With the increase of conflicting views, confusing headlines, and counterfeit messages, we must seek to discern things by the Spirit and not by the flesh. As believers, we have been given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), the heart of the Father (1 John 3:1), and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) in order to know Truth.  Here are some scriptural keys in knowing how to rightly discern that which is of the Holy Spirit and that which is not. May our prayers reflect the full counsel of heaven and God’s eternal purposes.

9 KEYS TO GROWING IN SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT:

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Walk in love. Without God’s love and mercy motivating our prayers, we cannot rightly discern our opinions from God’s purposes.

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. (Philippians 1:9-10)

Know the fear of the Lord. Once you have encountered the power of God’s holiness and might, every other fear will bow and you will follow His ways regardless of the cost.

And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear. (Isaiah 11:3)

Know God’s Word. Our conscience is only as good as what we feed it. Determine to fill your mind with God’s Word and it won’t be hard to recognize the counterfeits.

Teach me good discernment and knowledge,  for I believe in Your commandments. (Psalm 119:66)

Distinguish the underlying spirit. We can be motivated by the Holy Spirit, a demonic spirit, or by our own human spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us to discern the difference.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!  …Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. They say, “The LORD declares,” when the LORD has not sent them; yet they expect their words to be fulfilled.  (Ezekiel 13:3-7)

Live by a higher standard. Unless we are intentional in pursuing righteousness and holiness, the world will suck us into their way of thinking and cloud our judgment.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Recognize the trap of man-made ideas. Even good ideas may not be God ideas. The religious and political spirits continually seek to limit our vision and diminish our faith.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. (Colossians 2:8) 

Learn from practice. Learn from your own track record of discernment to fine-tune your perceptions and conclusions.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

Yield any personal agenda. Lay down any need to prove a point, build a case, or defend your position. Determine to support God’s agenda and not your own.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17)

Pray in the Spirit. Sometimes we simply don’t know how to pray. Our spiritual prayer language bypasses our flesh and goes directly to the throne. We experience similar access when we intercede with groans, weeping, or utterances prompted by the Spirit.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)

Let’s pray that our discernment will continue to grow and increase so that we can rightly divide the word of truth and come into full agreement with the Father’s will and purpose for our lives and for this nation.