What's the difference? I've been asking God to give me the gift of discerning of spirits and am really interested in the gift. But there have been times I thought I was discerning something and folks would play their 'don't judge me' card.
Discerning of Spirits is pertaining to a Gift of the Holy Spirit as in Visions the Prophets expieranced...being in Heaven and/or the Presance of the LORD...It is Prophetic Gift...
Discerment of People & Situations pertaining to them is completely differant...Judgemental ??? NO !!!...We all gota gaurd our Hearts...an when ya get a decerning feeling bout a person...its usually for a reason an most often right...Hope that makes sence & helps ya...xo
I see judging as deciding if someone one or something is good or bad.
I see discernment as just seeing what is.
This is were the problem comes in ; lets say you discern the spirit of lust on a person. Then the human tendency is to judge them as a bad person. Oops, you just went to far. The Holy Spirit did not give you that truth for you to judge a person, but rather to know exactly how to love, pray and act around that person.
Allow me to humbly give you a 'heads up'. When God gives you this gift you have a responsibility to use it wisely. And keep what is shown to you to yourself unless you feel called to share it. Even then some Christians and non-Christians may accuse you of prejudice (pre- judging) because their mind cannot fathom how anyone could know such things so quickly without getting to know a person. Therefore you will be judged as acting in a way contrary to Christianity.
Maybe you would like to ask for a different gift now?.....Lol! : )
In my opinion�Judgment is using Discernment to come to a �Right� decision. Discernment is having the �Knowledge� to be able to make that decision.
So�in essence, you need �Knowledge� (Truth) which gives you Discernment�which allows you to make a Judgment call.
The Holy Spirit gives us the �Knowledge� (Truth) which allows us to know whether to say anything that might be considered �judging�. If you point out someone�s mistakes in their posting, is that to be considered �judging�? If you accuse someone of stealing or lying and you are right�is that judging?
Now if you call someone a sl*t because she wears a short dress or a low cut blouse�that would be judging.
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 (New International Version, �2010)
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.
Luke 12:57 (New International Version, �2010)
57 �Why don�t you judge for yourselves what is right?
We are to �test� things and then make a �Judgment� as to what to hold on to and what to reject. Here we are being told to Judge. We need Discernment in order to do this.
Hosea 4:6 (New International Version, �2010)
6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
�Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
I also will ignore your children.
Without Knowledge we are as blind as Bats and as dangerous as an unsupervised child with a lighter.
God�s Truths is the Knowledge that gives us Discernment that allows us to be able to make Judgment Calls.
trucker, Thank you for the advice. Although, I will continue to pray for the gift of discernment because the Word of God tells us to desire spiritual gifts and to covet earnestly the best gifts. I don't think it's wrong to ask God for any of the gifts he's offering; I think it pleases Him.
Not for me to say whether or not some people only want certain gifts so they can shine------ that's certainly not my motive.
Anything God says I can have--- I Want!
I believe when we follow Christ the gift of giving is in all of us.
There's still much I don't understand; but I have an awesome Teacher. His name is Jesus:angel:
1300�50; ME (< OF) < L discernere to separate, equiv. to dis- dis-1 + cernere to separate
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discern
In order to make judgements you must separate what is true from what is false and what is good from what is bad and what is dangerous from what is safe by doing this you are using the ability of discernment.
It is not wrong to correct people.
However, some people will not accept correction and will lie to hide their embarrassment because they don't want to show their weakness.
Becareful, people seek revenge if they perceive your behaviour as an attack.
They may also believe you ought to be corrected by their standards in order to put you in rank.
I suggest re-reading Proverbs, assuming you have before, and Romans to Jude.
