You have discernment.

I hope the first week of your New Year is looking like you hoped it would.  You might be looking at the statement made in this weeks topic and thinking, "that's not necessarily true for every subscriber, because not everyone has discernment."  But I disagree.  We all have discernment in our specific area of gifting or training. 

The problem lies when we try to exercise discernment outside of that area.  The result is typically poor discernment.  But even at that point you have discernment, it's just that it's poor discernment.  So, let's pause here for a moment and define discernment.  Merriam Webster lays out the definition like this:  "the ability to see and understand people, things, or situations clearly and intelligently".  Here's the reality:  You can't understand the types of people you've never been one of, or spent a significant amount of time around.  You can't understand and see situations clearly and intelligently unless you have some knowledge of or experience with that situation.  So, many times when we suggest that someone has little or no discernment, we need to recognize that they are likely outside their area of gifting.  Therefore, we can't expect them to have discernment at that moment.  But if they're operating inside their area of experience and/or gifting, they might surprise us with their insight and intuitive ability.

Now, we all know those people who appear to have zero discernment in life and hit every pothole in the road, square on!  But the truth is; they dohave discernment, they just choose not to use it.  Many times if you can get them in the right environment, with a sober mind, they can discern exactly what they need to do to better their life.  But, a "clear and intelligent understanding of the situation", as the definition states, needs to followed by action.  Vision must inspire venture.  In my line of work, I help many people who are struggling through addictions, marriage problems, financial struggles, etc., and I do my best to not come to conclusions for them.  I help them arrive at the "ah ha!" moment, when their discernment suddenly paints the picture for them.  But unfortunately, few are able to follow up that discernment with action in order to see the vision through to completion.  It takes a choice.  And the biggest hurdle with choices, is that they don't choose themselves for you.

Now, what about when you consider yourself a discerning person, but get stuck drawing a blank on a situation or decision.  At that point, you haven't failed to discern, you simply weren't supposed to discern.  We were never meant to do life alone.  I'm relatively intelligent.  I'm intuitive.  I have good insight.  God has gifted me in a lot of ways.  However, there are actually many situations when I simply do not know what to do.  At that point, my dad's phone is probably going to ring.  Or the phone or email of one of the handful of guys that I respect and trust for their intelligence and discernment.  I then bounce my situation off of one of them and soon I have my "ah ha!" moment, when they're able to help bring the discernment to completion.

So you see, you have discernment.  Stop beating yourself up when you're unable to discern outside your area of gifting.  And don't let pride get in the way by attempting to make discernment, regardless.  Again, you have discernment.  Sharpen and hone your discernment within the boundaries of your gifting.  And surround yourself with others who can fill the gaps.

In regards to this topic, there is one more area we should touch on.  There are those who have the gift of discernment and do have more of an ability to discern direction in many different areas.  And they can typically discern when something is wrong within an organization or a particular game plan.  I believe it's actually a spiritual gift within them.  They have intuitiveness that the average person doesn't have.  The Bible describes discernment to be just that, a spiritual gift.  And it just so happens that one of my top two spiritual gifts is discernment.  It allows me to open many doors to speak into lives when I get those strong intuitive urgings to ask certain questions or speak into specific areas of those lives in which I'm mentoring or encouraging.

But friend, even if you don't have that particular gift, you still have discernment.  In fact, you might have discernment in an area where I don't, simply because you have more knowledge of, and experience with, that situation.  So the question isn't whether you do or don't have discernment.  The question is:  Will you use it??