LEADERS AND DISCERNMENT:  I Chronicles 12:32 “And of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, and knew what Israel should do.”  We live in a world today when a leader at any level and in any setting must understand the times and discern what he should do.  We have to understand and discern what we are against before we can know what to do.  That is the description of the men of Issachar in our Scripture who were known as David’s mighty men and warriors.  They understood the times of the war they were in and knew what to do because they had been skillfully trained and prepared to do what had to be done.  It is no different for us as we lead our families and at work in a confusing world of untruths and deceptions thrown at us by the enemy.

Our message at church this past Sunday included an important truth: “We discern untruth by knowing the truth and having truth in our hearts.”  God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to interpret it and bring truth from our hearts to personal choices and actions provide us the discernment to understand and know what to do.  The enemy twists truth and disguises it in so many ways that it is not recognized by many people who have not built truth into their hearts.  Therefore, they do not know what to do when the battle arises.  Some battles seem like we are facing Goliath, but remember this: “If God allows for a Goliath to be in front of us, we must believe that He will place a David inside of us.”  That simply means that we have the strength and courage like David’s mighty men to understand and discern our times and know what to do---and to do it.  That’s what God’s leaders do!