“Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” ~ Acts 5:9
REFERENCE:
Acts 5:1-11
In I Corinthians 2:15, Paul said, “A spiritual man judges or discerns all things.” It is a sixth sense God makes available to believers by the Holy Spirit. Discernment is the ability to perceive, understand, and judge things clearly, especially those that are not obvious or straightforward. When the Holy Spirit gives discernment, it functions more powerfully.
Every believer should sharpen their ability to discern by the Holy Spirit. We live in a world where you will be confronted with lies, deceptions, or misleading proposals. People will come to you looking and sounding good but full of hateful motives; it takes discernment to identify and act with wisdom and caution. If you lack discernment, you will become the prey of satan.
Ananias and Sapphira packaged their deception well -covered it with a ‘generous’ gift, Sunday clothes, and plenty of paparazzi. However, they failed to see they were coming before a discerning man: deception confronted discernment. While everybody applauded their giving and the church board thought of giving them an appreciation plaque, Peter saw behind the charade; he saw lies, greed, hypocrisy, selfishness, irreligiosity, and, primarily, satan.
The war between deception and discernment rages continually. There is a great satanic effort to lead people into error, sin, costly mistakes, bad company, and corrupt thoughts; his final aim is to lead believers away from God. If you have discernment, you will escape untimely death, loss of money, disastrous marriage, bad investment, and the wrong association.
I learned one easy way to walk in discernment from the late Pastor Ina Omakwu. He said, “Satan likes to present juicy offers but draws a curtain over our faces. To know satan’s real motive, pull the curtain back and play the event to the end. Ask yourself, “Where will this lead me; how will it end? Who will this hurt, how does God feel about it, and what could be but I am presently not seeing? Discernment is really about asking probing questions over and over.
PHOTO QUOTE
ADDITIONAL TEXTS:
I Corinthians 2:15, Proverbs 15:21, and Mark 12:13-17
PRAYER:
+ Lord, I ask that You give me a discerning heart to know right from wrong and good from evil, no matter how nicely packaged they come.
+ May I never be a victim of deception or the deceiver. Please help me to avoid making mistakes that will cost me dearly.
+ I access divine wisdom right now; precious Holy Spirit, open my eyes so I can see as You see.
