Our First Line of Defense
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
John 14:16-17
In a world saturated with deceiving spirits, false prophets and false teachers, the need for believers to exercise discernment cannot be overstated. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew verb bin and its variations—translated as “discern,” “distinguish” and “understand”—are used 247 times. The word means “to make a distinction, or separate from.” The New Testament Greek counterpart, diakrino, also means “to separate or divide.” The use of the word is applied primarily to judging or making decisions. The Holy Spirit enables us to distinguish right from wrong, truth from lies, and God’s thoughts from humankind’s thoughts.
As believers, we think with our minds, but we discern with our spirits. Mentally we can know whether something is right or wrong in the natural realm by observation and inquiry. Theologically, we can agree or disagree with a verbal or written statement based on our education, experience and understanding of God’s Word. However, the spiritual world is not always discernible by our natural senses. To chart our way in the spiritual world requires the presence of God.
When the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our lives, He bears witness with our spirit and enables us to know right from wrong in the spiritual realm. This God-given ability to discern is like a sixth sense that enables us to know that something is right or wrong, even though we may not know intellectually what is right or what is wrong.
In the Bible, the interaction between God and Solomon is helpful in understanding spiritual discernment. David had died and Solomon had taken his place as king of Israel. Solomon loved the Lord, but by his own admission, he was too young and inexperienced to be the king: “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties” (1 Kings 3:7). The Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream and said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you” (verse 5). Solomon asked God for “a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong” (verse 9). The Lord was pleased with Solomon’s request.
This passage reveals two key concepts about discernment. First, God gave Solomon the ability to discern because his motives were pure. Solomon wasn’t asking for a wise and discerning heart for his own personal profit, or even to gain an advantage over his enemies. He wanted discernment in order to administer justice and know good from evil. Motive is crucial, because the power to discern can be misused in the Church. It is a powerful advantage to know something no one else knows.
Second, spiritual discernment is always concerned with the moral realm of good and evil. The Holy Spirit gives us a check in our spirit when something is wrong. Discernment is our first line of defense when our natural senses aren’t able to register any danger or direction. However, the ability to discern spiritually does not negate the necessity of knowing God’s Word. We should always be like the Bereans who “received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).
A few questions to ponder:
What is the meaning of the word “discernment”? Why is it critical for believers to exercise discernment?
What role does the Holy Spirit play in our spiritual discernment?
Why did God grant Solomon’s request for a wise and discerning heart?
If you don’t sense a peace about a decision, or a place, or the presence of others, how should you proceed?
How can you practice discernment and learn to trust such impressions?
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.