Stephanie Ike Okafor - How To Discern If You're Hearing God's Voice

Like, when you think about Jesus, you know, one of the first manifestations of the Holy. Spirit that was revealed through him was discernment. He had a knowing of who should follow him, He had a knowing of the times. And I think that is so critical because so many times when we think about the supernatural, the first thing we want to think of is healing and miracles and faith and the prophetic. But before Jesus did any of that, he had walked in discernment, a discerning of the times, a discerning of who people were. He could discern the thoughts of men. Not everyone is an expert at what you are called to do, so you have to have discernment in what you're called to do, and also discernment and who you're asking. I love the conversation about discernment because it is a supernatural gift. It's basically wisdom that you don't have that the Spirit of God can give you. I was ministering at a church and the worship was going on, and the worship sounded beautiful, but something was not right, and I'm like, okay. Something is it? Just it felt even though it sounded beautiful, it sounded like metal in my own ears, and it not that that was what it was. I mean, the vocals, everything was beautiful. And so I said that asking the Lord, and that was a knowing that I had. And so then I'm. Asking the Holy Spirit what is going on here? And what the Lord showed me was that there is unrepented sin. Wow, where they are comfortable in their sin. So it's there. There are now become performers, yeah, and not no longer worshippers. And so the moment that they called me. To come up and for me, especially with ministry, sound is so important that the sound needs to be It almost ushers you into what, you know, whatever the Lord has called me to do. And so I did it in a very suther way. So I just talked about how you know, before we even go any further. It was an auto call moment, and I said, and this auto call moment is for the musicians, it's for the worshippers. And I said, we're gonna start there because oftentimes when we do all too call, you guys are the ones that can hide because you're playing, you're waiting to be called up to sing. I said, right now, I don't need anybody playing. I don't need anyone being ready to sing. And so then I talked about just what sexual sin does and where it places you within how she did and how God could use you. And it was probably and I knew. It was coming from the musicians, but I just said, let me make it a musicians the worship for everybody in the room, but probably eighty percent of the people who were on, you know, on the altar as musicians came down to the altar. That's right. And then there were people in the worship team that came down. And what I shared in that moment again because the supernaturalist is to point people to God. And I'm like, God loves you so much that he does not want you to go another day with this spirit of performance, but he wants you if you're gonna do this, do it right. This is not the place that it's a gig. And if you ever treated like a gig, that is you're playing with holy things as ordinary. And so it was such a beautiful moment for people to get back to the heart of God. And so, yeah, what I love about that is that was not about judgment. That was a culture of repentance, your kindness that leads to repentance. Yes, And I think perhaps it's. More your generation is learning just to put all out on the table, to tell the truth, you know, not to pretend everything's okay or carry on for the sake of service. I mean that took a lot of boldness, but the liberty and the freedom that comes from that. Because I'm thinking of my generation, we probably maybe have thought that and then thought, well, you. Know, Lord, you deal with it. But that I mean, think of the gift that was to those who were there, because I think there's still so much shame attached to who we are as believers that we think if people knew me, It's like we long to be known. But you think, well if I'm known, you know, then maybe I will be loved. But the beauty of Christ as we're fully known and fully loved. The gift of discernment is something that God has given us to be able to walk into a situation and wisely be able to ascertain what is going on. Basically, you can see the unseen. I'm not talking like with your natural eyes, but I am saying that since we walk by faith and not by sight, discernment is when you are operating with your spirit man more than with your natural eyes, you can sense what's going on. I remember one of my friends who went to she just recently started going to Alcoholics Anonymous, and she said it's so helpful because for years she pretended it wasn't an issue. But she said, in that room, I don't have to pretend. And she said, I often wish I could go to church and not have to pretend. You know, you just tell the truth and it's all out there. So I love that you did that, because then it is a gift to the body of Christ. It's not a punishment from God. And I think it goes back and how we talked about intimacy, right, because when you know Jesus, you know that the things that he reveals is not to put you in a position of power or you know, this place of like, oh I'm better than you. Know that everything he reveals is to draw you back to his heart. You know that's beautiful. I mean, that's a powerful reminder both of your stories. You can have the best singers, the best preachers, people with the best talent, and there can still not be a move of God because of a character issue, because of a heart issue, because there is an unspoken sin and how important it is. This is important that you have a real relationship with God, that you're surrendered to God, that we are confessing it and bring out into the light so the spirit of God can move. I think that's powerful totally. I'm thinking as you're talking, you know, obviously that's in a church context, pastoral or ministry context. I think the most lacking gift in the Body of Christ in this moment is the gift of just and the discerning of spirits, and we could take that out of you know, ministers on a Sunday to Christians scrolling through social media's true and as I sometimes and I really am not on it much anymore, like as in spending time reading it. I certainly post what I need to post, but that's about it pretty much. Because the lack of discernments is unbelievable to me. The voices people are listening to. I think, are you not discerned? I mean, this is Christianity one oh one, and that we open our hearts and our spirits, our ears and our eyes to all voices, to all people, and which it does affect you. Discernment is so crucial. So not only that, like you know the power of God in a meeting, but in our own lives, in our own homes, in our own relationships, whatever you are, whether you're married or single, or have children or don't have children. I'm constantly asking God daily all the time for discern when it comes to running, you know, either a twenty one or what I'm doing with propel. When it comes to my daughter, I have a daughter in college in Paris. If you don't think even when she's texted, I'm going God, help me to discern what is this coming from. I mean, I'm trying to make this practical to people because I literally am when my husband comes home, if there's like, Lord, help me to be discerning, where's he at, what's going on? Where is that? Where do I need to pray for certain things we would avoid. I think a huge degree of anxiety and stress, disappointment, disillusionment, depression. I'm not talking about clinical cases, you know, put that disclaimer out there, but I am saying I think a lot of our lives, emotions, and what we are allowing into our lives in this moment through the lack of discernment is unbelievable. Like anybody can tell us anything I'm like y'are with a bit of discernment. You just know, I keep myself at a pretty even keel, mostly because I'm discerning what am I gonna listen. To, what am I not? What am I allowing in? What am I not? And I actually don't know. I don't think I could be too urgent about trying to say to everyone watching this that I think a high level of stress and anxiety is because of a lack of discernment in our lives. One hundred percent. The gift of the sermon is so powerful. I mean, you know, we see it as one of the first manifestations of the Holy Spirit through the life of Jesus. Because the gift of the sermon keeps you on track right. There's so many things that are trying to distract you from finishing well and oftentimes from even just starting right, from navigating life everyday. Life requires discernment. And so when you're moving in the gift of discernment, first of all, you can recognize people that want to walk in or walk out of your life. Right when a relationship ends. The gift of the sermon could actually tell you, hey, that's a blessing, that it's ending when people are excited about coming into your life, the gift of the sermon could tell you. Hey, who sent this person? Are they coming because they're you know, there's something that the Lord brought them in my life to or brought me or you know something I have to do, or are you actually coming to bring me to a level of unworthiness? Right? I always tell people, when the enemy wants to destroy your life, he sends a person. When God wants to elevate your life, he sends a person. So even in your relationships with your friendships, the sermon is so important. I mean, just down to people that you date right, because you date the wrong person, what does that do to you know, a young lady or a gentleman. You know, you go through years of feeling unworthy, feeling like you're on love because of what a person did. So it's just it's so needed. You know, it can give you a revelation of what's happening in a person. There's so many to it, but it's part of who we are. We need the gift of the sermon. It's like your navigation. It's like your GPS. It keeps you on track. Okay, where do I need to go what do I need to avoid? Oh, that's a stop sign, you know, let me stop. It's it's for me. It's that And I think even like when you think about Jesus, you know, one of the first manifestations of the Holy Spirit that was revealed through him, what's discernment. He had a knowing of who should follow him. He had a knowing of the times. And I think that is so critical because so many times when we think about the supernatural, the first thing we want to think of is. Healing and miracles and faith and the prophetic. But before Jesus did any of that, he had walked in discernment, a discerning of the times, a discerning of who people were. He could discern the thoughts of men. And so for us to what you're saying, especially in our generation, we just see people, you know sometimes on social media they're like, you know, who are your favorite like people that you love to listen to, and the people they group together. It's like, don't talk me, how is this even possible? How could you be here and there at the same time. And I think it's just a revealing bell of where people really are. Well, it's I'm just thinking, like you know to your point about Jesus, and it reminds me of when I finished Bible College in nineteen ninety. At the Bible school I went to, at the end of when you were graduating, they would bring what people that had been affirmed in the body as profits, people that I didn't know, never met any of us for our graduating class, and those people would prophesy over you. I still now, this is how old it is. The dinosaurs were there. It's cassette tape, so I still and we would always test it. They would record it so that you had the cassette tape what they prophesied over me, amongst a number of things, All of those things that they prophesied in nineteen ninety have come to pass. You couldn't have made this up. I could play you the cassette tape now and you would freak with what I'm doing. But one of them was exactly about that with Jesus, and they said, what you will have to do through your life and ministry is it says in John that Jesus did not give ear to man because he knew what was in the heart of man. He could discern. Like I said, because the same crowd that was, you know, this week saying Hosannah, next week saying crucify him. And it was like, Christine, you cannot build your life in ministry on the crowd, because the same crowd that's going to be applauding you this week is going to be sticking a knife in your back the next week. And so you're going to have to learn to discern the voice of the spirit, the direction of the Holy Spirit. And it's held me for thirty five years, like to get that, you know, as a twenty two year old in nineteen ninety year or twenty four year old, and then to have navigated my life so then was the internet social media, not to get dragged into all of that, and to be able to be in it but not of it, and discern in many places of the things that I do often it's not even a lot of people are very nervous about the platform, but I think doing a lot of what I do is Bishop Jakes once said to me, Christine, it's not the platform that will kill you, it's the green room. Be very careful about what you hear in the green room that will kill you before the platform ever will. And because you'll get very disappointed and very disillusioned, and that kept me again is like a lot of discernment. Don't get caught up in that culture either. And so it was like Jesus from the beginning did not give ears to man because he knew what was in the heart of man. And we are living in an era where believers are giving ears to every man and nowhere to God. That's why this week's very, very crucial as we unpack this, because I think people are going to be set free as they're watching this, or at least have the scales lifted off their eyes, which is my prayer for this week, because the amount of deception in the body through the lack of discernment is so telling, and people are in bondage, and people are not being effective and living a victorious, overcoming Christian life primarily because of a lack of discernment. I think in many ways, I actually. Believe that God has given discernment to every believer if they ask for it, and it is a gift that is there and it is available to. All of us. I can't tell you how many times in one day I ask God for the gift of decer I can walk into a room and I'm like God, I've got to discern what's going on do with my mother ing of my daughters, as a wife to Nick in everyday normal life, I need the discernment of God so that I can step into the wisdom of God. And so a lot of us. I think what we do is, you know, it's one thing to go with kind of your knowledge or your understanding. You have to understand that discernment is really different to knowledge and understanding. You can know a lot of things in your head, but have no spiritual discernment. You can understand things with your mind, but have no spiritual discernment. Spiritual discernment comes from God. And just like wisdom James says, you have not because you ask not, you black wisdom, ask God. I believe it's exactly the same for discernment. If we like it, which we all do in our natural sense, we ask God for it. And God is a good father who liberally gives us every good gift from above. I think one of the most maybe misunderstood gifts is discernment. You know, it sounds like it's a very hyper spiritual word, whereas it simply means that we understand what's going on around us, that the Lord can reveal that to us. And one of the best ways to do that is through knowing God's word. You know, there's so many crazy messages out there in the world. Make sure that you know the Word of God, because when you make the Word of God the plumb line for the truth, and you know you're safe. I love that you brought up that this was a supernatural way that Jesus encountered God, because I was. Thinking about that. I never thought about that. But before Jesus started his public ministry, he fasted for forty days and he was in the desert, and the devil came and tempted him, lied to him three times, and Jesus quoted back Scripture three times. And you might not think that sounds so supernatural, but Jesus knew what. The Word of God said. And it's easy for us to think, well, Jesus was probably tired and weak, but the Word of God actually says he was surprisingly stronger as he was spending real intimate time with God, as he had shut out the noise around him, and he knew the word of God before that moment, and he was spending time with God in that moment he was able to discern the difference between what was from God and what was not from God. It's so important for us to say. Because we're living in a world that maybe we can't read books about how to navigate this from fifty years ago. So we have to consider there's nothing new under the sun, but these same biblical truths that last forever now we have to apply to our modern world. And it's important for us to know. Not everyone with the microphone is preaching the word of God. So you have to really consider who are you following and who are you listening to. And you need to know the word of God yourself. You need to know the word of God yourself. You need to have a real one on one relationship with Jesus so that you know the difference between what some people are saying and what God has actually said. For me, I think, I think these are two things that help me. You know, if you're hearing you're saying, you know I've heard from God or I feel this from God. But how do I know the difference. One thing is putting it against. The word of God. God will never call you to do something that is against his word. He is not leading you to do something that is against what His Word has said to do. There's something God's calling you to do, and there's a way He's called you to live. He is not telling you to tell off your coworker in the name of Jesus. One of the pastoral care meetings we had with the person came in because they wanted to leave their spouse for someone else. And they said, but God said I could, because he said I can do all things. Oh, I was ready, And you're saying, no, you can't do that. You can. Nobody would love to. I once heard a preacher say, you can find you can make the Bible say anything you want it to. You can find that one. Scripture and take out all the context and give yourself permission for something God is not given you a pathway for it. You know, there is no doubt that the key to strengthening our discernment is actually by digging deep into the Word of God. The more of God's Word that we know, the more we can operate in discernment. Now, of course, the Word of God contains the words of God, and it contains the. Spirit of God, and God's spirit in his word, and God's spirit on the inside of us. As we internalize God's words, there is power in those We learn to understand the character of God through his word, we understand the ways of God through his word. So when we understand God's ways, in God's character through his word throughout history that's been recorded for us in the Word of God, then we are able to take those same things and apply those ways in our normal, everyday life. So the more about God we know from his word, the more like God we can operate in the world around us and walk in the discernment and the wisdom and the grace of God. And so some helpful tools want is to know the word of God yourself. If you feel led, if you feel you're discerning, God is telling you to do something or to say something. I would put it against the word of God. Does that line up with what God's word says and what. The character of God is? Sometimes I'll share it with someone I trust. It's good to have accountability in your life. But I say that loosely because you're not held accountable by everyone in your life. Not everyone is an expert at what you are called to do. So you have to have discernment in what you're called to do and also discernment in who you're asking. So, for example, something I felt called to do that was different than something I had already been doing. I'm like, Lord, is this you? Lord? Are you calling me to do this new thing? God? Are you calling me into this new season? I've counted the cost. I think it's the Holy Spirit. There's other people telling me it's not the Holy Spirit. So I'm in the Word of God saying does this line up with what God says? And then I call Christine, I call someone who loves God more than she loves me. I call someone. Who is spirit filled, and I call someone who knows what I am called to do in my lifetime. Someone I have a relationship with that I trust. And I think I texted you and you were about to preach, and you had like ten minutes or something, So ten minutes before I need to preach, I said, yeah, well you passed for me and you had it on the phone. And at this point, I feel like the Holy Spirit is telling me this in I see it lining up with the Word of God. But I'm also asking someone that I trust, that knows the Word of God, that knows the Holy Spirit, and saying I'm hearing this from God, and she's saying one hundred percent, yes, it lines up with all these other things. So this is not something out of character, you know what I mean. This is something that ends with God's character and my character and what God's calling me to do. So you can put it against the word of God, and you can also I would share it with people that you trust that also know God. If I am having a hard time in my marriage, I am not going to other people who hate their spouses. Absolutely, if I'm having a hard time, if I'm having a hard time gossiping, I'm not going to other people who love to hate on things, so love to be against things and love to gossip. I need somebody that loves God, that loves God more than they love me, and that has the Holy Spirit in them. And it wasn't too long. A couple months later, we were having a meal together. With a bunch of other of our friends and you passed a note to me that was you just saying, I affirm also the choice that you've made to follow God into this new season. And I have that note on my desk. God will bring the affirmation in your life if you ask him for it. God, I think I heard from you. Would you, somehow supernaturally, through your word, through accountability, and through friends let me know that this was the right thing. And if you want God, you can have God. If you ask God to answer, he will. Sometimes if we send to the Lord is calling us to do something, I like to the phrase a holy hunch, we might need discernment. And is this really God? This is where a good. Godly community can come around and surround you and help you vet that. For me personally, if I sense that God is calling me to do something, to reconcile with somebody, to confess a trespass, to make a big decision, to make a big move in ministry, I'm not just gonna I have a holy hunch. I have a feeling, and I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna run it by a godly community that's gonna help walk in discernment. They're gonna help me discern does this stand on God's business? Does it go with the word of God? Does it seem like something that God is calling me to? And if those three questions are yes, I move forward. That is godly discernment with community. The song is just something that feels completely outside your comfort zone too. I never really wanted to be in women's ministry because I always thought I find women a challenge. You. I used to find women a challenge because sometimes, like when I was in seminary, all my best friends were guys because they were just much more straightforward. Literally, I spoke at a small conference. It was a close conference for mission in countries where they would lose their life if they were exposed. And it was a friend of mine, George Otis, who asked me if I would speak there. And at the end of the conference, I got this letter from a woman who on her flight back to Turkey, and she said, while you were speaking, God told me ten things about your life, and only the first three at that point made sense. But number eight, God us about to open this door into the lives of women, if you will say yes. And I'm thinking, well, I'm glad there's that. Little Cavia in there. And if you'll say yes, you know, when you know something is from God, you know, it's like I felt I was an holy ground when I was reading it, so I put it in the back of my Bible. And then I get this call from Steve Ardiburn saying we've begun this new ministry for women and really feel like you're supposed to be part of it. And I pulled that out and it was like I needed that confirmation. If Steve had just called me and said, Hey, do you want to do this, I would have said no, But I had this. God was kind enough to give me this word earlier on of this is something that's coming up, So just have your heart open and ready. And I just think that's the kindness of God too, and confirming in different ways. Yeah, this is something that I'm calling you to. So sometimes it feels like a stirring that you don't know right what it is. Sometimes it feels like a discontentment and you don't know what it is right like sometimes before we have the vocabulary for what we feel, it might be an unsettling. It might be that a grace has moved something you had a grace for before, now you don't have a grace for. I think that's a great a term to put to it, this. Stirring of the Holy Spirit, this questionnaing of God might have something else, a discontentment of where you are, God moving grace to somewhere else. I think that's some powerful language. An important way that the Holy Spirit has helped me be more discerning in my everyday life is bring to mind scriptures that I have already read. For example, I try my best to be actively engaged in God's Word, not because I'm super spiritual, but because I'm super not, and I will get in my head. I will start to have fear. I will want to. Constantly defend myself if I don't know who I am based on God's word. So I try to have a rhythm in my life of being in God's Word every day or almost every day. And there are times when I'm in a hard situation or in a confusing moment where I need the Holy Spirit to remind me. Of what God has already said. We can often want God to say something new to us, but God has already said everything that we need to know to know Him and obey Him in his word. So often I'll be in a difficult position and say, Holy Spirit, remind me what God has said, Remind me who I am, remind me how I should respond. And I find that when I am. In God's Word faithfully, the Holy Spirit will bring to mind what I have already read. If you are looking for guidance from God today, I would encourage you to do the same. The discernment extends also into the timing of God. Say you might get a stirring, a sense, a prompting. Let's give an example. Some people especially that are like, man, this is what I want to do now, some of the things that I'm doing now I'm fifty eight, So say what I might be known for a twenty one human trafficking? Now, people go, did you always know? Well, when I was twenty one, I didn't even know human trafficking existed, So no, I didn't. And when I was thirty, I didn't, and it wasn't until I was forty. So I'm thinking some of the things that perhaps ultimately the Lord might be calling you to you don't even know exist right at this moment, So so be really careful. At twenty to go, I have to lock all of this in. I'm discerning that God wants me to be a worldwide Whatever you might be timing is crucial because what we do is we start scrolling and start thinking. You have to discern between oh I'd like to do that verse God is calling me to do that and I think that, you know, a lot of people are out there calling themselves and God didn't call them, and so then they're wondering why God's not blessing it. And I'm like, he's not a obligated to bless what he didn't call or in that sense. So time is very crucial to say, Okay, I've got a stirring, I've got a prompting, and it doesn't mean that tomorrow I have to start posting hashtag worldwide evangelists profit Apostle. I mean you could call me the right. Reverend, doctor apostle, you know, evangelists Christine or just Chris. I'm either anointed or I'm not. God either has his hand on my life or he doesn't. And I think, again we get into this, I've either got to label something or I'm not even discerning the right timing because you might have even discerned the right prompting. But then if the timing's off, then you know, David was anointed in First Samuel sixteen. He's anointed as a seventeen year old to be the king of Israel, but it's not until Second Samuel chapter five, which is twenty years and twenty chapters later that he is appointed to king over both kingdoms. But you're talking twenty years, twenty chapters. I I'm really glad that he didn't infer Samuel sixteenth sort of come back, take a selfie, you know, post it on Instagram, uploaded hashtag King of. Israel, because he had a lot of cave. Time between this and what we do is then we get disappointed or discouraged or we you know, walk away from the Lord or have some form of deconstruction or whatever because we think God didn't come through and the Lord's like, I'd never told you it was going to happen overnight. Again, a lot of the angst we go through is through a lack of discernment of either what we're called to do or the timing of God, or when to say something or when not to say something, when to post something, when not to post something. I'm just like looking at things going what. You're saying is not incorrect, where you're saying it, how are you're saying it, and when you're saying it, everything about that is off. So it's like again that pause that truly discern there has to be a moment of pause, and I don't know what it is. Maybe some of you can speak to this generation better, But between pulse like thought and the thing, I'm like, Wow. There was a time in our life when Barry and I weren't sure if we were supposed to move from Nashville, where we were living, to Dallas. We felt like like we should, but it was a big deal. You know, our son was just about to get to second grade, which meant, you know, he's like six seven years old. And when you uproot your whole family you might know this what it's like to have to move. You really need to hear from God. And so I really I asked the Lord, you know, to make it really really clear. And initially things that we thought would fall into place and didn't. And then I got a call out of the blue from the school that we wanted to place Christian in to say that a place had opened up, and round about the same time, our. House had sold. And so it was just this asking God for peace, because that, to me is almost bigger than just the signs. There's something that the Holy Spirit longs to give us. If you're looking for discernment, if you feel confused about something, don't afraid to press pause. And now when you feel that peace of God in your heart, to me, that's when you have God's green light, that discernment that says, yeah, move ahead. Christianity, in fact, is so much about wisdom and discretion and discernment. It's actually such an integral part of our faith. And I don't know whether it's we haven't been teaching wisdom literature, we haven't been pursuing wisdom, but there is a wisdom deficit on the earth, and discernment falls into that category. I would think, well, wisdom takes time, and you had mentioned something generationally, and I'm going to speak. I'm not going to speak in absolutely, I'm gonna speak in just an observation. The difference, and a marked difference that's happening in history is currently gen z have been born without an understanding of not having a smartphone. This is the generation where it's. Company to change. So we had microwaves, we have freeways, we have speed zones. Everything in our life we had access to speed. So we think God spoke. Therefore, I must speak where this idea of time isn't something that feels very natural. I love the conversation about discernment because it is a supernatural gift. It's basically wisdom that you don't have that the spirit of God can give you. And I love the practical point that everyone's bringing in because sometimes we can think about discernment and think it is only for ministry or it is only in the workplace. No, you walk into your classroom and you say, God, give me discernment on whether or not the professor is saying something aligned with your worldview. I'm going to the market, Give me discernment. Can I buy a meal for somebody who might be hungry? Give me discernment on how to discipline my child. Wisdom is God given. We can learn things, but wisdom is God given, and discernment is God's wisdom on display for our lives. And you know, it just pulls me back to the scripture that says, you know, in Christ we live and move and have our beings like that is practical everyday life. In Him, we live, we move, and have our being. And I believe that we just have to get back to the place of in Christ. Beautiful, you know, that place of abiding in God, because that is what gives us the sensitivity for moments that would just feel like random, but that the Lord is highlighting something that is not random at all, you know, getting to the place of you know, there's a scripture that that always just keeps me at the feet of Jesus when it talks about there is a way that seems right unto man, but in the end it leads to death. Right, and so for us is that? And I remember asking the Lord. I'm like, how could they be a way that seems right to me? But the end is destruction? The end is death? What does that look like? It says, that's when you lose your sensitivity. Wow, you know, when you lose the place of being broken before me, when you don't have a prayer life, when you don't have a place of intimacy with me, then something else will be leading you. And even in our generation, especially with social media and everything being so accessible, what that also does. It stirs up more jealousy, it stirs up more envy, it stirs up more comparison. And so what people are so convinced is God. It's not because you know, they didn't hear something, they didn't feel something. But maybe what you're hearing and feeling is coming from your personal desire, is coming from that voice of envy, that voice of jealousy, that voice of strife, and you, because you don't want to acknowledge you have that in you, you make it about God. Oh, God is telling me to do this, and then you lose sight of Wait. Yes, God might be telling you to do something, but there is a haste in your spirit that is not coming from the spirit of God. There is a you need to do this now, and that's not God works through process, right, And so what I would even encourage people, you know, measure your wisdom to your brokenness, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning, it is of wisdom, it's the beginning of knowledge. And so if you don't find yourself in a place where you are truly broken before the Lord, where you truly believe that your dependency is on God, where you just you can go a week without prayer and you don't feel it. There is an issue. Something else might be driving you, and it might not be the spirit of God. Maybe this particular gift to give to discernment might feel confusing to you. Let me bring a little bit of clarity. Discernment is simply listening to God speaking to you through his wisdom. Maybe it's walking through through a room and you sense something, you discern something in your spirit. Hey, trust that, but then vet it through the act of prayer. Maybe you're going into a university classroom and you know that there's gonna be a lecture that might feel controversial or different to your biblical worldview. Ask the Lord for discernment. Maybe you have two kids. One is type A, one is type B, one is super organized, one is super chaotic. Ask God for discernment and how to parent each of those children to their personality types. Discernment is a gift. It's something that we should openly ask God for. It might feel confusing, but if we view the lens of discernment is wisdom from God that is accessible to us. It makes it way easier to hold on. To and to have the wisdom of God. You have to spend time with God. Yeah, you have to. You know. Twenty twenty four's Oxford Word of the Year. Did you guys all see this? Every year, Oxford puts out their word for the year that defines the world for the year, and twenty twenty four's word for the year was brain rot. Are you familiar with this term? It is talking about the thing that happens to our brains literally, medically, scientifically when we are scrolling consuming mindless media and not engaging. It's scrolling through mindless media that's not engaging. So it's not talking about someone sent you something that was something important to you and you read it and you shared it and you talked about and engaged. It's something about that. It's about clips of things that are just taking up your time, which you need to have a real relationship with God, taking up your energy and capacity, which you need to do the things God's called. You to do. And also, if your brain's just thinking all the time and consuming all the time, it's not resting, which is something God has also called us to do in him. God wants us to rest in Him and spend time with Him so that He can fill us and rejuvenate us. We can do the things we're called to do with energy, capacity and time, but instead we've become a world defined by filling up our time, energy space, and brain power with mindless media. Is that we're not engaging with. And so I don't mean to say that everything that technology brings is negative, because it's what you do with it. I don't mean to say that anything that someone sends you that you engage with is negative. But I mean when we come to a place when we are spending all the time that we need to have a relationship with God, and spending all of our time that we need to have the wisdom of God, and going to other places. Of course we don't know how to hear from God. Of course we don't have God's wisdom and discernment. So I think a lot of us are saying, I want God, but we're going to the wrong wall. We're saying I want to hear from God, but we're filling up our time with all of this other noise. It's a different kind of pornography. Yeah, we tend to think of pornography only as sexual. I think there's a common pornography at the moment. This to do just absorbing absolutely from whether it's scrolling through social media or keeping the world noisy, or turning on the radio or having the television on. Noise, noise, noise, noise, noise. I'm coming to love sacred space. It's just a quiet place where you can because I think that's when you do begin to discern the voice of God. But when you have so many voices yelling at you. Sometimes it's hard to hear. You know what voice is the voice of God. A way that you can spend real time with God that will help you grow in wisdom and discernment is I would say two things. Spend time in God's Word and spend time with God's people. This is what I mean by that. I mean find a way where you can engage in God's word. If reading God's Word for you has become stale and routine, and you feel like you're not getting anything out of it, then perhaps try a new translation, Perhaps try a different time of day to read it. Perhaps try listening to it on audiobook. Find a way where you can engage in God's words word, and also find a way where you can engage with another person. That might be joining a small group at your church. That might look like going out on a coffee date with a friend once a month or having a zoom video call with a friend. Once a week. But be in God's word and talk about it with God's people so that you can have conversations that help you think about how to apply God's word today. These are two practices that have helped me grow in my faith and have helped me turn down the rest of the noise of life and turn up the voice of God in my life. But you're right, Hosannah, I'm spending time alone with the Lord, with the Word of God. And I think to the something about when you feel this urgency to do something. That's when I said, I feel a bit of a red flag, you know, when I feel like I need to do it. Then I feel like I'm reacting. I'm not responding, and that's when I want to pause and be quiet. And I think every dumb decision of my has been even in ministries, like just just too quick to yes, yeah, and just acting too soon and not just pondering, pausing or just it's always been acting outside of the timing of God and immediately yeah. I think one of the real gifts of discernment is the peace that it brings because we live in such a world at the moment where when I look up over the last year and I think of all the shifts and all the changes, so much going on, and for me, one of the gifts of discernment is the peace that it brings because of the promise of If anyone lacks wisdom, ask and you can ask God and he will give you discernment. We don't have to be blown around by every win, by everything that's happening out there. That the Holy Spirit can be that peace in our life. That yes, that's for me. One of the greatest things that the Holy Spirit has become in my life is this the yes of God. You know, we were just away with our girls, and you know, my girls are twenty two and eighteen, so they would still being the younger category that they like to remind me I'm not. But amongst their friends at college, I thought, wow, in my college years now, I was old enough that there was no internet in my college years, so we weren't sitting around going, man, I just love some peace. I know it's so weird, but here's my daughter's and that's their generation is asking, and I'm thinking, what has changed. So much in one generation from mine. To my daughters that at college it didn't even cross your mind because you sort of had a forced piece because I didn't know what anyone else was doing. Now because I had a landline. Man, you know those phones connected by like you could only make a one call and your mum would be yelling at you. If it was three minutes, you know, And yet it really made me on this trip and Michael's it's a miracle of God. I'm not even saying it's good parenting. I don't know why, but somehow my daughter's never got onto the whole social media thing. It's like, this is grace. But I think that has really helped them because they just don't know. And Catherine said to me, you know, Mum, ignorance is bliss. I thought the kid's twenty two. I said, you know what, Catherine, that's a really good ignorance of everything you don't need to know. I said, pause it. You know, if you compare yourself amongst yourself, you're not wise. I go. It just stirs up a whole lot of stuff. Now, ignorance about who you are in Christ. That's dumb. But you know, you need to know the things that God wants you to know. But a lot of your generation knows a lot of things that you don't need to know because it's just taking up storage space and causing the anxiety. You were talking about. But it was fascinating to me to think that a twenty two year old and an eighteen year old in their friend group. What they wanted was peace. Wow. Is that wild? Right? And the discernment of God gives you peace within you, and it brings peace to the people around you. That's the discernment of God. To not say something that could. Cause more division. It brings peace within you, and it brings peace to other people. The discernment to say, don't say that right now, don't say that in that setting, don't say that in that tone. Pray about it and see what the Holy Spirit says. It brings peace in our lives, and it brings peace the world around us. That we're not just speaking out of our own flesh or our own ego or our own urgency. But when we say, Holy Spirit, is that you would you keep bringing it to mind after I've had some time to settle, I've had some time to come down. I think it brings peace within and around us. I think when the Disciples were in the boat that night and the Mediterraneans, you know, which can suddenly get like real crazy, and Jesus stands up and he speaks one word, one one word peace, and everything settles and those around settled too. The sermon is being able to hear the voice of God we were talking about a cacophony of voices that are pooling for our attention, YouTube, podcasts, social media, sermons, church, our kids, our family, our friends, games. Our coworkers. There's so many voices. It's there's a din, there's a chatter that is deafening right now. So how do we distinguish the voice of our father. I grew up in a large family, and we were a very social family, very active family. And so my dad realized if we're at a large event, his voice isn't going to carry like everyone else's. And so we had a family whistle. I'm not kidding you. I don't know if it's a Hispanic thing or not, but my cousins have a family whissle. My dad's I could be at. Disneyland, I could be at a sporting event, I could be at church, and I hear this. That intonation. All five of my dad's kids and his wife and the dog are like. Where's that. I believe if you are trained to hear the voice of your. Father, it will cut across anything. And so I want people to know discernment is that's my daddy's voice. That's my dad's call for me. So it doesn't matter how loud it is. In any situation, when my Daddy calls, I could hear it. So my hope, my Ardent prayer is that people are hungry to hear the voice of God when it comes. To the spiritual gifts. I'm going to encourage everyone to ask for every gift and wait and see what God reveals to you. I'm also going to tell you and encourage you. That you can ask for a specific gift for specific moment and just invite the Holy Spirit to do what the Holy Spirit's gonna do. So instead of saying I don't have the gift of discernment, I'm gonna invite you. I'm gonna challenge you. I'm going to say, can you be curious. Can you ask God what gifts you want to give me today? What gifts you want to give me for my life? But for every situation. Discernment, which is the wisdom of God, is only going to serve us for our favor and for our benefit. Whether it's raising children, whether it's walking into a university classroom, whether it's a meeting with the doctor. Discernment will help us understand the wisdom that only God can provide. So instead of saying I. Don't have it, I dare you to say, God, if you want me to have. This gift of discernment, supernatural discernment, give me supernatural discernment and let him surprise you. My prayer is that there is a hunger and a desire for the supernatural revelation of who God is, the voice of our Father in our lives. And so I'm going to pray over those that are listening. The prayer yesterday was that we would have a desire to be close to God. Now my prayer today is that people would be hungry, voracious and dare God to reveal himself. I know we're not supposed to test the Lord. I'm not saying to test the Lord. I'm just saying, how big are you asking God to be in your life? And then when he whistles, when he speaks, have the courage to obey and respond. Can you join me in prayer, ladies? Yeah? I love that. So the Living God, we invite you into this space. You are entering into homes and cars as people. Are listening right now. I pray that there is a voracious, hunger and appetite to hear your voice. Above anyone else's. So we're asking for a supernatural indwelling of your gift. This is a gift. Why would we want this gift? We want to know your voice. Can we have an ear to discern? What is your voice versus the voice of the world. Empower us today to do the things that you have called us to do, and give us the ears of discernment to hear you when you speak in Jesus Mighty. Nay then, and. Connect with us on social media and let us know how our team can pray for you. I remember there was a friend in my life that was introduced to me by someone else, and this was a time where the gifts of discernment really helped me to just navigate myself out of some dangerous waters. And this was someone who just seemed just amazing, you know. And I remember one day when the Lord was like, I want you to really just, you know, break away from this person and not in a place of judgment, not in the place of their terrible but because they were compatible to I would say, the enemy's agenda. And when the Lord had told me like, hey, have distance between you and this person. This is not someone that should be in your inner circle. It didn't make sense to me at the time, but I knew that even the way that the Lord was showing it to me, it came out of love. My reaction was not to go tell people like, oh my gosh, there's something wrong with this person. It was just so silently, you know, and slowly just brings separation to that friendship. And I was so glad I did, because it took me years to later find out how destructive this person really was. And so I just thank God for, you know, just that gift of discernment in that moment.