What is discernment? - Discernment - TouchPoints

1 Kings 4:29God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore.

Psalm 119:34Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart.

Psalm 119:125Give discernment to me, your servant; then I will understand your laws.

Proverbs 1:2Their purpose [of Proverbs] is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise.

Proverbs 2:1-6My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God. For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 8:12I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.

Isaiah 11:2The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Philippians 1:9-10I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.

Hebrews 5:14Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

James 1:5-8If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

1 John 2:21, 27So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies. . . . But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true.

Discernment is the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong, true and false, good and bad, important and trivial, godly and ungodly. Discernment helps us properly interpret issues and understand the motives of those pushing a certain agenda. Discernment shows us the way through the maze of options that we face. Like the sun that burns away fog, discernment cuts through confusion and distractions and brings clarity to life.

Proverbs 9:10Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.

Discernment is a stepping stone to wisdom. It enables us to see behind the facades that twist or hide truth. Whereas the devil is the father of lies, God is the source of all truth, and he gives discernment to those who seek it.

1 Corinthians 2:12-16We have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. . . . But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

Discernment is learning to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, who promises to guide us to recognize God’s truth. The Holy Spirit directs our thoughts and decisions toward a God-centered perspective on life.