Strong Discernment : Elizabeth
Devotional Contributor: Al Schierbaum
Scripture:
Luke 1:39—45 “In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."
Observation:
Discernment is the ability to judge well. Webster’s defines discernment as “the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure”. Discernment is the ability to make a proper judgement or decision because it assesses a situation accurately. A Christian has a heightened sense of discernment that far exceeds the natural. When being filled with the Holy Spirit a person is a given a picture into what is eternally important and potentially the miraculous. In the passage below we see that the Spirit of God comprehends the thoughts of God and reveals them in and through the Spirit filled person.
1 Corinthians 2:11-13,”For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
Application:
Those walking in the Spirit see the world though a spiritual lens that others don’t see. When two spiritually discerning people, like Mary and Elizabeth, get together the conversation is on a whole other level. Both could understand the things freely given them by God. Elizabeth being filled with Spirit knew that God had visited Mary and was doing something very special in and through her. Mary, in Luke 1: 46-56, discerned what God was doing through her and how it would affect generations to come. These two spiritually discerning women could then support each other when being confronted by spiritually undiscerned people who would never believe or understand the plan of God. Friends, family members, coworkers may never understand why the Spirit filled believer lives a certain way or is convinced to go in a certain direction that makes no sense to them. This Christmas season ask God to give you spiritual discernment into what He is doing in you and how to minister to others. When you do, He will give you discernment to be a light to others.
Request:
Dear Lord Jesus, please give me greater discernment into Your miraculous virgin birth and how to best minister to others this Christmas season and beyond. I trust that Your Spirit within me knows Your thoughts and will reveal them to me according to Your will for my life. All Glory to You! I love You, Jesus! Amen