Outgrowing the Need for Grace (02/25/08 - 21 Comments)
It’s no secret around here that I love the book of Proverbs and consider it my “home page” in the Bible. I read through Proverbs at least once a year and, whenever I’m not sure what else to read, I turn to it. And while I love Proverbs and envy the wisdom of Solomon I find something really sobering about his life. Whenever I consider Solomon, I am faced with the question of how a...
Discernment and Long Division (02/11/08 - 12 Comments)
Do you remember learning to do long division back when you were in grade school? It was probably fourth or fifth grade when we learned to do it. It was a long and laborious process and one that, even in my day, seemed irrelevant. After all, we all had calculators and we knew that they could do it quickly and easily. With the tapping of a few buttons we could get our solution and it...
The Gift of Spiritual Discernment (Part 3) (09/03/07 - 2 Comments)
What do I do with the gift of discernment? What if I want it? What if I don't have it? This is the third and final entry in this brief series dealing with the gift of spiritual discernment. The first part is available here: The Gift of Spiritual Discernment. In this first article we looked at the question of “What is the gift of discernment?” and concluded that “Men and women with the gift of...
The Gift of Spiritual Discernment (Part 2) (08/31/07 - 6 Comments)
How can I know how the Holy Spirit has gifted me? This is the second part in what I anticipate will be a brief three-part series examining the spiritual gift of discernment. The first part is available here: The Gift of Spiritual Discernment. In this first article we looked at the question of "What is the gift of discernment?" and concluded that "Men and women with the gift of discernment are specially gifted in distinguishing...
The Gift of Spiritual Discernment (08/29/07 - 9 Comments)
A brief examination of the gift of spiritual discernment. As you well know if you are a regular reader of this site, I've written a book called The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment and that book was the result of spending almost a year studying the topic of spiritual discernment. As I hunted down all the references I could to discernment and as I studied what the Bible has to say about the topic, I was...
Spiritual Counterfeits (04/18/07 - 74 Comments)
Last week I received an interesting email from a member of a mailing list I participate in. He asked whether it is true that Satan works primarily by counterfeiting what is true. This is a subject to which I dedicated a great deal of thought while writing my book and I thought I'd type up an answer to post it here. One chapter of my book is dedicated to understanding why discernment is so difficult....
Gray (03/26/07 - 20 Comments)
There was an interesting documentary last night on TLC. It featured Abby and Brittany Hensel, twins who were born in Minnesota in 1990. As the result of a rare abnormality, Abby and Brittany were born conjoined. They have two heads but one body. They have two arms and legs and each girl controls one of them. Internally they have two hearts, two sets of lungs, two stomachs, and two large intestines. Yet they share a...
Defining Discernment (02/08/07 - 36 Comments)
Through the months I've spent writing my book on spiritual discernment, I have wrestled with various definitions of the word. While several definitions have been offered by other authors, none struck me as being quite right or quite complete. I have offered a definition on this site and was glad to receive some good feedback on its shortcomings. I went back to the drawing board and eventually arrived at a definition that really seems to...
A Call To Discernment (Part 3) (01/10/07 - 6 Comments)
This is the third article in a three-part series examining the Bible's call for spiritual discernment. You can access the first article here and the second here. Yesterday we learned the bad news that Scripture portrays those who lack spiritual discernment in three ways: They are spiritually immature, they are backslidden, and they are dead. Those who lack discernment will fit into one of these three categories. These are the dangers of ignoring discernment. Today...
A Call To Discernment (Part 2) (01/09/07 - 17 Comments)
This is the second article in a three-part series examining the Bible's call for spiritual discernment. You can access the first article here. Today we will see three marks of a lack of discernment. Lack of discernment shows spiritual immaturity In the closing verses of Hebrews 5, the author of this great letter warns his readers against apostasy, against straying from the faith. About this we have much to say, and it is hard to...
A Call To Discernment (Part 1) (01/08/07 - 3 Comments)
"You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but...
Defining Discernment (10/12/06 - 40 Comments)
There seems to be a great deal of disagreement about how we ought to define the word discernment. A quick Google check reveals a wide variety. One says it is "perception of that which is obscure" and another says "the ability to feel or perceive something with the use of the mind and the senses." Several definitions revolve around decision making, saying discernment is "prayerful reflection and discussion before taking a major decision" or "discovering,...
Discernment Filter: Forgive Yourself (05/26/06 - 29 Comments)
Spiritual discernment is a subject that has been much on my mind in recent weeks. I have been thinking a great deal about how I can become more discerning and how I can serve others in helping them understand the value of discernment as well as the practice of discernment. To that end I have been attempting to formulate a "discernment filter." I have been attempting to formulate a small set of rules through which...
