Discernment [5/31/12]

Hello!

Today, I would like to talk a bit about discernment. In all honesty, I don't know very much, so I'm hoping you guys will be able to help me out a bit. These past few weeks, I've really been needing answers from God, and although I'm getting answers, I'm not always sure if it's from God or from something else. Some answers seem more obvious, while others I have a very hard time discerning.

The reason why I do become confused is because there is one thing I do know.

2 Corinthians 11:14

But I am not surprised!

Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 

1 John 4:1

Dear friends, do not believe everyone

who claims to speak by the Spirit.

You must test them to see if the spirit

they have comes from God.

For there are many false prophets in the world.

Signs we see and words we hear are not always going to be from God. Many times, Satan will communicate to us in ways that are extremely similar to God; so similar in fact, that we may believe it is God! I also know, as children of God, we must learn to discern between good and evil. As we grow closer and closer to God, we are able to discern more and more! 

1 John also says to test them... At first I was confused. I wasn't sure how to test them, but that's because I didn't read on. 

1 John 4:2

This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God:

If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges

that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God.

But if someone claims to be a prophet

and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, 

that person is not from God.

Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist,

which you hear is coming into the world

and indeed is already here. 

Okay, I'm not sure if I'm insanely simple-minded or something, but it looks like the way we must know is if they: a) Acknowledge Jesus Christ came in a real body, or b) Doesn't acknowledge the truth about Jesus Christ. Once again, I'm a little confused. Is this really that simple? Is it really just as black and white as it appears? The reason why I'm a bit perplexed this is because of one of my friends. She is a dear friend to me, and I've known her for a very long time. She falls in the category of option a, but at times, I feel as if something is amiss. At times, she gives me advice on what to do spiritually, yet I feel like her advice is extremely far from what God wants. 

This is what is confusing me quite a bit right now. It would be great if you guys could help with this! 

I pray we will be able to easily discern between good and evil! I'm having a hard time with it right now... There are many different events in my life that require major decisions, yet I'm not sure what God wants. It is said that God will always answer with a yes, no, or maybe. But how do we learn to discern when he is answering? Because God doesn't always answer right away... 

I feel it may have a lot to do with drawing closer to God. The closer we are to him, the easier it will be to tell between what is from him and what isn't, right? Please correct me if I'm wrong, because for this blog, I'm not too sure. I hope you guys are thinking about this too! We definitely need to be seeking the ability to discern what is from God and what isn't from God! 

Thanks for reading this post :) I'm sorry I haven't been posting every single day... I've been so busy. But I know that's no excuse hehe. I will do my very post to continue posting every day! But thank you for the continuous love, support and encouragement. 

- kjoosaurus out!