Learn to Discern 5-17-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Here I am Lord. Open my eyes to see; open my ears to hear; open my heart to receive. In the first moments of the morning, I narrow my focus to You alone. ... "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22). Holy Spirit, You are speaking to the church in these days. We are the church, individually and in the community of relationship with one another. Give us ears to hear "what the Spirit is saying to the churches" (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). But teach us how to "test everything" while we "no not quench the Spirit" at the same time. Give us the faith to listen and the humility to submit everything we think we hear from You to the testing of the standard of the Word of God and the nature of God. Only through the process of judgment and discernment will we be able to determine what is good and what is evil, what we must hold fast to and what we must abstain from. In these days of ever-increasing spiritual activity, we must learn to walk in ever-increasing spiritual discernment. "Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill" (Proverbs 1:5). We acquire skill by looking to You in humility and faith in the challenges of obeying Your command to "test everything." One of the gifts of the Spirit is "the discernment of spirits" (1 Corinthians 12:10). Not all spiritual activity in our lives and in the community of relationship with one another is the activity of the Holy Spirit. Not every spiritual voice we hear is the voice of the Holy Spirit. Our crafty enemy often "disguises himself as an angel of light" when his unholy spirits attempt to masquerade as the Holy Spirit to gain our trust and ensnare us in deception (2 Corinthians 11:14). So we need Your Word and we need Your Spirit; we need one another to help us learn to discern in both humility and faith. You created us to long to be led by Your Spirit. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God" (Romans 8:14). Our enemy knows our nature and our longing, so he looks for ways to satisfy that longing with his deception. The answer is not to quit longing for Spiritual leading or to "despise the words of the prophets." The answer is to learn how to "test everything," to learn to discern. We have much to learn, but You are ready to teach us if we are willing to learn. We learn it by doing it, risking our mistakes but trusting in Your grace. By Your grace, I'm willing to learn to discern. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Our ministry will host the monthly ministry leaders' luncheon for pastors and ministry leaders in Lexington today at 11:30 in the fellowship hall of Centenary United Methodist Church. Come join us if you can and please pray for us if you can't. Friends, if you are in the Lexington area, please Come to The Fountain this Friday night for our monthly, citywide gathering for prayer, praise, and healing worship -- 7 pm in the chapel at Centenary, 2800 Tates Creek Rd. People come from all traditions and denominations for a time of intimate worship in the presence of the Lord as the Holy Spirit leads. Our prayer ministry team will be available throughout the evening for prayer ministry. Paul Cooper will lead in worship and I will lead in prayer. Come and bring a friend. All are welcome! To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's and cd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries mailto:--MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502. On the Web: http://messiah-ministries.org/Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com/