Summary

Do you struggle to make decisions sometimes?

Maybe you’re not always confident in what direction you should take or what God has for you?

In this episode Sasha shares 6 ways to discern the will of God over the big and little decisions and actions in life. It’s not always easy to exercise discernment, listen in for a few different ways you can practically process and apply discernment to grow closer to the will of God in your daily life.

Then join us in the Intentional Momlife with Jesus to talk more about discernment and SO much more! https://www.facebook.com/groups/IntentionalAbundance

Transcription

0:06
Hey hey hey sisters. Welcome back to another episode of the Intentional Momlife With Jesus Podcast. Today we are going to be talking about six ways that you can look for and exercise discernment in your life.

1:32
Jingle.

1:40
Alright, so here we go. I want to share this because I feel like discernment has been something that’s been coming up a lot lately. And I first want to start out by pointing out that discernment is not really the difference between right and wrong. I think those are really clear and very well-defined. Good and evil, right? It’s not like, Hey, should I sit here and eat a bag of potato chips or should I maybe have some carrot sticks instead and then go to the gym, or go for a walk? Right? Those are two very clearly defined differences there.

2:44
But I think it’s more the idea of the difference between good and very, very close to good or right and very close to right. And sometimes we want to exercise discernment between those good things and God things. And so I think we need to be very clear when we are looking at how and why we’re looking to exercise discernment and really ask that question. First and foremost is what am I deciding between right now?

3:15
And the number one way to exercise discernment is to pray. Right? God is inclining His ear to us at all times. He already actually knows what’s in our hearts and what our desires are. He already knows our thoughts, even. But He wants us to be in such a close relationship with Him, that our desires and our will come through really, really close to matching His. But that doesn’t mean that we should shy away from actually making those requests and presenting those prayers to him. But being willing even to pray for His will for Him to push you in the direction of what He has for you. I think it comes down to not only being okay with hearing a yes but also being okay when we hear a no or being okay when we might be hearing a grow. Right?

4:23
I think those are a couple of different answers that we can hear to prepare. It’s either yes no or grow. And I want to make sure that when I am presenting my request to the Lord, that yeah, I’m praying in them boldly and confidently. But I also know that he’s a God who loves me and has good for me and if I am seeking His will, I know that’s gonna be best. So number one is praying Thy will be done.

4:55
Number two, is that God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace. And that is from 1 Corinthians 14:33. And I love that verse because I think it’s very true. It’s very, obviously, it’s scripture, right? It’s very real and tangible though, as well. If we feel really confused about something, chances are it’s not from God. And or it’s not for us, right? And so making sure that it’s, it’s something that it’s not just this harebrained idea or the shiny object syndrome or something that you just feel like doing at the moment, but if it’s something that God’s truly calling you to pursue, a lot of times, he’s going to bring it up over and over and over again.

5:52
He’s going to have one person mention it and then another person mentioned it and you’re going to hear it in a sermon and then read it in the book and inherent in a song or whatever else, you know, whatever ways He has a tendency to speak to you. He’ll kind of hit all those different avenues or bring it up to you know, less than twice. So remembering number two that God is a God of confirmation. Not confusion.

6:18
Number three, is to put out a fleece. And I remember the first time somebody had said this to me and I was like What are you talking about what is a fleece even? And it comes from judges 6:36-40. And I’ll go ahead and read them to you now in the ESV. But I strongly encourage you to go and grab your own scripture and sit down and read it maybe even do a little study on this or whatever else.

6:46
But in verse 36. It starts out then Gideon said to God, if you will save Israel by my hand as you have said, Behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone and it is dry on the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand. As you have said, right this is God has already said something to Gideon and getting it’s like well let me check. Let me just make sure I heard you right. And so it was when he rose early the next morning and squeezed to fleece he run enough due from the fleece to fill a bowl of water. Then Gideon said to God, let not your anger burn against me. But let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with this fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only and on the ground let there be dew. So Gideon, again was like, Well, let me double, triple check right let me present you with the opposite maybe. Maybe now the fleece can be drying the ground can be wet and we’ll just test in the opposite fashion. And God did so that night and it was dry in the fleece only and on the ground there was dew.

8:02
And I’m so grateful for this story for this picture that God has painted us in Scripture. Because not only does it show us, right, He hears our prayers, but also that He’s okay with us questioning Him as long as we’re going to Him right and Gideons like Well, let me just make sure I heard you correctly, Lord. And I don’t think that God is ever upset about that. He wants us to seek Him and all things first to seek Him, but then to seek Him for that guidance and for that wisdom.

8:39
And so my husband and I have done this multiple times where we’ve plowed a fleece like Gideon, and we’re like, Okay, well, I think one time recently, we did this maybe it was a few years ago with our Airbnb. If we have enough bookings by I think it was April 4, which is my birthday. If we have enough bookings by April 4 to pay rent and the mortgage, like rent at the place that we would be staying at all summer and the mortgage all summer, then we’ll go ahead and move out of our house but otherwise, we’ll just cancel all the bookings. And God made it happen.

9:17
There was another instance where we did something similar where we’re like if we have enough bookings to do this and that or whatever else, then then we’ll make it happen. And so it doesn’t always have to be a reverse you know, wet and dry versus dry and wet? It doesn’t have to always be a double, triple thing, right? But just like putting it to the Lord like hey, you know we could see this happening, either way, Your will be done, Lord. But if You make this happen by that amount of time, we’ll know that that’s Your will and us saying move forward and I can’t recall the time that we’ve done that, that we’ve put out that fleece and in prayed, Lord, Your will be done and receive that confirmation from the Lord. So there’s kind of an example where we’re one, two and three are all taken into consideration.

10:09
Moving on to number four, Let peace rule. I love this because God has shown me this to be very, very real in my life throughout my life experience as I was going through some tough seasons where I needed a lot of discernment. And I think that there’s a difference between being out of your comfort zone, right, like trying something new doing something different going on a mission. Things like that, of course, are going to be out of your comfort zone. There’s a difference between that and lacking peace in your heart.

10:49
I love these… There are multiple verses in Psalms where it talks about your soul becoming disturbed within you, right saying oh my soul. Why are you in despair and disturbed within me as some from Psalm 42? And I think there’s another part in Scripture if I’m recalling correctly, where Paul had talked about like his soul was disturbed within him. And I think that that is an indicator of God’s prompting and pushing. Right? I’m saying right a lot. Right. Do you agree? Are you in agreement? Jump on over to the Intentional Momlife community and let me know. But I think in Scripture, it’s pretty clear that there can be a difference between being outside of comfort zone and truly lacking peace in your heart.

11:54
And I’ve come across this multiple times in my life and one of them even involved a mission trip. And I was gung ho about it. And I was super excited and everything about me wanted to go and wanted to take part in this. But a lot of circumstances kept coming up over and over and over and over again. And I was just diligently praying through them. Like Lord give me peace. Lord, give me strength like the peace that surpasses understanding or you are my strength, your grace is sufficient in my soul, could not come to a place of peace. And it was almost like a way of putting out a fleece with my heart where I said, Okay, what if I were to make this decision that I’m going to step down and I’m just not going to go? And instantly like, my soul felt peace.

12:46
And so I think if it’s a situation or scenario or decision that you’re trying to make, and you are praying for peace, and we have to be really careful here because I think sometimes we can create our own chaos and we can block the Holy Spirit’s working. But if you are praying for peace and really leaning into a relationship with the Lord and prayer and scripture, and growth and all these other things, and the peace in your soul is not coming then it’s likely not a decision that God is wanting you to make. So number four, Let peace rule.

13:25
Number five is to check everything against the word of God. He’s not going to lead us astray and lead us to do anything that is against His word. He has given us that as the ultimate tool to refer to. 2 Timothy 3:16 says all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, All scripture. So making sure that whatever we are deciding that there’s nothing that we’re going to decide that’s going to call us to step outside of what God has already given us in His Word. So check everything against scripture in the Word of God.

14:22
And then number six is to check with your wise counsel and advisors. So if you don’t have these in your life, this is discipleship. This looks like checking with a really wise friend that you know is in a strong relationship with the Lord, checking with your pastor. Checking with the elderly women at your church, checking in with your you know whether you have a Biblical mindset coach or a life coach in that nature, who again is somebody who is in deep relationship with the Lord who is referring to Scripture. Who you have come to know and trust in that capacity. Make sure that you’re checking with your wise counsel and your advisors.

15:08
And I’ve got a couple of Proverbs here that I just love that talk about counsel and advisors. Proverbs 12:15 says the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. Proverbs 15:22 says, without counsel plans fail, but with many advisors, they succeed and Proverbs 19:20 says, listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. The future. Not even right now necessarily. And then Proverbs 24:6 says, For by wise guidance, you can wage your war and in abundance of counselors, there is victory.

15:59
So I hope all these scripture verses and these six ways, these six tips, are going to be something that can help you in your exercising of discernment the next time you come across some of these big life decisions, and remember, the good and evil decisions, the right and wrong decisions can have a tendency to be the ones that are a lot easier to make. We need to really be leaning into the Lord and exercising wisdom and discernment for those right and close to right decisions for the things that might be good things versus God things in our lives. I pray this blesses you this week. Take care sisters.

More about your Podcast Host

Sasha Star Robertson is an Intentional Living & Biblical Mindset Coach for busy Christian moms, wife of 13 years to her best friend, boy mom (blessed by adoption), travel addict, and Jesus freak. She is the founder of The Intentional Abundance Co., curator of the Life & Goals Planner, & host of the Intentional Momlife with Jesus Podcast.

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