A Faithful Follower Discerns

9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Colossians 1:9 (NLT)

2 BIG Misconceptions about Spiritual Discernment

1. You just need to know the bible.

1 Corinthians 8:1 (CSB) Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

2. You must have the spiritual gift.

1 Corinthians 12:10 (NLT) 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit.

Philippians 1:9-10 (NKJV) And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.

How To Grow in Discernment:

1. It takes time.

1 Timothy 3:6 (NLT) A church leader must not be a new believer.

2. It takes knowing God’s truth.

Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV) 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

3. It takes standing for God’s truth.

Romans 12:2 (ESV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.