As we have been leaning in to this era of building, the Lord has released wisdom that has uncovered an important building tool in the Kingdom - discernment.
You’re probably thinking that you have a good handle on discernment from the last season of tearing down and uprooting. And if you positioned yourself as a watchman on the wall - listening and watching - you probably do! Discernment was necessary to see when and where the enemy was operating, what kind of access he had and where there were doors left open that we needed to close. We used discernment to know how to best fight, to defend and to attack during a time of war.
Well, on this side of the new era, we believe that the tool of discernment is still a very, very important one. But we are also starting to sense that the Lord wants to use it to build, instead of tear down. It is similar to the prophecy in Isaiah where the season changed and so they took their swords and beat them into plowshares. (Isaiah 2:4) Same tool, new purpose!
People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, not train for war anymore.
Isaiah 2:3-4
So what does it look like to use discernment to build rather than only tear down or fight? I don’t think we fully know! Just like how we were trained to use discernment for war, we will need to be trained to use discernment for growth.
Webster’s dictionary describes discernment as the ability to judge well. In the Strong’s concordance it means to understand, to perceive, to consider, to show oneself. Often times we have used this tool to understand what needs to be dealt with or to know what’s happening behind the scenes of any given situation so we can begin tearing down strongholds, principalities and powers, wickedness in high places. What a powerful way to use the tool of discernment!
In this new season, what does it look like to use discernment - the ability to judge well, understand, and perceive - to build as individuals and as a family? To look into someone using discernment to perceive and understand who they REALLY are under all the outside wounds, rough edges and sharp tongues and call that into being. Or to look at situations, seeing and declaring what God says even though it doesn’t look like much - perhaps even a blank slate from the pervious season of tearing down. Maybe it’s even looking at structures, businesses and atmospheres with eyes to see how God wants to show up and show off in them, rather than always having to push back the enemy.
It was so important that we used the gift of discernment to know what needed to be torn down and uprooted in the pervious era because now we can use the same gift to build on that solid foundation.
It’s going to be a wild time as Holy Spirit teaches us how to use this old gem that has been repurposed for such a time as this! Can you sense the acceleration of growth as the ground is ready to receive all that the gift of discernment will show us what to plant? Amazing!