28 Jun 2013 – The Year Of The Rising Part 4 Discernment: A must for 2013 & 2014
Everyone wants to succeed in life. Do you? If you are continuing to read, then you do. It all starts with this fact: you have to have discernment. Discernment is necessary for success. It keeps ships in the center of a deep channel and airplanes from falling out of the sky.
Spatial Disorientation
On July 16, 1999 John F Kennedy Jr. died when his Piper Aircraft plunged into the dark Atlantic in the middle of the night. He did not discern his aircraft was losing altitude. He could not see a visual horizon and it was hazy that night. He began to experience what is called spatial disorientation, because he had not yet been trained how to fly by instrumentation. He did not have the ability to read or discern from his aircraft instruments the impending danger that was unfolding before him. He did not know that his current course would fly his small plane directly into the ocean. How long did he fly at this deadly angle? Obviously too long.
John F. Kennedy Jr. started out with a correct course heading. Somewhere it turned deadly, and he didn’t have the necessary discernment to know the difference. The tragedy is the instruments were reporting accurately before his eyes. He couldn’t interpret the danger signs of what they were saying. Was it God’s plan that he and his passengers die that night? I don’t think so. John F Kennedy Jr. failed to discern his circumstances that horrible night and I am concerned America is following the same course heading.
Our founding fathers started us strong, “One Nation Under God.” God gave America wings and we became the most powerful nation in the world. We were blessed as a nation. Somewhere, somehow we have lost our ability to read the danger signs. We have long begun our deadly descent and we are not discerning we are headed for impact.
Defining Discernment
What is discernment? Simply put, discernment is the knowing if something is right or if something is wrong. It leads us quickly to seek resolution if something is wrong. However, discernment is unique in that it is hampered if one’s conscience is damaged or worse inactive. Discernment won’t function properly without a viable conscience. Conscience is the bedrock that discernment is rooted in.
Our conscience is designed to respond to God when He calls. It begins to develop and come alive only when made right with God through Jesus Christ. Without a conscience or God’s guidance, we will be without the ability to avoid disasters that come in life. The most heinous disaster of all is not discerning that Christ is the only way, truth and life.
I am not speaking on behalf of John F Kennedy Jr.’s conscience, because I did not know him personally. But I know the country I have lived in all my life and I believe America’s conscience is severely impaired. I will be 60 soon and this is not the same country I knew as a kid or even a teenager. We don’t have a clue what is inevitable in our future because America’s conscience has spatial disorientation. We can’t see where we are headed and have become blinded by our pursuit of everything else but God. Only God can resuscitate America’s conscience. That will happen when America turns her heart toward the only true God once again.
For Christians, discernment is a necessary way of life. The Holy Spirit gifts discernment, which is an extension of Himself, to His people as a guide. He is all-wise knowing the future and destiny mapped out for each individual. He leads the Christian into the will of God.
The Discernment and Obedience Connection
When my son was very young, I would carry him on one of my arms or on my shoulders wherever I would go. He would put his little arm around my neck and we would look forward together. Very cool. One day I entered a family owned hardware store on the East Coast. First thing Deryck said was, “These people don’t love Jesus.” I was startled. “Why do you feel this way son?” As we made our way down the aisle he pointed up to ceiling. On top of the shelves along the wall were cult statues of a middle eastern religion. The persuasion influencing that belief system was not of the only true King and His kingdom.
My little boy picked up on this climate through discernment of the Holy Ghost. The next thing we always do is ask the Lord what to do with what He just gave us. Then you do what He says. Holy Spirit discernment flies on the wings of obedience, born from direction accessed from the heart of God. Want God to move in your life? Do what He says. ASK! Become a student of asking God. Remember, when you ask, you are privileged to obey. You are then liable if He trusts you with precious items from heaven.
Living in a culture that is embracing anything that is shiny or sparkly, discernment is paramount for the truth seeker. As a result of placing the pursuit of comfort and entertainment at every turn a high value, we have become numb to truth’s call.
Our Role in our Nation
For the sake of our country, our role in America is to walk before God with a clean conscience, a vibrant love for God and His word and crying out for America. He will grant discernment. God will pull back the heavy veil concealing most Americans from the stark reality of her current decaying condition. This condition of America is more disparaging than we know and God will show us how to live and pray to save her.
I believe those who have discernment and pray accordingly will make the difference at this time in history. If God were to pull believers off the soil of America, if the rapture were to take place now, America would fall off the edge into complete darkness. It is the discerning voice of millions of God’s people crying out for this land and her people that prompts the wind of the Spirit of God to blow into the nostrils of America’s conscience. This wind is being released by God and experienced literally by scores of believers in this hour. We must have it evolve into revival wind and fire!
The Rising is Coming
It is coming! Church leaders must prepare. My first experience of this phenomenon took place in a large church in Gresham, Oregon. I was prepared and the people were laughing at my opening statement. I was off to a good start when my eyes were opened to a pillar of fire on one side of the auditorium and a pillar of wind on the other side. It was constant, rotating upward and moving. It threw me off my message and ruined my evening.
I made the mistake of trying to explain what I was seeing as it tunneled through the roof of this huge warehouse style building. I couldn’t do it. I was a wreck. How does one prepare for an encounter such as this? Worse my friend and pastor of this sizable church was not happy with me. Devastated, I quit the ministry that week. My quitting was short lived because I had to preach in my own church that Sunday. I was devastated because my insecurities hidden in performance issue was being upended by being exposed to God’s glory. Little did I know it represented what is to come for which this blog addresses.
I believe this move of God starts in the church and then to the nation. If my experience reflects what the church might face, this move of God will surface insecurities, upending and realigning many pastors and leaders that long for revival. My conviction is this move won’t submit to administration as it will rise in our midst as we yield to the administration of His power. Here we interpret how we steward His presence. Then we step into admin in its purest form. I think we are getting it and I am full of anticipation.
Why am I taking a moment to share regarding the church and leaders? Because the fire and wind needs to be discerned by the leaders of the church today. There is a new way God will be moving and we need to flex with new releases from heaven, it may not be how we thought this move would rise. As this great move rises and unfolds, America will have the choice to turn to God again and claim back her vibrant conscience the world once respected and feared.
It’s coming. We are seeing the fire come on people in the SOG Home Encounters and The Risings. The wind has just begun to visit some of our gatherings reported by people experiencing literal sustained wind and blasts of wind in their faces during worship or into the evening. Some hot! Healings, freedom, impartations and long awaited answers are just a few things that God is releasing. The movement of His presence has begun to rise, so let’s purify our conscience, embrace Holy Ghost discernment and take our role in leading America back into arms of our Father. Not quite sure how? Ask Him and get ready to write down His response to you! Then go do it. Look out America!
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