When we walk in the Spirit and in Truth we have discernment that is beyond human observation.
We can see the looks on faces and even their walk.
I know someone who goes into the prison in South Carolina, after being there week after week, year after year, he has learned their ways and their stances.
He told me he can tell the attitude of a man by the way he walks down the street. I told him I believe him because I can see on their faces and in the way they sit and walk the rebellion or lack of rebellion in someone.
God said we shall know them by their fruit. That fruit is "love, joy, peace, gentleness and self control." These are not actions, they are character qualities that can be discerned through the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
The Fruit of the Spirit is not actions but rather character qualities. These qualities permeate out from a person to the Spirit filled discerning believer.
Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
Jeremiah 17:9-10
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
The heart of a man is discerned only by God, God lives in us and grants to us that necessary discernment. We do not have a perfect window into the heart of a man as God does, however the Holly Spirit can warn us about someone or He can bless us with connection to another believer who is also filled with the Holy Spirit.
The evidence is there, the clues are there, all we have to do is ask God what we are seeing.
Hebrews 4:12
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
We are to worship in "Spirit and in Truth", just as we discern through thee Spirit of God and His Truth.
1 Samuel 16:7 "7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.” "
God told His servant Samuel not to be fooled by appearances, but that God would show him the heart of the man he was to choose to be King. Samuel was not depending on his own observations or guesses based on what the person says. He based his choice on what God was telling him.
God speaks this way to born again believers today too. Sadly not many who say they are Christians are seeking the Lord for wisdom and discernment. Discernment is a gift from God in which we are able to know something that can not be seen or heard with the human senses.
Discernment meaning: The ability to judge well because the Holy Spirit in us is imparting His wisdom to us.
1 John 4:1
"1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses (lives with their life) that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,…"
Confession is not just words spoken, it is a lifestyle we live that others can witness. Yes we will have words too, but the words must match the lifestyle to be evidence of a godly life.
Romans 12:2
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
We can discern people and events as being right or wrong by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Those who say, "no one can know the heart of man, that only God does", are speaking the truth, however, they are describing the unsaved man who does not have the Holy Spirit. God speaks truth and wisdom to those who belong to Him, we can know the heart of God, we can discern a bad spirit from a good spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:14-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.…"
John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.…"
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