We can all use more discernment---especially these days when there is so much discord and confusion amongst Christians.
Here are seven tips for how to stay on the right path and avoid the evil, the worthless, and the erroneous.
An acronym...
S K I P P I T
(As in, if it's no good, skip---avoid/discard---it.)
1. S is for SEEK: Seek God's Word.
(Search and study it for yourself. Don't rely on someone else to do it for you. We get out of our walk with the Lord what we put into it: If you're too lazy or busy with other priorities to make time to study your Bible, you deserve to be ignorant.)
2. K is for KEEP: Keep what you learn.
(Put what the Lord teaches you into practice, faithfully. If you do so, He will add more knowledge and understanding to you.)
3. I is for INTENTIONS: Make sure your reasons for seeking knowledge and understanding are righteous.
(God knows...)
4. P is for PRODUCE: What kind of fruit is your practice or belief producing?
(Is it making you more Christlike in spirit and behavior---or is it making you proud, suspicious, self-centered/self-preoccupied, self-righteous, angry, neurotic, etc.? RED FLAG !)
5. P is for PLEASING: Is what you are doing pleasing to God; and if you think it is, why?
6. I is for IDENTITY: Has your identity ceased to become Christ, and being a follower of Him, and become some other thing?
(For example: Wearing special clothes, eating (or not eating) certain foods, reading a particular translation of the Bible, belonging to a certain group/church/denomination, adhering to a certain kind of lifestyle, etc.)
7. T is for TEST: Test the spirits to see whether they are from God.
P.S. The better we know our God and His Word, the better we can discern what, and who, is or is not of Him. And the less well we know Him and His Word, the less discerning of such things we will be---and the more susceptible to persuasions of deceiving spirits.
Here are seven tips for how to stay on the right path and avoid the evil, the worthless, and the erroneous.
An acronym...
S K I P P I T
(As in, if it's no good, skip---avoid/discard---it.)
1. S is for SEEK: Seek God's Word.
(Search and study it for yourself. Don't rely on someone else to do it for you. We get out of our walk with the Lord what we put into it: If you're too lazy or busy with other priorities to make time to study your Bible, you deserve to be ignorant.)
2. K is for KEEP: Keep what you learn.
(Put what the Lord teaches you into practice, faithfully. If you do so, He will add more knowledge and understanding to you.)
3. I is for INTENTIONS: Make sure your reasons for seeking knowledge and understanding are righteous.
(God knows...)
4. P is for PRODUCE: What kind of fruit is your practice or belief producing?
(Is it making you more Christlike in spirit and behavior---or is it making you proud, suspicious, self-centered/self-preoccupied, self-righteous, angry, neurotic, etc.? RED FLAG !)
5. P is for PLEASING: Is what you are doing pleasing to God; and if you think it is, why?
6. I is for IDENTITY: Has your identity ceased to become Christ, and being a follower of Him, and become some other thing?
(For example: Wearing special clothes, eating (or not eating) certain foods, reading a particular translation of the Bible, belonging to a certain group/church/denomination, adhering to a certain kind of lifestyle, etc.)
7. T is for TEST: Test the spirits to see whether they are from God.
P.S. The better we know our God and His Word, the better we can discern what, and who, is or is not of Him. And the less well we know Him and His Word, the less discerning of such things we will be---and the more susceptible to persuasions of deceiving spirits.
