Gift of discernment

briareos · #1 1st July 2012, 11:21 PM

About the gift of discerning of spirits.

Without going into great detail about what it is or is not or whether these gifts still exist today... (I think they do)

I am beginning to feel that it is increasingly important that people who have this gift or who are simply unusually gifted in perceiving what is happening in their environment or in other people... remain incredibly humble and keep their eyes on Christ rather than putting their keen dividing eyes on people and cutting people, ministries, churches apart with their unusual ability to perceive... or else they use a great gift to do nothing more than becoming worms that destroy a ministry from the bottom up, picking everyone apart at the opportunity, holding everyone accountable for their mistakes and telling of these mistakes to everyone else or key people, becoming nothing more than a tool of great divisiveness simply because everyone has flaws.

What do you guys think? I think it can be a very dangerous thing if the person does not have the wisdom and the character of Christ in addition to it.

God did not give us the wisdom and clarity to discern right from wrong or to discern what is going on in another persons life for it to be used as a means to divide and discourage and cause great confusion and division just because you're keen enough to see flaws in other people.

joey_downunder · #2 1st July 2012, 11:59 PM

Yes I agree with you.Someone with the gift of discernment needs to ask for God's wisdom and spiritual maturity. Only then will they use it like a skilled surgeon using a scapel (dividing truth and error cleanly) and not like an amateur with a butcher's knife (severely harming others in the process).

Others have to learn how to assess how to take a discerning Christian's words as well - it's a two-way street. Sometimes truthful words do hurt in the short-term but ultimately they will bring about permanent healing. Therefore ''sensitive'' Christians need to toughen up at times, and ''discerning'' Christians need to soften hard words whenever possible, to speak the truth in *love*.

xfreakazoidx · #3 2nd July 2012, 12:01 AM

I have discernment and I really think people can use it the wrong way because of the things you feel with it. More so they may use it to judge people and/or disrupte things.

Mind you I never knew what discernment was until I was like 11. People had always told me I seemed to be able to read people like an open book. When I first posted about it on here I thought people would think I was crazy, but it turns out there are others who have it and understood what I was saying about it. I think my discernment is boosted by the fact I studied the human body and psychology. So not only can I "feel" something as a christian, but I see various signs such as body movment, behaviors, how you dress....etc and can tell about someone. Not to mention theres something about the eyes that seems to tell me alot.

Example is some friends we used to know. They were relativly new to christianity and they wanted us to meet their new "pastor". Well literally as soon as he walked in their house I felt a chill and what I described as an evil presence. It felt demoinc to me. The feels were overwhelming. When the pastor approached me I looked in his eyes and felt even stronger evil feelings. I tried to shake his hand but pulled back because...well I can't explain it.

A minute later he was talking to us about his views. He talked about secret moon bases America has built with aliens on the dark side of the moon. He talked about how his wife was into witchcraft (mind you hes a pastor). He talked about some really wild things. Which confirmed my discernment. I found out later he was a pastor of some new age church who didn't really use the bible that much and kind of made their own rules/ideas up.

I've had it go off many times. One time we went to Dennys about 2am and we were eating. Well a group of young adults walked in. They looked mostly normal. Some had piercings. When they entered I felt that same demonic presence. As soon as I felt it they ALL (about 9 of them) looked at me from a distance at the exact moment. Then I felt a pure evil like I did with that pastor.

Well I thought maybe it was something else. But while we were waiting to pay our bill we made a joke to the waitress about there was alot of young adults out late. She said the group that was there was the local Witches and Warlocks Coven. O.O So again the discernment helped me alot. Problem is many people who have it will use what they know as I said and cause problems. I have never done that. I don't gossip about what I feel or anything like that. In short I don't judge with it, even if someone has demonic activity going on. Some say I am wasting the ability by not warning people about what I feel. But I don't really want to end up judging someone with it. I don't think its what it was given to me for.

Of course in all honesty I don't truly know what to do with it. It seems its purpose so far has been to keep me from talking or being friends with the wrong people. On rare occasions if I feel someone is in danger I may gently bring up something to them like when my friend years ago wanted to go camping with some "buddies" of his. I told him without making accusations that I think he should stay home because his friends made me a bit uncomfortable spiritually.

He stayed home and it turns out his friends went to this camp to drink, have sex and they ended up so drunk they joined up with another group of people there that were using pentegrams on the ground and killing animals as sacrifices. But like I said its not often I tell anyone what I sense. Last thing I want is someone thinking I am being judgemental. Although oddly enough the ones I feel a dark presence about, its almost as if they know I can sense it. I tend to get these evil stares. But they never really say anything to me as if I have an angel above my head and they don't want to tread to close. Which may be the case since theres a war always a spirtual war going on that we don't see.

ezeric · #4 2nd July 2012, 07:30 AM

Brother Briareos

I think you are simply saying that all gifts should be used in love?
Meaning what is 'best for others' and 'edifying each other', not promoting 'self' which of course is not love.

The LORD told me that you want to see 'gifts' and 'fruit' used together never one or the other by themselves, they work like 'hand in glove'.

Now GOD'S gifts are without repentance or like saying GOD doesn't take gifts back.
Romans 11:29

There are many with true gifts (not talking about false/lying gifts here) but they've lost love (which is a fruit of the SPIRIT see Gal 5). They use their gifting to promote themselves, their ministry, their agenda. JESUS only promoted HIS FATHER -no one else.

Back to another thread where we talked about 'gifts' and 'serving' which do go properly together. I would say using your gifts with LOVE is serving!

-eric
The Exchanged Life

singpeace · #5 2nd July 2012, 08:15 AM

Originally Posted by joey_downunder

Yes I agree with you.Someone with the gift of discernment needs to ask for God's wisdom and spiritual maturity. Only then will they use it like a skilled surgeon using a scapel (dividing truth and error cleanly) and not like an amateur with a butcher's knife (severely harming others in the process).

Others have to learn how to assess how to take a discerning Christian's words as well - it's a two-way street. Sometimes truthful words do hurt in the short-term but ultimately they will bring about permanent healing. Therefore ''sensitive'' Christians need to toughen up at times, and ''discerning'' Christians need to soften hard words whenever possible, to speak the truth in *love*.

Amen.

xfreakazoidx · #6 2nd July 2012, 09:25 AM

Others have to learn how to assess how to take a discerning Christian's words as well - it's a two-way street. Sometimes truthful words do hurt in the short-term but ultimately they will bring about permanent healing. Therefore ''sensitive'' Christians need to toughen up at times, and ''discerning'' Christians need to soften hard words whenever possible, to speak the truth in *love*.

I agree. People are very much worried about sounding judgemental but if you knew the 100% truth about someone, wouldn't you want to help? If we don't help each other then we don't learn and stay stuck in our ways forever!

Its why anytime I talk to someone I make sure its as soft spoken as possible.

briareos · #7 2nd July 2012, 01:18 PM

Thanks everyone, very insightful

seeingeyes · #8 2nd July 2012, 01:51 PM

I think that a very big part of discernment is discerning the best way to say something to someone else. Paul exemplified this with his 'unknown God' intro there in Athens.

People who smash the hell out of everyone else with their knowledge of good and evil, and then slap the label 'discernment' on it to cover their tracks are not discerning at all. They're just loud. Perhaps they have the gift of loudness.

We like to use that verse in Jude (Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh) as an excuse to be hating even the clothing of others. It's easy enough to skip that 'be merciful' part when we are certain of our own rightness.

But when we truly submit to one another in love, it is much easier to detect who needs to be lifted up and who needs to be shut down. That love thing has to come first.

tturt · #9 2nd July 2012, 02:03 PM

Sometimes the gift of discernment is for praying for them instead of talking with them and it's definitely not for talking about them.

briareos · #10 2nd July 2012, 02:13 PM

Very good comments! Masterful! Thank you.