Honing the Gift of Discernment
By Lisa U Maki | Submitted On November 22, 2011
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Expert Author Lisa U Maki
I have always been a trusting person... very trusting for that matter. This brought about a lot of stupid decisions which eventually made me accept that I lacked what the world calls "gut-feel". I had to go through several humbling experiences for me to finally realize that I needed discernment.
When I
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It is knowing when to plan and when to attack; when to stop and when to move; and when to be quiet and when to talk. Wisdom is the ability to make the best choice among different options.
With these definitions of discernment and wisdom, it is very clear that the two go together, side by side. Discernment comes as a result of wisdom and wisdom can 't stand alone without discernment.
Honing the gift of discernment starts by seeking wisdom. Proverbs 9:10 says that the FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM. This is where everything starts. Fear of the Lord is not being scared of an angry and fierce God but having high respect for a holy God. When you respect someone, you will do everything to please that person. So if we fear the Lord, then we will follow what He says in His Word.
God 's Word is meant to lead us to the right path. It was instituted by God so that we know which road to follow. It was designed to make us wise. The more we get deeper in the Word, the wiser we become. The only way a believer can get deep in the Word is through intimacy with Jesus. The more intimate we become with Him, the more we will know Him, and the more we will be able to tap into His wisdom.
Intimacy with Jesus is developed through spending undivided time alone with Him, everyday, through prayer and study of His Word. This intimacy will make a believer sensitive to the Spirit of God. Developing this sensitivity to God 's Spirit is the
Why do we even need wisdom? Wisdom is essential because how is the human race going to learn how to survive efficiently and fully without wisdom? How are people going to learn once you do something and get in trouble you don’t do it again, thus, making you wiser.
Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement; the quality of being wise. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, there is one character who shows a tremendous amount of wisdom. Atticus shows his wisdom throughout the story by teaching Scout how to be young wise girl and teaching her how to read and write. Shows Jem how to be wise and knowledgeable , and shows it in the defending of Tom Robinson.
1) Wisdom is thought to be the collective and individual experience of applying knowledge to the solution of problems.
It cannot be obtained only through age, but in overcoming perilous scenarios and succeeding in experience-filled events. The growing definition of the word “wisdom” sets a feeling to the reader as though she did
What does it mean to have wisdom? Some may say to be wise is to have enough knowledge and good judgment to make well thought out life decisions. Wisdom is a common term mentioned throughout out the New Testament Epistles and the entire Bible. The Bible has a lot to say about wisdom and knowledge. It talks about ways to be wise and ways to be foolish. Through out the Bible there seems to be different types of wisdom and it is described in different ways. Analyzing all types of wisdom and knowledge will help us decide what the Bible means to be wise.
This quote from Elaine Heath and Larry Duggins' book "Missional.Monastic.Mainline." mentioned what I thought of as the quintessential definition of wisdom. Through effort and sacrifice, one can attain pearls of wisdom such as freedom can't be bought cheap, it's better to die with knowledge than to live in ignorance, and ignorance is bliss only for those whose minds are vacant of the veracity of facts.
The first illustration of the difference between wisdom and knowledge comes at the beginning of the story. It happens when Siddhartha is a fairly young boy and he leaves his home because he feels that he is lacking something in his life. As Siddhartha is contemplating what he has learned with the Brahmins, he realizes he has learned all that the Brahmins have for him and that is not enough for him; his emptiness is delineated when the novel says “he had begun to suspect that his worthy father and his other teachers, the wise Brahmins, had already passed on to him the bulk and best of their wisdom, that they had already poured the sum total of their knowledge into his waiting vessel; and the vessel was not full, his intellect was not satisfied, his soul was not at peace, his heart was not still” (5). Although not said at the time, the reader soon finds that this desolation that he was feeling was due to the fact that the Brahmins were only passing their knowledge to
Wisdom is something that all people have to a certain point, but some people just do not use it. Benjamin had wisdom because he has experienced everything, but just never used it. Napoleon uses his wisdom to know how to use propaganda to be able to control the other animals. Old Major was using his wisdom to start a rebellion. Animal Farm, a novel written by George Orwell, uses Benjamin, Napoleon, and Old Major as symbols to show how wisdom manifests in many different ways.
Only after we accept our faults, can we go out and teach others. The only way to be "wiser" is to accept that "neither of us know anything fine and good" (21d).
I feel that my personal relationship with God is the most important thing in my life. I think that we as a church need to focus more on helping others achieve that intimate relationship with their Lord. An article by Edward Collins Vacek examines the three
Aristotle sustains that wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is. For Aristotle, wise people know more than just what something
In the Didascalicon, Hugh of St. Victor stresses that the pursuit of wisdom should be held before any other action of man. Wisdom illuminates the mind so that the mind may return to its natural inclination of reason unique to humans. However, the human mind is infatuated with what its body senses and therefore strays from its nature within. But with instruction the mind can bounce back into seeking the correct goal of perfect good. Wisdom is found through pursuing this good that is obtained through the discipline of philosophy.
What does it mean to be wise? Webster's Dictionary defines the word "wise" as being "marked by deep understanding, keen discerment". Through the telling of the ancient Mariner's tale, the Wedding-Guest became sadder and wiser. He became sad in that he identified himself with the shallow and self-absorbed mariner. However, the mariner changed his ways. The Wedding-Guest became wise through realizing that he himself needed to alter his ways.
Aristotle sustains that wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is. For Aristotle, wise people know more than just what something is; they also know why it is what it is, or what causes it to be what it is. People with wisdom, for instance, a master worker understand not only that fire is hot, but also know why it is hot. Those with experience only, who do not know why something works in a certain manner, cannot teach. Say physicians understand that there is a relationship between the medical condition of this class of patients and the ingredients in this particular drug. They are then motivated to learn why the drug works on these
The first illustration of the difference between wisdom and knowledge comes at the beginning of the story. It happens when Siddhartha is a fairly young boy and he leaves his home because he feels that he is lacking something in his life. As Siddhartha is contemplating what he has learned with the Brahmins, he realizes he has learned all that the Brahmins have for him and that is not enough for him. “He had begun to suspect that his worthy father and his other teachers, the wise Brahmins, had already passed on to him the bulk and best of their wisdom, that they had already poured the sum total of their knowledge into his waiting vessel; and the vessel was not full, his intellect was not satisfied, his soul was not at peace, his heart was not still” (5). Although not said at the time, it is later realized that this emptiness that he was feeling was due to the fact that the Brahmins were only passing their knowledge to Siddhartha; however, this is not wanted he wanted nor needed