The city was Bobo Dioulasso. Burkina Faso, Africa. The hour was early as I stepped across the pebbled courtyard and into the Mission Chairman's residence. He was not there, but Jim Albright, the Mission Chairman from neighboring Mali, was. And since I was then involved in producing a first draft of this book, I asked him, quite naturally, "Is there anything you have to say about discernment?"

His response was immediate and beyond my comprehension.

"Discernment," he said, "must never be separated from the will."

But as the discussion developed and as I began to turn the idea in my mind, I began to realize that a most basic ingredient for this whole discussion of discernment had been supplied. In retrospect, I feel that one of the most important events in that African journey was that discussion on discernment and will.

Essentially now, let me explain how discernment and the will are related. There are often perceptive glimpses that come to us in life, penetrating Christian insights that come in moments of clarity. Almost invariably that insight requires a volitional response.

Sometimes the most difficult thing in all the world is to be still. But if a person received subjective discernment, private understanding and information about the needs of another, and silence is God's intent but the discerning person speaks, the discernment will decay in the basket. As soon as information which the Holy Spirit intended for one alone becomes public, the pearls have been cast before the livestock, and a judgmental attitude has been unleashed.

Let me illustrate. Let us assume a Christian brother with a highly developed gift of discerning of spirits recognizes that someone in a local assembly has deep demonic problems. The objective discernment may be completely accurate. But lacking self-control, the will to keep that information to himself, he begins to tell others about what he knows. Subjective discernment, when it goes public wrongly or prematurely, becomes judgmental and full of condemnation.

Discernment disintegrates when isolated from the Christian's Spirit-led will. There were times when Jesus our Lord saw fit to address the will, to urge men and women to be quiet about what they knew and what they had seen. That principle of silence is applicable today. When discernment is intended to be for one's understanding alone, uncontrolled speech is appalling. The will to silence is missing.

Again, discernment many times is objective in its purpose. That flash of insight from God is something which demands an active response - from the will.

An example known to me illustrates this well. In the Republic of Mali over forty years ago, an African heard the gospel preached. Instinctively, intuitively, he knew it was the truth that he ought to believe.

Instead of embracing Jesus Christ with his will, he turned to Islam. For forty years he followed Mohammedanism, knowing deep within all the while that it was false.

Finally, after rising in the ranks in his village until he had become the leading Mohammedan, he turned abruptly to Jesus Christ. Will, as always, was the key.

Another example. Let us suppose that a professor in a college or seminary sees that worldliness is creeping in, that devotion is eroded, and that errancy in the Bible is being embraced. What does he do? His discernment brings with it a dilemma.

He has tenure. A pension. Respect, prestige. It is much easier to be quiet. Not to rock the boat.

Rationalizations flood in. "Maybe things will change. Maybe I should wait. Are not Christians called to peace?"

His lips are sealed. He knows enough to start a revolution. But his will to act has abandoned him. He chooses the eroding status quo. And he muffles the alarms ringing from his conscience.

Or here is another hypothetical case. A publisher of Christian books receives a manuscript which he instinctively knows will sell. But it is unbiblical in certain parts, glorifies evil in other parts, and is clearly pornographic. True, there is a dramatic Christian conversion tacked on the end.

He knows better, but he wavers. He needs the money. But a "hot cover," an appealing title, and a complete marketing plan spring into his mind.

The book is published. Sales are immediate and large. The dollars roll in. Accounts of conversions come from every side. These he recounts with relish and publishes them profusely. Surely God is blessing this book.

But deep within he knows better. He really does know.

But his will was paralyzed when the contract was signed.

Surely one can see in this experience that the exercise of the will is essential to effective Christian discernment.

A final hypothetical case. An earnest Christian becomes involved with the charismatic movement. Soon he realizes that the particular group with which he is involved is given to excess and extreme.

But the experiences are warm. His heavenly language makes him feel good. The prophecies sometimes bother him. They seem to be imprecise; or worse, they seem to strain biblical values. The interpretations of tongues also seem to be either unfailingly ordinary or queer.

Still there are healings. Dramatic deliverances. Breathless accumulations of providences. Often he hears the phrase, "This must be of God. Look how it worked out."

Then one day, in a moment of clarity, with his perception sharpened as perhaps never before in his life, he sees that his charismatic Jesus is "another Jesus" (2 Cor. 11:4) - a phony, sensual, deceiving Jesus. And he notices how rarely the full title of the Lord Jesus Christ has been used in his fellowship.

But his "tongue" feels so nice. The providences keep on multiplying. He just cannot bring himself to abandon something so pleasant.

His discernment is useless. It has been reduced to knowledge that will rise to judge him one day because his will was feeble, his conviction compromised.

The linking of discernment and the will is essential. Vital. Without it discernment is like the manna the morning after, rotted and full of worms. When afloat on spiritual wisdom and a surrendered will, Christian discernment is spiritual dynamite.

We should not be surprised that Jesus Christ summarized the whole issue clearly, centuries ago. "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:17).

Chapter 9