Day Seven: Discernment
Romans 12:2
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will."
I floated back and forth on the verse to use for today and this was the verse I kept coming back to. As I was driving to work today, a good friend called and was discussing a decision she has to make. The first thing that popped into my head was to tell her to use discernment in the decision she needed to make.
A definition of discernment is the act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment. God always has the best discernment. God's wisdom is always there. God's voice is always there. We just have to first take a step back, pray and be honest with ourselves about that is of the flesh and what God is saying to our hearts.
I have had to use discernment in the past. I have had to really listen to what God is saying and push out the flesh. But I will tell you, when it comes to matters of the heart, discernment is the most difficult thing to use.
Imagine with me, if you can, a great and blossoming relationship. There is encouragement, fun, ease, connection, passion, excitement, growth and respect for one another. But something begins to weigh in and a burden is put on her heart. She has been feeling as through the relationship is growing in every way but spiritually. No longer do they dig into the Word together, no longer do they pray together for their relationship, no longer to they discuss the sermons they hear in church in great depth. They still speak about God, but He slowly begins to become something in the background. She brings it up, but nothing seems to change. She puts those feeling of uneasiness in the back of her mind and continues with their day to day lives just going through the motions.
"Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice." Psalm 51:16-17 The Message (bold and italics mine)
When you go through the motions you begin to feel stagnant. You begin to feel empty. You begin to feel that fire you once had in you begun to dim. Everything around you may be going amazing, but something inside of you just won't seem to settle. In this blog, I am being 100% honest with all of you. I feel that is only fair. The girl who hid away the feelings of uneasiness and continued going through the motions was me.
I ignored the uneasiness because of the feelings I felt in my heart for a man. I didn't want to believe that such an amazing relationship was being brought to a screeching halt. What made it even more surprising was he was not at peace either. He and I may never know what his uneasiness was about, but we both knew it was there. I ignored the discernment God had placed on my heart. I listened to my fleshly desires instead of the burden that had been laid on my heart. Our relationship ended abruptly due to this uneasiness. It took me almost a month to admit my uneasiness and admit how long it had been on my heart.
It's a hard pill to swallow. Admitting something that is on your heart when it could hurt someone you care about. I always knew it hurt him to say what he had to say. I knew he didn't want to be feeling the way he was. I knew it had been tearing him up inside. What I didn't know was how much it hurt, how much he didn't want to say it and how much it was tearing him up inside. I didn't know it until I felt it too. And that pain and that realization was excruciating.
Discernment is not something to take lightly. It's not something to ignore or put on the back burner and then come back to it when you feel you have nowhere else to go or when the timing is better. It's something from God. It's God tugging at your heart and saying, "Please listen to me." God doesn't bring us His discernment to be cruel or to take things away from us. He makes His discernment known so we may see another path. A better path. The path worth taking because it is His path for us.
My example may be a bit to the extreme for some. But it could be as simple as something as deciding whether or not you should go on a trip to see someone. It could be trying to decide which bible study class to attend or which church to attend (plugging Second Baptist Woodway Campus Houston, Texas right here). No matter what is going on in your life or what you are struggling with, discernment is always there. God is always speaking to us. We just have to stop for a moment and ask God for the path that He wants us on.
That is my challenge for you today. If you are struggling with a decision, if something is uneasy on your heart, pray to God about it. Ask Him to reveal it to you and to give you the strength to make the decision that is in God's will for you. It's never easy and, yes, it can and will possibly hurt, but in the end it will all be for His glory and for a much better plan for you than what we could ever think of.
In Him and For His Glory!
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will."
I floated back and forth on the verse to use for today and this was the verse I kept coming back to. As I was driving to work today, a good friend called and was discussing a decision she has to make. The first thing that popped into my head was to tell her to use discernment in the decision she needed to make.
A definition of discernment is the act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment. God always has the best discernment. God's wisdom is always there. God's voice is always there. We just have to first take a step back, pray and be honest with ourselves about that is of the flesh and what God is saying to our hearts.
I have had to use discernment in the past. I have had to really listen to what God is saying and push out the flesh. But I will tell you, when it comes to matters of the heart, discernment is the most difficult thing to use.
Imagine with me, if you can, a great and blossoming relationship. There is encouragement, fun, ease, connection, passion, excitement, growth and respect for one another. But something begins to weigh in and a burden is put on her heart. She has been feeling as through the relationship is growing in every way but spiritually. No longer do they dig into the Word together, no longer do they pray together for their relationship, no longer to they discuss the sermons they hear in church in great depth. They still speak about God, but He slowly begins to become something in the background. She brings it up, but nothing seems to change. She puts those feeling of uneasiness in the back of her mind and continues with their day to day lives just going through the motions.
"Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice." Psalm 51:16-17 The Message (bold and italics mine)
When you go through the motions you begin to feel stagnant. You begin to feel empty. You begin to feel that fire you once had in you begun to dim. Everything around you may be going amazing, but something inside of you just won't seem to settle. In this blog, I am being 100% honest with all of you. I feel that is only fair. The girl who hid away the feelings of uneasiness and continued going through the motions was me.
I ignored the uneasiness because of the feelings I felt in my heart for a man. I didn't want to believe that such an amazing relationship was being brought to a screeching halt. What made it even more surprising was he was not at peace either. He and I may never know what his uneasiness was about, but we both knew it was there. I ignored the discernment God had placed on my heart. I listened to my fleshly desires instead of the burden that had been laid on my heart. Our relationship ended abruptly due to this uneasiness. It took me almost a month to admit my uneasiness and admit how long it had been on my heart.
It's a hard pill to swallow. Admitting something that is on your heart when it could hurt someone you care about. I always knew it hurt him to say what he had to say. I knew he didn't want to be feeling the way he was. I knew it had been tearing him up inside. What I didn't know was how much it hurt, how much he didn't want to say it and how much it was tearing him up inside. I didn't know it until I felt it too. And that pain and that realization was excruciating.
Discernment is not something to take lightly. It's not something to ignore or put on the back burner and then come back to it when you feel you have nowhere else to go or when the timing is better. It's something from God. It's God tugging at your heart and saying, "Please listen to me." God doesn't bring us His discernment to be cruel or to take things away from us. He makes His discernment known so we may see another path. A better path. The path worth taking because it is His path for us.
My example may be a bit to the extreme for some. But it could be as simple as something as deciding whether or not you should go on a trip to see someone. It could be trying to decide which bible study class to attend or which church to attend (plugging Second Baptist Woodway Campus Houston, Texas right here). No matter what is going on in your life or what you are struggling with, discernment is always there. God is always speaking to us. We just have to stop for a moment and ask God for the path that He wants us on.
That is my challenge for you today. If you are struggling with a decision, if something is uneasy on your heart, pray to God about it. Ask Him to reveal it to you and to give you the strength to make the decision that is in God's will for you. It's never easy and, yes, it can and will possibly hurt, but in the end it will all be for His glory and for a much better plan for you than what we could ever think of.
In Him and For His Glory!
Comments
Post a Comment