Quotes about Discernment

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 once and still miss His best if we don't keep on listening.

No good sensible working bee listens to the advice of a bedbug on the subject of business.

Never miss an opportunity to shut up.

O God give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed courage to change what should be changed and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

If you catch poisonous fish, throw it back into the sea.

Today, each time an election rolls around Christians debate whether this or that candidate is "God's man" for the White House. Projecting myself back into Jesus' time, I had difficulty imagining him pondering whether Tiberius, Octavius, or Julius Caesar was "God's man" for the empire.

God's impressions within and His Word without are always corroborated by His providence around, and we should quietly wait until these three focus into one point. … If you do not know what you ought to do, stand still until you do.

To make a time-sensitive decision, prayerfully consider which option will bring God the most glory and will encourage a more intimate relationship with Him.

But a free woman possesses the God-given ability to know when He is truly asking her to do something—as well as the God-given ability to know when He's not. Then she has the God-given discernment to know her limits and the authority to know when she needs "to cease, to stop, to pause"—accepting the gentle yoke of Jesus instead of the tyrannical yoke of slavery. "For My yoke is easy," He said, "and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:30).

It is a privilege for us to look at circumstances and discern God's involvement in them. To recognize them as more than mere happenstance but rather God's own detailed design and plan. To see that He is allowing us to cooperate with Him in bringing life from death, growth from loss, testimony from tragedy.

Praying with precision is key. When we pray about the places where we seriously suspect the enemy is at work—that's how we keep our prayers focused, not only on particular situations but on biblical truths that are consistent with maintaining victory in the midst of them.

Praise: Thank Him for reigning in power and supplying you with the weapons of victory. Repentance: Admit where you've been angry and distracted, fighting all the wrong people. Asking: Ask for courage, for discernment, for patience, for diligence, for laser-like focus. Yes: Because the Lord is with you, and He will fight the real enemy through you.