How to Practice Discernment

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Have you ever felt like you’re left out in the dark with no idea of how to respond to a difficult choice or a confusing situation? I know I have. It could be a tough spot in a relationship or a fork in your path that requires understanding God’s calling for your life. Without a clear direction, it’s easy to fall into worry. But take heart. It might feel like a setback, but it’s really an opportunity to rely on God and practice discernment. 

The kind of discernment I’m talking about is not just the ability to judge well. I’m talking about the way followers of Jesus can seek God’s direction to make decisions that align with His will, rather than relying solely on our own understanding. It’s what the Bible tells us to do. As James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

How to Practice Spiritual Discernment

1. Pray for guidance

Ask God to give you wisdom, peace and patience to discern His will—not just for an answer to your question when you pray. Seeing the need to practice discernment is also an important reminder that we’re always meant to receive direction and purpose from God and surrender our lives to His will—not just when a tough situation comes up.

2. Reflect on God’s Word

The Bible is God’s Word, meant for instructing our lives. As Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Spend time reading the scriptures that relate to your question and ask God to help you apply them correctly.

3. Seek Godly counsel

Proverbs 11:14 reminds us, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Talk with trusted, spiritually mature friends, mentors or leaders. It’s a crucial step for adding perspectives you might not have considered, helping you weigh your options in light of God’s wisdom.

4. Listen to the Holy Spirit

Take time to quiet your mind and be still before God. The Holy Spirit can guide your decision by leading you to a sense of peace or giving you a gentle nudge in a certain direction.

5. Honestly examine your motives

Are you seeking to align with God’s will or pursuing your own desires? As the story of Jonah tells us, sometimes we don’t listen to God simply because we foolishly disagree with His answer.

6. Wait on the Lord

Sometimes, discernment requires patience. Psalm 27:14 advises, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Rushing into a decision can lead to mistakes (just ask King Saul!). Trust that God’s timing is perfect and be willing to wait until you have clarity and peace. 

Why is Knowing How to Practice Spiritual Discernment So Important?

“To err is human.” Human judgment is just a narrow sliver of experience and is biased by all kinds of selfish motives we might not even be aware of. But God has always existed and knows everything and wants only the best for us. He guides us away from the things we think we want or need, because he knows better. Sometimes, the full story behind his will eludes us. That’s why we have to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Plus, discernment protects us from being led astray by false teachings or temptations. 1 John 4:1 tells us, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” There are so many conflicting voices out there, discernment helps us stay grounded in our faith and aligned with God’s truth.

 

Want to learn more about receiving from God? Check out my new book that’s geared towards helping guys receive the way of Jesus for me. 

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Discover How Jesus Changed The World

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Jesus is all about transformation. He transforms the character of those who follow Him, transforming their relationships with others and the communities that center their lives around Him. Is it any wonder that no other man has changed the world more than Jesus? 

So, how did Jesus change the world? Through His perfect teachings and His sacrifice. Other religions recognize him as a teacher (even if they mistake him for only a teacher). Gandhi drew great inspiration from Jesus’ example for his non-violent protests. Many values and morals that the world takes for granted as universal truths without realizing it was Jesus who taught and exemplified them. And His death on the cross changed the course of the cosmos forever.

3 Huge Ways Jesus Changed the World 

1. The Treatment of Children

Remember when Jesus said, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, come unto me”. It might seem like an obvious thing for Him to say to our modern ears. We commit ourselves to protecting our children and doing whatever we can to set them up to succeed and make their lives better. 

But that’s not how it was during Jesus’ time. They were not cherished as an important life. Children were often left to die or sold into slavery. And they were definitely not something to aspire to be like, as Jesus told His followers, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 

In the world after Jesus, believers learned that you needed humility, faith, innocence and love to receive God’s kingdom. And thanks to Jesus’ example, believers and non-believers alike started giving children the treatment they deserved—opening up orphanages and other social programs to care for them.  

2. Radical Empathy 

Everyone knows the term “Good Samaritan” is someone who acts out of compassion to save someone who desperately needs help. It comes from Jesus’ parable in which a traveler is beaten and left for dead by the road. Jesus describes how a priest and a Levite, two people who were considered among the most upstanding and moral in the ancient Jewish world, pass him by. It’s the Samaritan, an outcast of society, who puts his neck out to help the stranger and shows that compassion—not religious titles or family ties—is what really matters to God. 

He also summed it up with the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would them do unto you.” 

Jesus didn’t just talk the talk, He walked the walk. During His time, there was a purity law that did not permit lepers (those who had a skin disease) to come close or be touched. But that didn’t stop a leper from showing faith in Jesus, and nor did it stop Jesus from touching him. With His touch, He cleansed the leper’s disease. 

Nowadays, we don’t just let sick people rot away. Doctors follow Jesus’ example and risk their lives to provide treatment. The early church decreed that they had to provide a hospice for caring for the sick and poor wherever a cathedral was built. 

3. A Personal Relationship with God for Everyone

Before Jesus came to earth, God’s presence was only able to be accessed by the high priest, who would intercede on behalf of the Jewish people with sacrifices. He would meet with God in the holy of holies, with a veil to shield the mortal man from the holy God’s powerful presence. But when Jesus died for our sins, the veil ripped. Thanks to his atonement, humans could now enjoy the presence of God. 

And it wasn’t just the Jewish people who were invited to a personal, boundary-less relationship with God. Jesus changed the world and transformed the religion to include the Gentiles (non-Jewish) people, too. He told His disciples to go into the world and share the good news of His sacrifice and the salvation that anyone could receive.  

 

Do you want to deepen your relationship with God? Learn how you can bring His Presence into your life and friendships. Download the Playbook for Level 5 Friendship now. 

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How To Live Like Jesus Everyday

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What would Jesus do? It’s one of the most memorized and important questions a person can ask themselves when faced with a difficult situation. But as Christians mature in their spiritual journey, they realize that doing what Jesus would do starts with learning how to live like Jesus.

The answers will teach you the wisdom for the challenges that face you and unlock the meaning of life. Asking yourself how to live like Jesus everyday is a life-long journey. Here are five things that men like you can do to follow Jesus’s perfect example.

How to Live Like Jesus Everyday—5 Steps You Can Take Today

1. Receive from God

After Jesus was baptized, God said, “This is my son, who I love, with him I am well pleased.” Jesus relied on this proclamation to ignore Satan’s temptations, heal the sick, face and defeat death. 

It begins the same for us. To live like Jesus, we make a radical, liberating change. We start to let go of our ego and shift the leadership of life from us to Father God. We stop assuming we are the brightest or the smartest. We remind ourselves that God loves us, likes us and desires better for us than we can craft for ourselves.

My friend Pat Lencioni, a foremost business teamwork expert, told me, “Roll out of bed, land on your knees and talk to God first thing every morning. I thank Him and acknowledge Him as Lord before I do anything else.”

 

2. Reject the ways of the world

His message was so radical that the religious leaders teamed up with the regime of the oppressive Romans to have him killed. 

Jesus challenged the cultural norms and laws. In Mark 2:23-27, Jesus and His disciples showed the Pharisees that feeding those “hungry and in need” was more important than following the law. Later in Mark, He drove out the merchants and flipped the tables of money changers in the temple. He told the rich man who valued His earthly possessions that He had to give away everything to follow Jesus. 

We, too, must stand up to the injustices we see around us and pursue treasure—in heaven, not in life.  

 

3. Face challenges head-on

Jesus came down, knowing he’d be arrested, falsely accused, falsely tried, beaten, whipped and crucified. When He was, Jesus asked God to forgive the soldiers crucifying Him and the religious leaders who orchestrated it. He made the ultimate sacrifice to save humanity. 

When we learn how to live like Jesus, we put our pride and selfish ways to death, so we can solve conflicts and heal divisions. We find the courage to find a solution to the challenge, instead of being a victim or accuser. We apologize and forgive first. We’re humble and strong enough to sacrifice our time, energy and resources for others.

 

4. Stick up for the weak

Jesus loved to look for, find and rescue the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. He said the last shall be first, the humble will be honored and those forgiven will love much.

He applied it in real life, too. When a couple dozen religious lawyers and moralistic men shoved a woman caught in adultery in front of Jesus to stone her. They were ready to apply the Jewish Law’s death penalty for her sin (what about the man’s?). Jesus scribbled in the dirt and threw them the question that sent them packing. “If anyone has never sinned, feel free to throw the first stone.”

Let’s leave the judging to God and look at the logs in our own eyes. As men, we should live like Jesus, protecting the weak and setting them free to live better. 

5. Intentionally gather and serve your family and friends

Jesus built deep friendships, setting up meals, walks, silent times in the hills and a special farewell dinner the evening before his arrest. Before eating, Jesus shocked His friends with a radical move. He stepped back from His spot at the center of the table and took a bowl of water and towel to wash their dirty feet. 

He loved and led in the most true and full way. He served. Men who are real and good, authentic and intimate. They make efforts to gather, serve and bless their family. They make friendship a priority with sacrifice, service and memorable demonstrations of love. 

Make dinner and gatherings a priority in your family and community. Be an intentional, committed friend. Plan a meal. Step down to serve. Share a toast. Pray a prayer. 

 

Want to meet with a group of guys and learn how to live like Jesus everyday? Download the Playbook for Level 5 Friendship today.

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Making The Most Of Your Story

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How to Make the Most of Your Story Retreat

Posted by Regi Campbell on March 12, 2024

The Story Retreat is one of the most important and crucial times your mentoring group will spend together. It will kickstart your mentoring group, allowing your mentees to make deep connections fast. After you share your story at the first meeting, your group will gather for a Story Retreat, where each of your mentees will tell their story. It’s your job as the mentor to tee them up for this by authentically and vulnerably sharing your story. What you model is what they’ll deliver.

One of the main goals of this retreat is for everyone in the group to open up and reveal to everyone else where they’ve come from and where they are now from a spiritual perspective. As they tell their faith stories, they’ll reveal to you in real-time how much of the Gospel they really get.

The other main goal of your Story Retreat is to help your mentees understand and live out of their identity as children of God. This will be a season-long (and really a lifelong) endeavor for your mentees, but it starts at Story Retreat, which is why identity is the topic that pairs with Story Retreat.

After decades of intentionally mentoring the younger next generation in Radical Mentoring groups, I think two things are hardest to get across, and both are related to identity…

  1. God loves them so much that He chose to adopt them as His children. 

    Grasping this fact at the heart level allows them to relax in their own skin and to stop feeling like they must perform for their earthly father, their boss, or their friends. Plus, they can begin to relate to God in a different way. They’ll pray real, personal prayers. They’ll know we’re never alone, never unloved, never at risk.

  2. God forgave them when they became Christians. 

    He truly forgave them and gave them a fresh start, and they are truly different people on the inside. Satan will constantly try to convince them, “Hey, you’re still the same.” But they’re not. They are truly new creations in Jesus. They don’t just have a conscience that grabs them after they’ve messed up. They have the Holy Spirit, who will not only convict them when they’re about to mess up but will inspire them to elevate their thinking, their decisions, their values, and their relationships.

Keep notes on what each mentee says as they tell their story so you can help them see themselves clearly when you’re with them one-on-one. Part of being a great mentor is being a tape recorder, a mirror, and a translator, “Here’s what I hear you saying about yourself. Is that how God sees you?” “Maybe you could replace those lies with the truth of how God really sees you, right now!” These are the words of challenge from a great mentor.

As they tell their stories and you go through the Story Retreat, try to get these two main points across this month. Just these two:

  • You are God’s adopted son or daughter. He’s your Father, and He’s there for you.
  • You have been truly and totally forgiven for your past sins.

Mentor Tip: The last goal for your Story Retreat is to create space for your mentees to have fun together and bond, so leave room for some activities and time to just be together and enjoy one another’s company. It will pay dividends throughout your mentoring season.

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