Double up on the Discerner

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12, NKJV

Ever feel as if you were being tackled by a dark cloud of oppression? I did in the summer of 1986. Try as I might, I could not lift it. Its intensity overwhelmed me at the exact same time as I was preparing to launch out on an extended dream vacation with a friend!  It was different than fear; it was a dull, heavy foreboding that I simply could not shake.The uneasiness gripping me made me question everything. Should I cancel my trip, stay home, and absolutely shatter my friend’s expectations?

A pastor I talked to told me to “double up on the Discerner”, God’s Word, because it would enable me to discern between soul and spirit (see Hebrews 4:12) and shed light onto the right course for me to take. As I increased my Bible intake—not even on a particular topic—and sought God about the pressing decision I had to make, wisdom came.

I made the tough decision to cancel all plans, disappointing my friend, and obeyed what I believed to be the leading of the Holy Spirit. Days later, I knew why I had been “tackled” by the cloud of oppression. My mother had been scheduled for a routine operation on the day I was to leave, and she was doing great just out of surgery. But within 24 hours, my dad called. “Your mother’s dying. Come home.” I found out that due to surgical error, her intestines had been punctured and she was dying from the release of toxins into her body.

Doubling up on the Word gave me the discernment to stay in town—before the days of cell phones—instead of camping out for weeks in Georgia and up and down the beaches of Florida like I had planned. Had I ignored the pressure of the Holy Spirit or neglected to increase my Bible intake to receive the discernment I needed, I would have been unreachable when Mom was dying. On top of that, I would not have returned until long after she was buried.

I will be forever grateful for the coordinated working of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in my life at that crucial time. Because of the Holy Spirit’s tackle-like leading and the increased discernment I received from the Word of God, I was able to quickly make it to my mother’s side when her life unexpectedly drew to a close.

I will be forever grateful to the Holy Spirit for His wonderful, intimate leading!

Dorothy

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Psalm 32:8

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17