Discernment is the intuitive and cognitive supernatural ability to detect and profile the distinctive characteristics of spirits. One empowered with this ability is under the divine anointing to subdue evil and set captives free from the perpetrators of sin and evil.
God taught me how to discern
While my friend and I were sitting in his living room having a wonderful time chatting, his daughter arrived. After she greeted us and had walked away, I told my friend that his daughter is having issues and is hurting.
How did I know that?
Prior to that meeting, my friend did not share with me any matters concerning his daughter. It must be God. He activated my ability to discern in that moment.
When his daughter passed by, I was not even in a prayer mode, nor was there any thought or intention to discern. The revelation was quick. It happened instantly.
Discernment By Feelings
How did I discern it?
When his daughter greeted us, there was a sudden pain in my heart. Then God put the words in my mind to say that she is hurting.
This way of discerning was my first time. Nobody taught me how to do this.
My friend quickly responded. To confirm my discernment, he asked his daughter if she was hurting. His daughter broke into tears. She confessed. She was hurt by him. Every time her father warned her about her boyfriend, she felt untrustworthy. She resented it.
My friend asked his daughter to forgive him. Likewise, his daughter asked for his forgiveness. Then I prayed for them.
I have learned that pain is an alarm signal of a problem. The moment the problem is solved, the pain disappears.
Discernment By Seeing
While praying for them, the Lord opened my spiritual eyes to see in the spirit a vision. I saw her running barefoot, and a little black snake slithered after her and bit her heel. Quickly and briefly, the Lord gave me the meaning of that vision. The black snake that bit her is a demon. Its’ venom is lust.
Discreetly, I shared the vision with her father, its’ meaning, and the need to minister gently to his daughter to deal with lust and overcome it.
Discernment By Hearing
Though God conveys His messages through various means, it is crucial that we discern His voice when He speaks.
He reveals Himself. That is absolute, but how can we be sure it is He speaking?
He spoke to me even when I had not known Him biblicially and intimately as my God.
In one of my bitter moments as a young teen, I was emotionally hurting and contemplating the plan of leaving home when I heard a voice in my mind. I was not aware of who was speaking, but that voice engaged me in a mind talk, enlightening me to discard my bad plan, which I did. In hindsight, after several years, I realized that that voice was God’s.
It is God who chooses to speak. And He chooses the place and time to speak.
Putting God in a box
With 5 little children happily playing and making noises at home, I wished I could pray and meditate in a quiet place. So I planned to go to the prayer mountain in Antipolo.
But God said no. Pray at home.
The Lord was rebooting my mindset: that having a quiet place to hear God’s voice is putting Him in a box.
Lesson learned: Hearing His voice in the midst of a loud noise is as clear as hearing His voice in a quiet place.
It is not what I want to do that pleases God; it is what He wants me to do
To spend time alone with God in the bedroom, I asked my wife if she could wash the dishes for me after breakfast. She obliged. After closing the bedroom door behind me, God said, ” You wash the dishes.” I obeyed.
While washing the dishes, God gave me a message to convey to the school principal of our children.
The school was praying for computers for the computer classroom. Being the president of the parents-teahers fellowship, I was asked to pray about holding a fundraising event. A group of parents, prominent artists in the music industry, offered to perform there.
The Lord said yes.
The auditorium was full. After the musical rendition of the artists, the school principal asked me to give a short talk on the purpose of the concert and then pray before the offering.
Before I could respond, the word of the Lord came to me. “Don’t pass the offering bags. Tell the audience to send their donations to the school office.”
The principal agreed. I gave the short talk. Told the audience to send their donations to the school office because no offering bags would be passed around. I prayed, thanking the Lord and thanking the artists and everyone there. The event ended as God instructed.
The following days after the concert, checks started pouring in. The donations received were enough to procure 4 desktop computers.
Hearing God’s voice unlocks our faith to walk on water. It also prevents us from presuming God’s will in any plan we wish to execute.
There are teachings on how to hear God’s voice. I went through them. When my wife and I took the DTS in YWAM, hearing God’s voice was a major subject.
In all the years that God enabled me to hear His voice, He made me realize that it is not because of my understanding and wisdom on how to hear God’s voice that I am able to hear Him. Anyone can hear Him. Balaam did. He was a pagan soothsayer hired to curse Israel. But God spoke to him.
God speaks to us not because of who we are but because of Who He is.
Discernment By Smelling
A scent could be a supernatural alarm that something is going to happen or a signal revealing an existing issue or problem.
In culmination of the Spiritual Warfare and Intercession Institute held in 5 days of incubation, a love feast was held. After the graduates were given their certificates of attendance, we went home.
Upon arrival, my wife and I unpacked our things. We brought with us some flowers used in decorating the love feast venue. Then a smell of death filled the air. It was an intensely putrid odor. The atmosphere suddenly became depressing and heavy. Then we noticed the flowers brought from the love feast. They were bought from a flower shop selling funeral flowers. We prayed, sanctifying the flowers and reversing their purpose and essence. That instead of death, they shall symbolize life. Then we also rebuked the spirit of death to leave our place. That it cannot take any life in our midst. Death shall not prevail.
After several moments, we heard a commotion. A boy next door fell from the third floor and landed on top of a vehicle parked on the side street. He was rushed to the health center nearby, only a block away.
Later that day, we heard the boy suffered a slight injury. Nothing serious. Praise God, he survived.
Discernment By Tasting
On the day I was suffering from a toothache and a swollen gum, particularly in my front teeth. I had a strong sense that my pain was symbolic. I was sure there was no physiological problem with my teeth and gums. So I delved into the spirit realm praying, searching for its symbolic meaning and connection.
The Lord revealed to me that my mouth symbolized the prophetic movement. The pain in my teeth and gums indicated there was a problem: the inability to chew the teachings on the prophetic gift and office of the prophetic ministers nationwide. After praying on this issue, the pain in my teeth and gums disappeared.
Large-scale Discernment
Not all prayer warriors and intercessors are called to engage in large-scale discernment, which requires sensitivity, humility, grace, love, prudence, a non-judgmental attitude, diligence, perseverance, resilience, and a high tolerance to pain and persecution.
The level of discernment is large-scale when the physical problem is caused by forces of evil ruling a large territory like a town, city, province, region, island, or country.
The Lord trained me how to engage in a large-scale discernment. Mapping out a large-scale territory is done by divine guidance, revelation, and anointing. The process is like building an organizational chart in order to make a profile of the enemy and then carrying out the battle plan and strategy revealed by the Lord Sabaoth.
I was invited to preach at a youth gathering in Bulacan. Prayerfully prepared with a message, I went. While at NLEX, I was tormented with a mild pain in my head. I wondered if it was something physiological. I was clueless. So I just prayed in tongues during my trip until I reached the venue, hoping the pain tormenting me would disappear. It did not. I felt it during my preaching until I went home. Puzzled, I continued praying. I did not know how to pray about it, so I prayed in tongues while my spirit was reaching out to God for answers. After several minutes of feeling tired and dazed, I fell asleep. When I woke up, I felt better. No trace of pain on my head. But I was still clueless.
Again, I was invited to preach in Bulacan, so I went and took the bus. Along NLEX, I felt the same pain on my head. Rebuking the painful torment did not make it disappear. While striving to discern the matter, I relentlessly prayed in tongues. Still no breakthrough; during and after preaching, I was feeling the pain. On my way home, while on the bus, I kept praying in tongues because I was determined to get to the bottom of it.
Along NLEX upon reaching outside the boundary line between Bulacan and Quezon City, the pain tormenting my head disappeared. There was peace and I was glad. At home, I sought the Lord for understanding.
This was my first awareness of the Lord leading me to a large-scale discernment. Lessons were learned on site. Having a complete glimpse of the spiritual atmoshere in a large scale took me a while to comprehend. It’s God’s prerogative to reveal what I need to know.
The first lesson I learned: Evil spirits are bounded by territories. The painful torment in my head was felt only within the borders of Bulacan. Demons occupy a space. But demons are not everywhere.
Summary
When God ordains our physical body to serve as the digital radar and sensor in the spirit realm, knowing the purpose and function of our physical anatomy is the key to unlocking the identity, works, and location of spirits.
The physical and spiritual are connected.
The physical is the symbol; it is the window of expression or stage dramatizing the spiritual.
What we see in the physical, they are conceived in the spiritual.
In order to solve problems in the physical, we connect them to the spiritual. There, understanding and wisdom come from the Spirit of God.
As God’s chosen connectors of earth and heaven, we are His channels empowered to unravel both physical and spiritual mysteries and usher the divine synthesis of the natural and supernatural.
Our Prayer: ‘Our Father in heaven…Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…’ is a profound prayer unlockimg the power of God’s kingdom to manifest God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.
When we sin, God’s will is not done on earth. When we align to His will in heaven, we become His kingdom on earth and His will is done as it is in heaven.
As God’s kingdom on earth,
We do not do our own thing. No command, no action. God is our Commander. We hear and obey His voice. For His is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory. Amen.
……………leo.e.m.calderon.03/04/2025 . Revised 04/07/20255…………….
