There is a vast misconception amongst Christians about the meaning of spiritual discernment. There is virtually zero spiritual discernment left in the church today. All evaluation is done on basis of scripture, doctrine and human insight. It is all based on the physical the mind what does the pastor think what do the brothers think, how do you feel about that, which scripture. It is not based on impartation of knowledge through the Spirit of God it is all in the physical in the sensual in the mind based on knowledge and based on how does it line up with the scripture. That is not discernment, that is just evaluation according to rules and personal prejudice. When we talk about spiritual discernment it is impartation of unknown things, unknown nobody knows about it, it is hidden, nobody knows but GOD REVEALS it, it’s revelation knowledge and that is what spiritual discernment is.
We read in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit , combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words .”
The Gospel that Paul preached, he did not receive from people nobody told him that, he never read it anywhere, nowhere. He received it in a revelation from Jesus Christ. Directly after Paul came to Christ when Jesus met him on the Damascus road he went too Arabia for three and a half years and there God revealed the gospel to him by His Spirit. He did not hear it from people and that was the gospel that Paul wrote about. Spiritual revelation comes from the Holy Spirit it doesn’t come from reading books. It comes from a direct relationship with Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit living in you.
So when we talk about spiritual discernment it means when God imparts knowledge to you from outside which you did not enquire through your eyes or your ears or your senses it is given into your Spirit by the Spirit of God. Now we read in 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural can not accept the things of the Spirit of God , for they are foolishness to him ; and he cannot understand them , because they are spiritually appraised. ” And that is why 99,99% of church people today, of Bible believers will tell you it is not written, it cannot be written. If you receive revelation from God, it cannot be written it is unknown, previously unknown that God revealed to you. Then you are talking about revelation knowledge and about discernment. You cannot acquired it somewhere, you cannot buy a book from the bookstore or go and listen to somebody’s teachings. You go and listen to the Holy Spirit in you, if you have the Holy Spirit. does
That is why the people don’t want the Holy Spirit they just don’t accept it. They accept everything on the sensory level which they can read and understand. They are natural people, they are not spiritual people. It is written that a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit and that is why people don’t know Jesus, they are not spiritual. Many ask: Which Jesus?
They will tell you which version of the Bible they read but they don’t know which Jesus they serve, because they have never meat Him. Their faith is just based on the Book, the Bible. We read in 1 Corinthians 2:15 “But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.” If God impart something to you, it is knowledge that nobody knows. There is no proof of it, there is no way to proof it from the Bible or disproof it from the Bible or whatever. It is knowledge imparted that is spiritual discernment, that is spiritual revelation and therefore it cannot be appraised. People cannot say its true or it is not true. The only way that they can know whether it is true or not true, is through revelation from Christ, because God sees in the hearts and He knows the hidden motives and He reveals. He reveals things that exist through His Spirit, He reveals the unknown. That is true spiritual discernment and that is true spiritual discernment which few people have because they are not spiritual they are carnal. They operate on the mind level, the sensory level the knowledge level.
If we are children of God and we follow Jesus Christ we need to have the Spirit of Christ in us. We need to listen to His Spirit other wise we cannot follow Him. If we have the Spirit of Christ, we hear the Words of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit and that is why Paul wrote in Romans 8:14 “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God..” Jesus says My sheep know My voice and they follow Me. Those who do not hear Him or do not listen have a problem. They need to get to Jesus you cannot fake it. They need to start praying and ask Him Lord reveal Yourself to me and then only will they have spiritual knowledge and spiritual discernment.
