Book Review: The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment

The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. Tim Challies. 2007. Crossway Publishers. 208 pages.

It must be terrifying to be the son of a king and to be heir to a throne.

Discernment is important to me. I think it should be important to every believer. This book is a good introduction to the subject. It helps define it and tries to illustrate why it is so very important to the faith. Why every believer, every church should practice it. And it is something to be practiced.

One of the things the book stresses is that it takes time in the Word. That and prayer. Both are essential if you want to stay grounded.

We live in an age where too many who profess to be Christians rarely consider their spiritual maturity--an age when many consider spiritual immaturity a mark of authenticity, and when people associate doubt with humility and assurance with pride. (23)

An absolute lack of discernment and a lack of concern for discernment is sure proof of spiritual death. (27)

To lack discernment is to sin against God. (27)

To fail to discern is to walk in darkness (27)

The first enemy we must overcome in our discipline of discernment is ourselves. (40)

But Christianity is not a faith that can be taken a la carte. It is not a faith that allows its adherents to pick and choose which elements they would like to accept and which they would prefer to reject. (49)

Because God is truth, knowing God and knowing truth are inseparable. (54)

Discernment is the skill of understanding and applying God's Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong. (61)

Only when we have separated truth from error are we able to rightly worship God. (65)

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible