In my post last Saturday, I stated the following.
“Not all discernment is as overtly supernatural like was seen in Peter and Paul, but all spiritual discernment must take root in the Holy Spirit.”
And while there will be those supernatural instances of discernment, many more will be less dramatic.
We know that discernment must come through the Holy Spirit. But there are times in our lives when it may be difficult to recognize Him. Remember, the adversary can come disguised as an angel of light (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:4). So there must be something else given us and necessary for discernment: It is the Word of God.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1 ESV).
How we know God is through His Word (cf. John 5:39).
Thus, through the Spirit and Word we can discern regularly, besides experiencing those supernatural revelations exemplified by Peter and Paul.
That is why it is so very important to spend time with the Word; to leave the milk and hunger after the meat of the Bible.
“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14 ESV).
The picture here is of mature believers who were like fully trained athletes. They would be ready for the contest because of their spiritual discipline. Being so trained and spiritually sensitive they were able to discern between truth and error when given the choice.
As we move closer and closer to the coming of the Lord there will be more and more false teachers. There will be more doctrines of devils to discern on a regular basis. As we move towards the battles in devoting to destruction those things in us that need to be purged in our quest for Christlikeness, we must be able to discern the good from the evil. It is discernment through both the Word and Spirit, as mature believers, and through the supernatural gift of discernment that victory comes!
