Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isn’t that just one of the best passages in scripture? So often I have desired to just wait on the Lord. I see myself sitting in a train station waiting because “I hear that train a comin’.” But life passes me as I wait.

Life doesn’t have a pause button. We don’t get to get up and go attend important matters and then come back to hit the play button at our convenience. The pace of life is speeding up. Things that affect us with urgency and import should have and could have been discovered to have been set in motion years ago, if only someone had been paying attention.

It is easy to say “I wasn’t there.” “I didn’t have the opportunity to stop that.” Which is true. We cannot be everywhere and we cannot do “all things” but we are called and we are servants and we have those opportunities in front of us. We can do our part.

Trusting God for the ending is great but He has entrusted us with our part.

Psalm 57:1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.

Outstretched wings catch air and move. They can cover us as we move, we need not pause.

Daniel 1:17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

Do you believe that God speaks to us through dreams and visions? If you answer is yes then I would suggest that you one believe God and secondly believe in dreams. Allow me if you will to use this verse in Daniel to point out that these first two points neither one render interpretation of dreams. That takes discernment.

In my lengthy experience with churches of various types, I have found none that touch adequately on discernment. It is difficult to define and one cannot be trained in this gift. Over the years I have observed many who are trained and adequate in the interpretation of dreams. Those dreams however were not a product of God communicating with His creation. They were merely psychological in nature and had roots in unresolved personal issues.

Rare is the gift of discernment. I’ve witnessed it a few times and the same thing could be said of any individual who has the gift. They do not claim it. They use it and it is evidenced in the illumination of truth into circumstances. Many claim to possess discernment, and I would hope for their own sake that they were being honestly yearning for that gift. In none of those I’ve met has it been evident.

Discernment is not wisdom. Wisdom is freely given to all who earnestly pray for it. Wisdom is experience, it is learned. Discernment is a gift, there is no manual. You cannot be trained up to use this gift. What it does take is a solid relationship with God and obedience to faith that allows the Holy Spirit to use you at any moment, a surrendering of self in a moment and allowing the truth to shine for itself.

We are called to be servants and we recognize a cooperative effort is required on our part. But this one gift only requires the momentary empty vessel, empty of self, to be used by God.

Romans 12:1 (in part) present your bodies a living sacrifice