Eureka! I Think I’ve Got It! (Discernment - Part 3)

What to do when you think God has given you an answer.

For the last two weeks I’ve discussed discernment. I began with what discernment is then discussed how answers might come. I will finish up by discussing what you do once you think God has given you an answer.

“Walk around in the decision”

One great way I’ve used to decide whether or not I have discerned the right answer is to “walk around in the decision” for a while. For instance, if I’m discerning whether or not to take a job and I feel God pulling me towards the job, in my mind I decide I have taken the job. I take time to see what that decision feels like. Is there anxiety with the decision or does it feel peaceful? Am I excited to begin the job or am I already dreading it?

Am I afraid? I compare it to my fear from the past. I dislike change so if it’s the same fear I get when my life changes and something new is happening, that’s pretty normal. If it’s fear because I have never done this before, that is normal too. Being able to compare how I’ve felt in the past lets me understand if this is my normal reaction to change or something different. If this fear is like when I’ve made a bad choice, God might be warning me not to make the choice. I pay attention to that fear.

If I have time, I’ll do the same process with the opposite answer. If I don’t take the job, how do all the answers to the above questions feel? It helps affirm my decision.

Again, this is still all of the discernment process so I seek God throughout the questions. I let Him point me to the right and wrong answers. I used to think that I needed to take all feelings out of the discernment process. I’ve learned that is foolish. I listen to my feelings and emotions with the Holy Spirit. He helps guide me to the right answer.

DO IT

Last but not least, I follow Nike’s slogan and “JUST DO IT!” Once I’ve prayed, listened, paid attention to all the things around me, walked around in the decision, and made the decision, I DO IT!

I always remember that God is a God of second, third, fourth, and a hundredth chances. Even when I discern incorrectly (trust me, I’ve done it numerous times), he will redeem that decision. I just have to ask him back into the process and discern all over again.

If you’d like to help support the website, follow this link to purchase the books mentioned in this three part series:

• Lawrence, and Frank Charles Laubach. Practicing His Presence. Christian Books, 1981.

• Nouwen, Henri. Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life. HarperOne, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2015. .

Another source used:

“Episode 7: The Art and Practice of Spiritual Discernment.” Transforming Center, 10 Apr. 2020, transformingcenter.org/2017/05/episode-7-art-practice-spiritual-discernment/.