers that it takes solid spiritual food to gain the maturity to know God’s Word. Mature believers practice discerning good from evil.  So the Apostle Paul encourages us to work toward abounding in Christian love more and more with knowledge and all discernment. Without the process of discernment, a good amount of knowledge and wisdom is overlooked. Let’s discern the wisdom of his words and follow it.

197

July 02 – Packed Prayers


“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” – Philippians 1:9-11(NASB)

Paul wrote letters to the churches he helped start and in them he scribed some awesome promised packed prayers. This verse today is one and it is so full we can’t cover it all. But we focus in on the first requests in Paul’s prayer; ‘love may abound,’ ‘in real knowledge,’ and ‘all discernment. The word for ‘knowledge’ describes genuine, full or advanced knowledge. Our practical application of knowledge out of moral and spiritual perceptive is the exercise of discernment. This is our ability in love to distinguish between right and wrong. Paul prayed the Philippians’ love for other believers would abound still more and more and, run over as a cup or a river overflows. The Philippians were already known as a loving assembly of believers and the apostle prays that it would increase. The result would be advanced knowledge and spiritual sensitivity and discernment in their lives. Why does he pray this for the Philippians? So that they would be filled with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus Christ, to His glory and praise of God. Lest we forget, also that we would be able to stand blameless until the Day of Christ.

195