The ABC’s of Discernment: A is for Awareness

You won’t miss wha you don’t know exists You won’t seek what you don’t know is lost. You won’t strive for what you don’t know is lacking.

As a result, discernment begins with awareness.

You must be aware of what discernment is. You must know it’s accessible to you. You must be aware of your need for it. Otherwise you will never seek it out.

This probably sounds elementary, but I cannot express how many times I’ve heard some variation of “Discernment is just a spiritual gift,” or “God will warn me away,” or “I can read and watch whatever I want without any affect on me.”

Now I don’t want to take away from the gift of discernment or the leading of the Holy Spirit. I firmly believe both exist and are active in believers’ lives today.

However, discernment is also a spiritual discipline. That means it is accessible and obtainable—and needed by all believers. (Hebrews 5:14)

Only when you are aware of all this can the process of gaining discernment begin.