Monday, January 14, 2008

Discernment - a Key to Discipleship

Counselors and therapists make careers in discernment. What is the root cause for what ails someone. Why is this attitude or that problem really there. How do we help to make it go away? I learn so much from the committed Christian healers as it goes to the issue of healing physical problems, when I realize that the physical manifestations of pain and disease so often stem from a mental or spiritual affliction.

At one of our healing services someone came forward for healing. She had a general malaise and was in a deep depression. What could I pray for? What healing was she truly in need of. She is a friend and I knew that she was very upset about the loss of her sister who had been in Hospice for a few weeks prior to passing on. I was stuck in the moment, not certain what to pray for. I closed my eyes and prayed that God would reveal how to pray for her. Suddenly I heard myself telling her to let it go..."you're not responsible for her dying. It was God's timing and you had nothing to do with it." ...is what my mouth said without my brain directing it! We then prayed for her to be released from guilt and when we had finished she was radiant.

In that moment I realized that God revealed what it was for which she truly needed healing. I realized that in my quest to be a better disciple God provided the discernment that I could not. Discernment is a gift that we can open ourselves to through deep prayer. And when that moment of discernment comes, one may find themselves speaking prophetically and simply following what God has revealed. I pray that the next time I'm called for healing prayer that true healing comes through God revealing the root cause so that it can be healed, rather than the symptoms.

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