Mark Driscoll wrote a tremendous response to a question from FOX News about Newsweek’s recent report about the death of Christendom in America. It is important to realize that the Gospel does not belong to America, nor does the flag mirror the cross, but we are exiles in the world called to seek the welfare of the city where we have been placed, holding our citizenship in the Kingdom of Messiah.

Has Christian America Come to an End? – FOX Fan – FOXNews.com

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Before we could begin to exercise discernment and hear the voice of God, we must humble ourselves. Getting ourselves to stop talking is only a beginning that gives us room to place our hearts in a position of humility.  We cannot expect to have the help of God in any other area of our life until we first allow Him to humble us. The essence of humility ism as C.J. Mahaney states in Humility: True Greatness, “honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.” He is perfect. We are imperfect. He is great. We are small. He is Creator. We are created. He is righteous. We are rebellious. He is merciful. We are unforgiving. He is just. We are corrupt. And so on it goes. When we see ourselves in comparison to this God and recognize the depth and unsurpassing worth of His grace, we will begin to see the fruit of humility in our lives.

This is essential. Without humility, we’ll never gain discernment. Scripture is replete with the connection between knowledge of holiness and understanding. Unless we pursue knowledge of the Holy One and see who we are in comparison to Him and recognize our place and our need for His grace, we will never have discernment. So, humble yourself. Spend time in the Word, in prayer, and considering the greatness of God. Surround yourself with those things and those people who remind you sharply of the holiness of God and your own inability to hold to that standard. Seek His face, receive His grace and then we will have been positioned to hear God’s direction.

There is a great deal of discussion and debate on the topic and nature of discernment. Pastors and theologians are teaching about it through sermons, seminars, and books. Conferences are held centering on it. Even bloggers have stepped onto the scene with Tim Challies‘ book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment (very highly recommended). The fact is, discernment is all the rage, and rightly so. It’s an important issue and merits the attention of Christians everywhere. As Challies wisely names it, discernment is also a discipline that ought to be cultivated by Christians for use in their everyday lives.

To work with discernment, we require a working definition. Discernment can be understood as the confident choice of an individual to embrace the leading and will of God. This is reflected in both developing the discipline of discernment and in the reception of the spiritual gift of discernment. If we are not confident, we have no exercised the scrutiny that comes from discerning. If we have not chosen, we have simply been subjected by or submitted ourselves to the circumstances that we are in. If it is not the leading of God, it is our own self-deceiving heart. If it is not the will of God, it is faithlessness and rebellion. So each of these elements is necessary for our understanding of discernment.

Many more qualified, more experienced, and much wiser men than I have written on discernment. So I will not labor in the teaching of Word on discernment. Rather, seek out the wisdom of men iike Tim Challies, Kevin DeYoung, Josh Harris, C.J. Mahaney, John Piper, J.I. Packer, and others to hone and form your knowledge and insight into the discipline and gift of discernment. What I hope to do, however, is to present some practical elements to the discipline of discernment that are, perhaps, less profound than other readings but the beauty of their simplicity allows us effective communion and submission to God. The first of these points is that the discerning believer will stop talking.

We’re good at encouraging each other to converse with God and not let prayer be a one-way conversation. What usually happens when we try to follow that advice, however, is that we spend a lot of time talking to ourselves about our problems, our perceptions, and our own personal revelations, which we may ascribe to God. The most important thing we can do, to start with, is to stop talking.

To stop talking does not mean taking a vow of silence. Rather, we must be sure that we do not bury ourselves with our wn inter-personal dialogues. In his book Humility: True Greatness, C.J. Mahaney admonishes readers to preach to themselves, to remind ourselves of grace, of lowliness, of humility, and the greatness of God in the Gospel. So when we seek discernment, we start by calling on our souls to still thsemelves and be reverent in the presence of the Almighty Creator.

In doing this, it is often helpful to meditate upon a single verse or brief passage of Scripture. By focusing our attention upon that one verse/passage, we fill our minds with the Word of God and attune our ears to the sound of His voice. With focus and patience, we silence the agonies of our souls and give them brief respite from self-criticism, self-argument, and self-advancement. When we do this, we find ourselves humbled, desiring to see more of God’s greatness and filled with inexpressible joy. So, then, let us be silent before the Lord and quiet our souls to hear His instruction.