The Gifts of Discernment & Wisdom

I know I talk a lot about people in the Church who are not truly Christians and they do not know about it. I decided to write this post to shed some light on the matter because the people that are just dabbling with Christianity and those that are in it for a little corner of heaven tend to feel offended when they hear certain comments. Granted the internet is full of people going on and on about Christ, and they are willing to condemn everyone even the real Christians. They usually hide behind the fact that they are doing it just to defend the faith.

In fact, I can think of someone who has been very popular on the internet for years now. While this person appears knowledgeable to others who are not spiritual, what they do not know about this guy is that he himself has not been saved yet. In fact that is why there is so much rage and zeal in him to accuse everyone of apostasy. While the word Jesus is found everywhere on his site and he uses the word love a lot in his writings you would think that he is working for the real God that we Christians know. But the reality is that he is not. I am aware of his site because I was impressed with him about twelve to thirteen years ago. I have now been a Christian for fifteen years and I can say without fear of repercussions from God that this guy is not a Christian, but he does not know it. Satan knows the Bible by heart and can have lengthy conversations about it too. Demons too, believe, and they have more fear of God in them than some so called Christians.

Throughout my book “Apprehended & Apprehending” I tried to help readers about the type of questions they should honestly be asking themselves in order to examine their walk with God. But for some, I know it will be useless simply because Satan’s bondage can be so blinding that you cannot see what is right under your nose. You cannot see what is obvious to everyone else, even unbelievers have radar to spot those who are not truly Christians. Christ did not quote Mathew 23:15 just to hear Himself talk. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.”

This crime Christ accused the Pharisees of, is also our crime today. We go around putting strenuous effort into getting people to come to know Jesus. We have not left one stone unturned just so we can find converts for our churches. Then instead of doing it for God’s glory we do it to satisfy our ego. (Just saying we are doing things for God's glory does not make it so) So we brag about the size of our Church, how it grew under our administration, we pad our resumes as if all these things make us real Christians. But, often what we fail to realize is that this is just the end result of running a business. At the end of the day, we fill the pews and pulpits with people who embrace our sects.

These people reject the true Gospel in favor of living out perverted doctrines. They have no idea what it means to ever be spiritually mature, you talk about things like brokenness, surrender, regeneration, holiness, the victorious life, Godly repentance and so on, they are totally in the dark. Some of the more educated one go about formulating some hypothesis on these subjects but never truly become real Christians. But, blessed be to God for scouting the Churches and single out His chosen ones.

So, when we are living a full Christian life, embracing the whole Bible as being God’s mercy, love and grace it is not difficult for us to decipher who is who. Through God’s grace, as you become Spirit filled mature Christian, you are like  a teacher standing in front of his class, he is able to tell which one knows the subject he is teaching, which one needs help which one is in the wrong class all together, and which one is completely out to lunch.

Sometimes we are able to see these things simply because of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which is discernment and/or wisdom. In my opinion, having those two gifts together is a little bit much for someone who is not in any kind of leadership position in Church business. It can be overwhelming, frustrating, sad, and so many emotions at the same time. These emotions seem to come from the fact that you feel so powerless with the information at your fingertips. But, like all the gifts we receive from the Holy Spirit, they grow with us, and we learn to use them better. Nevertheless, I find what does not go away is the need to sometimes be able to shut it all off and be “average” for a while.

Even if God has provided the gift of wisdom without the gift of discernment, I find with the gift of wisdom alone you can look at people and see right through them. You are able to let go of the shell on the outside and penetrate them deeper. To your mind, the outside looks like clear water. At first, I remember finding it a little bit like invading people’s privacy. But, I realized soon enough even if I close my eyes it does not change anything because you are dealing with the Spirit’s eyes. In fact this gift cannot even be contained by space. With your spiritual eyes, you are seeing with the mind of the Holy Spirit and you can be sure you are seeing what you are seeing for a good reason. I find that no matter how you turn it around, He shows you these things just so that you can see the need of the body of Christ.

I also find that sometimes God blocks Christians that He feels are not my business to see for now and sometimes He also blocks Christian leaders just because He wants to use this person in my life for a little while. Once it is done, it seems that He unblocks everything! The bottom line is that you would be surprised to see as you grow spiritually how the Holy Spirit is not stingy at all.

- IF YOU HAVE TIME -

THE REMAINING OF THIS POST IS ABOUT QUOTES RELATED TO THE POST THAT COULD BE USEFUL

Read what Oswald Chambers said:

A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him . . . .” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ.”

Read what J.C Ryle said:

“I think there can be no question that there is an immense difference among those who profess and call themselves Christians. Beyond all dispute, there are always two classes in the outward Church—the class of those who are Christians in name and form only, and the class of those who are Christians in deed and in truth. All were not Israel who were called Israel, and all are not Christians who are called Christians. "In the visible Church," says an article of the Church of England, "the evil be ever mingled with the good."

Read what James Smith said in 1859:

There is much spurious religion in the world. Many pass for Christians—who are not. This fact places professors in solemn circumstances. When there is much counterfeit coin in circulation, people in trade are doubly cautious. They look at the proffered piece carefully, they rub it, ring it, weigh it, and test it in a variety of ways. No one will take base coin—if they know it. Nor will people take what is suspicious without examination.

Friends, have we any religion? If so, are we sure it is the genuine article? Many are deceived, and deceived to the last! The foolish virgins were. The multitudes referred to by Jesus were, when he said, "Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your name have done many wonderful works? Then I will profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me you that work iniquity."

Why Does Paul Seemingly Ask For More Afflictions

Excerpt From The 3rd Chapter Of My Newly Released  Christian Book

 "Apprehended & Apprehending"

W

hen you really think about it, it appears that Paul’s desire in Philippians 3:10 to know God in the fellowship of His sufferings was a strange one. Since his life was already plagued with sufferings, why would he want more of it? This is the reality of being truly Christian. Paul’s desire is the fruit of his faith in Christ, His love for Him and part of the true meaning of working out your Salvation with fear and trembling. Before we can get to a real desire of the fellowship of His sufferings, we have to learn obedience to the point where suffering with Him and for Him becomes natural to us—as natural as it was for Christ to obey His Father! Jesus left Heaven and His position as His Son and made Himself a nobody for our sake and the glory of His Father. As His ministry advanced Christ said in Matthew 26:38

“…My soul is exceedingly sorrowful…”

While I have no doubt no one can ever experience the depth of His sorrow—not even Paul—mimicking Christ and Paul also means getting through this very path of suffering. Christ will decide the intensity of the sorrow in our soul. Scriptures made it clear to us that Christianity is about persecutions and afflictions. Christ could not say it clearer when He said in Mark 8:34,

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Paul also said in 2 Corinthians 1:5,

 “…we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ…" 

It is important to understand first of all that it is not our idea of what the cross might be  but Christ’s idea. The cross in this verse is simply Christ’s Cross we have inherited through our identification with Him. As we move forward with Him, the deeper we go, the more sufferings within our sufferings is to be expected if we wish to be prepared for His purpose in our lives. Paul is not just talking about sufferings in this realm. There is a kind of suffering that we go through within our suffering that is so heavy, we literally have a hard time walking and talking in this realm. We go on with a  heavy sorrow in the soul and it is not up to us to say when it is enough or when we get out of it. 

In the meantime God is having His way with our soul. We know beyond the shadow of a doubt that death is being worked in us—we are dying to self, inwardly, as we learn to take up the cross of Christ, not our man-made cross. This kind of sufferings can never be explained, only except experienced. There is no earthly pain to match it.  The first time I experienced this kind of pain was when I went through the biggest crisis in my life. My life was falling apart completely, and I was losing everything. Only then did God feel it was time to bring on that pain. Even though I was new to this kind of spiritual training and sanctification process, I  knew the sorrow in my soul was spiritual. After He confirmed that I was regenerated, He explained what the pain was about a few days later. This exceedingly heavy sorrow in my soul was Him dealing with my soul while using the Word as a double-edged sword. To that revelation I replied, “Wow! You made provisions for everything in the Bible!” It was that day He illuminated my mind to understand what He meant when He said, “His word will not return void.” I started understanding how precious each word in the Bible is to our soul and to our Salvation, here and now.

Amazon.ca has Apprehended & Apprehending on sale