It’s stunning to realize that nearly 7 billion people on planet Earth use smartphones and consume staggering amounts of media each day. It’s as though we carry the world in our pockets, with endless content to browse, absorb and devour. Breaking news, blogs, podcasts, cultural commentary, fake news, music releases, political opinions, sports news, conspiracy theories—the onslaught of notifications assaults our senses nonstop. Most people spend an average of 3¼ hours every day engaged online with this information overload.
The last few years have demonstrated clearly how social media and news updates evoke fear, stir anger and birth movements. The incessant surplus of media and communication causes many people—including followers of Christ—to spiral into sorrow and hopelessness as they try to discern truth.
As children of the Most High God through faith in Christ Jesus, we know the truth of God’s Holy Word, the Bible, sets us free, not only from sin but also from the restraints of worldly values, causes and groupthink. The Scriptures reveal the truth that no matter what the trends on social media, Almighty God remains sovereign and in control.
Those same Scriptures command believers to “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21–22 NKJV). We’re also urged to “try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:10–11 ESV).
These verses make it clear that discernment isn’t optional for Christ followers. Instead, the Apostle Paul expresses its use as a command, revealing discernment as an integral part of a Christian’s life of faith. Discernment is key to living a life that truly imitates Christ, and in this age of overwhelming information and endless crises, it’s a secret to survival.
Keeping your faith intact and holding fast to what the Lord God entrusts to you depends on your willingness to work out your discernment muscles. The Most High has given you discernment as a weapon, so you can detect, elude and outsmart the Enemy’s schemes.
What is Spiritual Discernment?
In the Old Testament, one Hebrew word translated as “discern” also means “to understand, consider … perceive.” King Solomon used this word in 1 Kings 3:9 when he asked the Lord for wisdom: “So give Your servant a discerning heart to govern Your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?” (NIV).
The Greek word diakrisis means “a distinguishing, discerning, judging.” Hebrews 5:14 uses this word, saying, “Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (NIV).
From these definitions, it’s clear discernment, when applied to spiritual matters, involves distinguishing between right and wrong and good and evil. In the day-to-day life of the church, believers typically practice spiritual discernment to distinguish between true Bible-based teaching and false teaching, which may encompass moral values or modern beliefs concerning right versus wrong intermingled with scriptural truths. False teaching abounds today, and spiritual discernment serves as the winnowing tool to separate Bible truth from untruths.
But discernment includes more than an ability to identify right from wrong or good from evil. It also means distinguishing the essential from the nonessential and earthly things from the eternal. In short, it helps identify good versus better and even better versus best. The great English preacher Charles Spurgeon said, “Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right.” Spiritual discernment enables us to sift, sort and separate using the mind of Christ.
As we practice spiritual discernment, we learn to see things through Almighty God’s eyes and understand how He would view something and interpret it. Discernment is the process of learning to think God’s thoughts, and it occurs as we let His wisdom flow into us by the Holy Spirit, through our union with Christ Jesus and the time we spend studying God’s Word, the Bible.
How to Develop Discernment
While spiritual discernment isn’t something you can order online or pick up at your favorite Christian bookstore, it is something the Most High God gives freely to those who ask. Psalm 119:125 expresses the desire for discernment in a prayer: “I am Your servant; give me understanding (discernment and comprehension), that I may know (discern and be familiar with the character of) Your testimonies” (AMPC). These words contain the formula for developing spiritual discernment.
It begins with prayer and a desire to know the testimonies of the Most High. Testimonies are none other than the wisdom of God, which Proverbs 1 describes as a person we can get to know. 1 Corinthians 1:30 reveals that Jesus Christ has become for us wisdom from God. By connecting these two truths from Scripture, we see that wisdom, also known as understanding or discernment, comes from knowing Jesus Christ.
So the starting point for spiritual discernment is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and to seek to know Him more as we study the Bible. Hebrews 5:11–14 reveals that to have spiritual discernment, we need to become skilled in the Word of God—we need to study our Bibles. As we study the Bible, meditate on the Scriptures and obey them, we learn to think and see like God. Diving into the Bible builds a foundation that becomes our training ground for developing spiritual discernment, which allows us to distinguish between good and evil and right or wrong according to God’s will.
Want to get started developing your own spiritual discernment? Try these practical steps:
Pray for Wisdom and Discernment
Improving your discernment skills without prayer is like trying to make a PB&J sandwich without jelly. The result will be edible, but you’ll get stuck as you eat it. Prayer acts as the oil that lubricates all our spiritual efforts. It lets us tap into the limitless potential of Almighty God and draw upon His strength, resources and, in the case of discernment, His wisdom. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5 NKJV).
The world’s wisdom would have you believe all you need to do in any situation is to “look inside and follow your heart.” This theory sounds good in feel-good movies and it reads well on coffee mugs, but it is rooted in the belief that we each contain “god” within us. This classic modern-day false teaching raises each person to the position of “god.”
“Your heart knows what’s best for you.”
“Do what you think is right.”
“Live your passion.”
“You do you.”
“Did God really say … ?”
The modern world’s mantras are not far removed from the lie of the Garden of Eden. Every saying above points us to find wisdom in ourselves and to be wise in our own eyes, which the Bible warns us not to do (Proverbs 3:7). This shows why we need spiritual discernment rooted in the absolute truth of the Bible.
When King Solomon began his reign, he realized he didn’t know what was best, so he prayed for wisdom (1 Kings 3:7, 9). His words “pleased the Lord,” and God gave Solomon incredible wisdom (1 Kings 3:10, 12). This man who prayed and received wisdom from the Most High God wrote twice in the book of Proverbs: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25 NKJV).
The prophet Jeremiah also realized our hearts lack what’s needed to direct our steps (Jeremiah 10:23). He also wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV). Jump a few paragraphs back and reread the statements about following your heart. Could those be ways that seem right, but they actually lead to death? You need spiritual discernment to know the answer.
Start your quest for spiritual discernment by asking God for it. Make Philippians 1:9 part of your prayer, saying, “Let [my] love abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment” (NKJV). Include Psalm 119:125 in your prayer, too: “I am Your servant; give me discernment that I may understand Your statutes” (NIV). And Psalm 119:66: “Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe Your commandments” (NKJV).
Close your prayer by asking the Holy Spirit to bring conviction upon your heart as you discern and to give you the strength to obey what is right in Almighty God’s eyes.
Embrace the Bible
Another key to successful spiritual discernment is Bible study. Instead of scrolling social media, read the Bible. Start your day with the Bible, listen to it in your car and read it while you eat. Meditate on and study Scripture until it renews your mind and turns you into a Nonconformist in the eyes of the world (Romans 12:1–2).
Evaluate your Bible study habits carefully. A modern trend is to read books about the Bible, yet not the Bible itself. The Holy Spirit of the Living God stands ready, willing and eager to teach you God’s holy truths. 1 John 2:27 says, “But you have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what He teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as He has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ” (NLT).
This verse doesn’t mean it’s wrong to listen to a Holy Spirit-filled teacher of God’s Word. It simply means you have the Holy Spirit within you, too, and if you spend more time reading what other people say about the Bible than the Bible itself, your biblical literacy is low. When Bible literacy is low, false teaching and misunderstanding run rampant. Lack of Bible reading kicks open a door to
“… your adversary the devil [who] walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8 NKJV).
One aspect of embracing the Bible includes recognizing and accepting that it contains spiritual absolutes. The concept of absolute truth is not popular today; instead every person is encouraged to determine what is right in their own heart. But the Bible lays a foundation of absolute truth that is critical for spiritual discernment. The Bible states God’s commands and disobeying these commands is sin. The Bible requires us to accept that opposites exist: good and evil, obedience and disobedience, clean and unclean.
Test Everything
John the Beloved Apostle instructed the early church to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God …” (1 John 4:1 NKJV). In this New Testament use, the word test comes from the word that means “the testing of the strength of metal.” It gives us a clue that exercising spiritual discernment puts us through fire—the cleansing fire of God’s Word that burns away sin in our own lives, effectively removing the plank in our own eye so we can see clearly (Matthew 7:1–7).
This testing is a secret to spiritual discernment. Before you can test the spirit in anything and exercise sound spiritual discernment, you must first apply the Word of God to your own life. You need to read Scripture with an open invitation to the Holy Spirit to cleanse your heart and mind, letting waves of conviction come until you are broken beyond recognition and you see the scope of your own sin through the Most High’s eyes. After you plumb those great depths of brokenness and cry tears of true repentance, your vision will be clear as you walk in agreement with the holy Most High God.
Spiritual discernment is a rubber-meets-the-road aspect of your Christian faith. It pins you to the ground (as when Jacob wrestled the angel [Genesis 32:22–32]), and it doesn’t let you go until you ask the Lord for the fullness of His blessing of discernment. The blessing of His presence—the blessing of living in union with the Lord Jesus Christ and walking in harmony with the Holy Spirit—means you won’t be culturally accepted or able to live with a go-along-to-get-along attitude. If you want true spiritual discernment, you must be willing to pay the price of obedience as you embrace the fullness of God’s will for your life.
Know Your Weaknesses
The slippery slope in the quest for spiritual discernment causes many Christ followers to stumble. Spiritual discernment hinges on the absolute truth of the Bible. In spiritual discernment, two plus two always equals four. In other words, some biblical principles are always true, no matter what. It doesn’t matter if you don’t agree. It doesn’t matter if your favorite Bible teacher, your best friend, or mother or brother or spouse favors something opposite of what appears in the Bible. In issues of spiritual discernment, God’s Word is final.
Even so, we’re all capable of embracing error, especially in areas where we are vulnerable or particularly passionate. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you identify areas of weakness in yourself. Maybe you’re too trusting or too skeptical. Maybe you’re easily offended, or maybe your skin is so thick you tend to wound others. Perhaps you’ve exited a legalistic background and have become a little too free in Jesus. Or maybe you’re a rule follower who delights in one more item to check off and you try to make others obey rules the Most High hasn’t even given. These types of issues cloud our spiritual discernment. Emotions influence discernment, too. When in doubt, wait on the Lord. Ask for confirmation and wait. The Most High delights in His people’s prayers and He will answer.
