Mensa Otabil - Exercise Discernment (10/26/2025)
Welcome to day number 10 of our 40 days of power. You know, time runs very fast; we just started, and now it’s 10 days. That shows us how God leads us. You know, many times you wonder how you are going to get there, how things are going to be, and all of a sudden, God leads you one day at a time and gets you to the appointed place. Just as He is leading us from strength to strength, may He lead you from strength to strength as you trust Him; as you look up to Him, He is your helper, and you will see His victory. We’re going to talk about exercising discernment. As we seek guidance from the Lord, we have to discern things rightly. We have to be able to know things without natural information and be able to tell if this is really what God is showing us, either about a person or a situation.
So, in Mark’s Gospel, chapter 2, verses 6 to 8, it says: «And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak blasphemy like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone? '» But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, «Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?» It’s a very interesting conversation Jesus is having with the scribes. The scribes are natural critics of Jesus, and they are present in a place when a sick man is brought before Him. Before He heals the sick man, the Lord says, «Your sins are forgiven you.» Once He says, «Your sins are forgiven you,» the scribes are reasoning, arguing, or debating with Jesus. But the Bible says they did it in their hearts; they did it within themselves. In other words, they’re not talking verbally for you to hear. That’s what the scribes are doing. They are there, and they’re debating, «Who is this guy? What does he think he is? Who can do that?»
So, there are certain times people go through emotions about you; maybe they don’t like you, or they’re going through whatever they’re going through about you. God is able to help us sometimes to discern what is going on within people. I’m not talking about being suspicious and being overly anxious about people; it is just being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. God can sometimes point you to parts of danger that lie ahead of us. We don’t need discernment only when we are dealing with people; sometimes it’s just our own life and decisions about to be made. God just gives you discernment and tells you, «Don’t go this way; don’t go that way; rather go this other way.»
So, Jesus was able to discern the reasoning of the scribes. How did Jesus know? Was He doing mind reading? Was He just watching their faces, checking their emotions? That’s how we do it naturally. The passage says that He perceived in His spirit. So, if you were in that meeting and this was going on, the scribes were going through things within them. Nobody hears Jesus' specific words; nobody knows. So both of them are operating internally: one is critical, the other is able to know it through the Spirit of God, and God is able to use us that way.
You can be in a meeting, you can be in a place, and you can discern what is going on, although nobody opens their mouth to tell you, because the Spirit of God helps you. May the Lord give you a spirit of discernment so that when evil is being planned against you, you will discern it. You will not fall into a trap that has been set for you. After He has discerned what is going on within the scribes, then He spoke up. This is the first time verbal language is being used in all this encounter. Jesus says, «Why are you reasoning like this in your heart? Why are you saying I can’t forgive sins? To show that I can forgive sins, tell the man to rise up, take up your bed, and go.»
So Jesus discerned it and now verbalized the discernment. May God give each one of us discernment as we proceed on this fast, and may the voice of God be clear to us within our spirits.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, You know the thoughts and intents of our hearts. May my motives bring glory to You. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.