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“Why is it that when we speak to God we are said to be praying but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?”
*Comedian, Lily Tomlin
Spiritual discernment is the process of deciding the will of God for our lives. At times, the will of God might be our freedom to choose among different options. Likewise, we might sense specific direction at other times. Discernment, also, will often entail, not a clear Word from God, but, rather, will be a decision made based on the best information we have, after examining the information prayerfully and patiently. However we determine what we might call the will of God, discernment is the process.
Dallas Willard writes, “The Word of God is not foreign to routine reality; it is at the very heart of it” (Hearing God). Spiritual discernment is not an extra to your life, but discernment arises from the concrete details of life.
Therefore, Willard speaks of “free-hearted collaboration with Jesus,” “conversational communion,” and a “conversational relationship” with God. We are in a personal relationship with God in Christ and, therefore, argues Willard, it is illogical that there would not be personal communication going on between the Christian and God.
But, how do we listen to this communication from God to us, seeing we do not hear God audibly as we hear other persons speak to us? I make some suggestions.
1. Listen to the counsel of persons you trust to be spiritually sensitive and have your best interests in mind.
2. Remain in an ongoing relationship with a Spiritual Director.
3. Practice meditative listening, wherein you offer God prayer and, then, in Silence remain prayerfully open to the Holy Spirit.
4. Consistently practice a meditative mode of reading Scripture, like lectio divina or spiritual reading.
5. Read from the lives and words of the great saints in Christian history to glean wisdom for daily living.
6. When making major life-changing decisions, gather a discernment group of trusted spiritual companions to sit with you and listen to your sense of the leading of God, while you allow them to reflect back and question you on matters of your process of decision-making.
7. Consider the practical aspects pertaining to the decision, for sometimes plain common sense is the best indicator of the wiser decision.
8. Be cautious if, when making a decision, you sense a sudden loss of peace and equanimity that cannot be attributed to the anxiety arising from the challenges or uncertainties consequent upon the decision.
9. While being open to seeing synchronicity as an indicator of Divine leadership, be careful at too easily seeing apparent synchronicities as a sure sign from God.
10. Pay attention to both head and heart, or reason and feelings, during the process of discernment.
11. Attend to motives, for self interest can lead to deciding something is the will of God that is only our seeking to do what we want regardless of the will of God.
12. Live in daily communion with Christ, growing in love through that fellowship with the Living God.
My experience is that too much attention to “What does God will?” can delay, at times, unnecessarily, and becomes a means of seeking an unreasonable certainty. Sometimes being faithful is making decisions as best we can, through deliberate but not over-deliberate means of discernment, and knowing that faithfulness entails acting from motives that comport with an intent to live life, as best we presently can, to the honor of Christ.
Spiritual Exercises
Questions
1. Do you have an intentional process of spiritual discernment? If so, what is that process?
2. Have you ever sensed a specific leading from God?
3. Do you ever pray and not get a specific leading, then, have to decide based on the best information you have received and prayerfully considered?
Prayer
Give me the patience to wait and listen, when I need to wait and listen,
Give me the faith to act, when I need to act,
Lead me not to delay when acting with uncertainty is called for,
Lead me to trust you enough to entrust to you my desire
To please you, even when I am not clear on what would please you most.
*Brian K. Wilcox
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.
Brian's book of mystical love poetry, An Ache for Union, can be ordered through major bookdealers.
Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors
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