Discernment

And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:10 (ESV)

There are two sides of faith.

The first side says that you should get up every day and do the best you can. Use your creative imagination. Trust that your steps have been ordered. Test God's promises. Exercise your gifts. Trust that you are authorized, that wherever your feet tread is going to become holy ground. Don't you ever wake up and doubt your anointing. Make it happen. Make it work. Knock on the doors. Take the mountain. Give it your best shot because God is pushing you. God has promised to bless it. He'll arrange and position things when you offer Him your best.

But at other times, God wants you to wait. Wait for the sound of His presence. Yes, you are skilled, gifted, and anointed—but you’ve got to sit still before the Lord.

When God flanks you, you go ahead and make the attempts. Push your way through, make a decision and follow your ordered steps. Walk by faith and resist walking by sight. That's one side of trust in God.

The other side is when God fronts you. There are times when you can't rely on your skill, know-how, ability, or intellect. Your human connections don’t matter. Nor does it matter that you busted that door down the last time. It doesn't matter that you had the talent to walk in that certain sphere. This time He is calling you to sit still and let Him make a way.

You have to know the difference, and we call that discernment.

You must learn to distinguish between whether God is expecting you to wait while He arranges things, or if you are to arrange things while He's pushing you from behind.

I've been injured in some battles that should have been easy to defeat—emotionally, relationally, and professionally. But my problem was I was charging forward when I should have been listening for the sound of God’s signal. At other times, I have been hesitant to move, slow to make a decision, because I was waiting on God to front the preparation—yet God was waiting on me to make a move.

I don't want to make these mistakes anymore, and I know you don't either. So understand that sometimes God flanks and sometimes God fronts, and it is your prayers that will reveal which way to use your faith in each instance. To know the difference, pray without assumptions and assertions, and listen to what He is telling you.