Quotes about Discernment

I've heard it said, "If the Devil can't make us really bad, then he'll try to make us really busy.

We must discern what God calls us to accomplish rather than mindlessly adding on everything presented to us.

Just because opportunities present themselves doesn't mean you should accept every one of them. It's not realistic, and it's also not wise.

As we become scarred and desensitized to what is right and wrong, good and evil, life-giving and life-draining, we lose sight of our first love. We move away from God one degree at a time.

Spiritual giftedness does not guarantee that we hear from God rightly on every point.

Granted, God is sovereign and can speak as he pleases—through a proof text, a poem, or Balaam's donkey. But we do not regularly seek out donkeys to tell us how to live.

One of the first steps we should take in knowing God's voice is knowing God's heart.

As a young Christian, I was praying fervently one day for guidance on a particular issue when I felt the Spirit gently interrupt. I was shocked to think I heard him suggest that I was too busy seeking his will. How could that be? Then I heard the rest of his suggestion. "Don't seek my will in this matter. Seek me—and then you will know my will." Seeking God's will is important, but in this case my focus was wrong.

Even a fish wouldn't get into trouble if he kept his mouth shut.

Hearing God is not all that difficult. If we know the Lord, we have already heard His voice - after all it was the inner leading that brought us to Him in the first place. But we can hear His voice and still miss His best if we don't keep on listening. After the what of guidance comes the when and how." (11)

We followed the Three Steps to Hearing God that I had first learned from Joy Dawson in New Zealand. First, we took Christ's authority to silence the enemy. Second, we asked the Lord to clear from our minds any presumptions and preconceived ideas. Third, we waited…believing He would speak in the way and in the time that He chose.

The Lord will lead us into victory, but success itself is the most dangerous obstacle to properly hearing the voice of God.