February 5, 2001 

"Blocks to Discernment"

A couple of the tactics that we often run into with the enemy we also find in the Garden.  St. Ignatius teaches these, too, as the Garden tells us so much about the enemy's strategy, his tactics, and how sin began. 

One of his tactics is concealment.  In other words, "Don't tell.  Keep it to yourself.  Keep it in the dark."  It can even be about something that is little.  A little thing here, a little thing there, until our keeping things concealed becomes a habit and a way of life.  The enemy loves that.  He loves the darkness, and he works very well in darkness.  He hates light because God is Light.  So he loves concealment.  So we bring all things to the Light.  It could be a little thing, but still we bring it to the Light.
 
This is one of the reasons why we encourage journaling is because as we're writing on a piece of paper, we're bringing it out of ourselves and putting it into the light as we're talking it over with the Lord.  This is a tremendous safeguard against the enemy;  it's out of me, and it's out into the open.  I get an objective viewpoint of it, and I'm discussing it with God.  So bring everything into the light, and Satan will not be able to touch you in that area.  Concealment is one of his main strategies-"Don't tell."
 
The enemy also likes to appeal to our human nature, especially to our pride.  He knows us very well.  St. Peter said Satan is always going about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.  Satan has a lot of knowledge about us, and this is why the prayer of St. Augustine is so important.  Every day he used to pray, "To know You, My God, and to know myself."  Self-knowledge is important because even if we don't know ourselves well, Satan does.  He will appeal to our weak areas, such as any desires deep within us for recognition or to be in the spotlight or to know something better than someone else knows it.   Pride has so many little ways of lurking, and Satan does not like us to be little and always submit to authority.  He doesn't like children - he doesn't.  He is not a child himself in any way.  He is very independent.

In Isaiah, it says that Satan wanted to scale up even higher than God Himself.  He wanted not only to be like God, but he wanted to be enthroned over God.   So he's always going to be appealing to our pride.  Thoughts like, "Can't you make up your mind on your own?  Can't you stand on your own two feet?  Do you always need to have somebody else share what you're going to do?  Can't you get in the driver's seat and make your own decisions?"  He has all sorts of subtle ways that will appeal to that spirit of independence.  But God says, "No, you are children.  You be totally dependent on Me.  You ask Me for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.  I'll tell you, but you ask Me."
   
Have you ever had a phone call from somebody, and they wanted you to make a decision right now because "we have to know right now."  Be careful of that.  Always try to tell them, "Can I get back to you?"  Even if it's just for a few minutes, wait and ask the Lord.  This is where Eve made her big mistake.  She didn't come and check it out with God.  All she would have had to do was to go back and tell the Father to check it out.  So don't hurry.  Check it out.  Take your time.  Satan wants us to hurry so that we won't check it out.  He doesn't want us to take even for five minutes to pray and ask God for His wisdom. 
 
Another area of discernment that we have to be careful in is not to assume.  Again Eve made an assumption that she and Adam were so close with God that He probably wouldn't mind at all if they ate this fruit because it looked really good.  Sometimes we do the same.  We think we know God's mind, and so we think, "Oh, God really won't care if I do this.  It won't bother Him."  Maybe it won't, but that's not the point.  The point is we're moving without asking Him, without consulting Him.  We're assuming we know His mind, and the child in us has to assume that we do not ever know God's mind.

Another tactic the enemy will use is miscommunication.  So many people come for prayer ministry with division in relationships because there's miscommunication.  "He doesn't understand me."  "She doesn't understand me."  "We're not on the same wavelength."  "I just can't get through to this person."  We hear it all the time. We are misunderstood.  One time I asked the Lord about that, "Why is it that there's so much miscommunication between people?"  He said, "It's because My Son is the Word.  The Second Person of the Trinity is the Word, and everything about the Word communicates.  Jesus is a Communicator.  He is the Word.  So when He takes up residency within us, it's the Word within us that Satan is striking at.  Satan hates humanity because the Second Person in the Trinity became one of us, so he will strike at our communication."  So be on guard there.   If you're in a conversation with somebody, play it back, "Am I understanding that you're saying this and this and this."  "Yes, that's what I'm saying."  Don't assume that you always understand what they are saying because Satan will move in and divide through not understanding each other at all.  He will do everything to destroy communication, and of course when that happens, relationships get divided, don't they?  He loves to divide and conquer.  He loves to divide because he wants to isolate us.  He likes us to be independent and alone.

Scripture tells us, "Test the spirits." St. Paul tells us, "But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties are trained by practice to discern good and evil" (Heb 5:14).  So remember, keep practicing.  We will still miss from time to time, but practice does make perfect, and experience is the best teacher.  This is how we learn.  God will not let us make mistakes that are going to hurt us or other people if we are really seeking His mind.  We might not always understand it.  We might misinterpret.  We might miss the signal, so to speak, but He does permit that.  He does permit the mistakes, but He won't let harm come because we tried to seek His way.  We make a decision in the light and the knowledge and experience that we had at that time, and this can be a tremendous learning experience.

Excerpt from "The Healing Power of Discernment," Manila, Philippines, 1999.