"The spiritual gift of discernment is also known as the gift of "discernment of spirits" or "distinguishing between spirits.". The Greek word for the gift of discernment is Diakrisis. The word describes being able to distinguish, discern, judge or appraise a person, statement, situation, or environment."
8 signs that you may have the gift of discernment
The Lord has really been taking me through a full circle season in my life. He seems to be tying up loose ends that began years ago. One of those loose ends was with my gift of discernment. I've always had a sensing of knowing which way I should go...I could feel that someone or something was safe or not safe. I grew up isolated and alone. My grandmother raised me. She worked two jobs so she was never home. I had two fathers and neither were in my life. My mother suffered with mental illness since a flight down wooden stairs cracked her skull leaving her chemically imbalanced. She fell down those stairs when I was four years old. She was in the tub and the phone was ringing. My dad was on the phone calling her confirming the time of their date. She slipped out of the tub, ran to answer the phone, and fell down the stairs. Guess who's fault that was? Yes, it was mine! Somehow the enemy will always find a way to kill, steal, and destroy destiny even from infancy on up. Look at Moses and Jesus for that example. Moses' mother placed him in a reed basket and sent him down the Nile River full of alligators and predators waiting to devour him, but GOD!!!! God kept him safe and he eventually arose into his purpose. With Jesus, all males from the age of two down were murdered because Herod had been informed that an infant king would come and take him out of authority. God sent an angel to speak to Joseph to get Jesus to safety and thankfully, Joseph obeyed.
I feel there was always that upon my life even as that baby that my mother shook quiet. When you grow up without a father and mother to care and nurture you, you learn to cope and survive the best way you know how. I learned at a very young age to 'listen to my heart.' I now know, that I have always walked in the gift of discernment. The Lord gave me an example of what that looked like.
So say, you are walking around your home in the dark. After bumping and hitting things a number of times as you fumble through the darkness, to find your way around your surroundings, you become familiar of what is placed where and you begin to maneuver yourself accordingly. You learn to navigate through the dark. I suppose it's the same thing for a blind person. You rely on your other senses as they are heightened and more sensitive to keep you safe. Growing up without someone protecting me as a little girl, I was the victim of much abuse. I learned how to survive. I learned how to make the best of every situation. I learned to see the good in the bad. I learned to look through the storm clouds for the rays of hope shining down from the sunshine. You can chose to focus on your cup being half full or half empty. Optimism or pessimism. I was looking back at baby pictures and even then, God made me happy. I smiled so big my face looked like it couldn't contain anymore joy.
These gifts lie dormant in most Christians due to lack of desire of stirring them up or being fearful that we will do it wrong or that we are false prophets or whatever lie the enemy speaks to our hearts at the time. Could you imagine if we were making pancakes and didn't stir the batter? Or making cookies and didn't stir in the ingredients. We just let all the ingredients that we put in the bowl that the recipe called for and we didn't stir it. Could we even get anywhere? How would we be able to even begin thinking that we could form a dough ball, let alone make a cookie. We have spiritual gifts inside of us and many, sadly, NEVER stir up the gifts within and therefore, never become who they were created to be. My girls wanted to make cookies one time. I let them follow the recipe. I was gonna watch over them as they did it on their own. I then got busy cleaning or something and they were so excited as they were making the dough balls for the chocolate chip cookies....They put them in the oven and baked them...Out they came, steaming...LOOKING perfect....but something awful happened when we bit into them....O MY GOODNESS!!!! disgusting....We couldn't figure out what happened until we began going over the recipe again....Here instead of 1/4 of a teaspoon of baking soda, they put a 1/4 of a tablespoon...Something so simple, destroyed the entire batch of cookies. You know what, though? They stirred up the ingredients...They tried...they failed....what did we do? I let them try again. You know what? Both of my daughters are such good cooks and bakers. They made messes and mistakes in their cooking experiences but they also had room for growing where they lacked this or that.
If you don't ever stir your gifts and have grace to fail, how will you ever become successful in them?
So I encourage you to stir up the gifts that are inside of you! You will miss it! You will fail! But in that, you will also hit the mark and you will also grow in them.
Back to my gift of discernment. I've now known that I've always had this gift inside of me. As I've matured in the knowledge and understanding of the word and the light of God's love shines upon my life, I can clearly see now and my gift is more clear.
When I was around 13, my sister, and my best friend were all home alone. I lived in the country and we never had parents or anyone around to protect us. We were always alone. My gram was at work and we were doing whatever teenagers do. We always left our windows and doors unlocked. We lived in the country and there wasn't any eminent danger of locking up. My bedroom had a window that if the front door was locked, we always crawled through my bedroom window to get inside.
One day, however, I felt different in my spirit. I felt led that we needed to lock all the doors and windows. I didn't FEEL safe. I FELT like there was a lurking danger and that if I didn't lock the doors and windows, something bad would happen. So I went with that feeling and we locked all the doors and windows. Later in the evening after dark, we were all doing something and we heard this eerie sound against the aluminum siding of the trailer. It sounded like someone was running an object against the aluminum siding creating this scary sound. My sister and friend started getting very frightened...As I was getting scared, I remember the wave of peace that washed over me that was followed by relief that I had locked all the doors and windows. That gave me time to call my neighbor. I called him and told him what we heard. He said, stay there, I'll come up to check it out. He came up with another friend and they brought a 22. When they made it to the trailer, they saw someone running into the woods. Later we found out that a boy that was put in the juvenile boys home not far from me had escaped. He had been in there for rape. Now, I was NOT a Christian. I was a teenage girl who was just FEELING something was off and I listened to that feeling. I believe God had sent an angel to speak that eminent danger was there and spoke to my heart what to do and I obeyed. Three girls home alone...this boy would have hit the jackpot with vulnerability and no covering and the enemy who comes to kill, steal, and destroy KNEW we were open prey.
God, HOWEVER!!!! He is always with us! He LOVES us even when we don't believe in him...HE BELIEVES in us!
Father,
I thank you for loving me even when I was in the dark. I thank you that you still loved me enough to speak to my heart and send help in the times of my trouble. I thank you for the gifts that you place inside each of us. I thank you that the gifts are irrevocable. That you give us these gifts and they are ours to keep forever even if we never use them. Help us stir up the gifts that you have placed inside of us. Help us not let them be wasted. You love us and every good and perfect gift comes from you! You are an amazing father. You will always be there protecting and guiding us. I love you, Lord!
