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Phrase - Discernment ( Clear discernment - 86 )
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Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .
 
clear  discernment
Related Phrase:   keen discernment  - -  clear spiritual discernment
The gold of faith and love, the white raiment of a spotless character, and the eyesalve, or the power of clear discernment between good and evil -- all these we must obtain before we can hope to enter the kingdom of God. But these precious treasures will not drop upon us without some exertion on our part. We must buy -- we must "be zealous and repent" of our lukewarm state. We must be awake to see our wrongs, to search for our sins, and to put them away from us. . . .  {OHC 351.3}
 
 
The merciful shall find mercy, and the pure in heart shall see God. Every impure thought defiles the soul, impairs the moral sense, and tends to obliterate the impressions of the Holy Spirit. It dims the spiritual vision, so that men cannot behold God. The Lord may and does forgive the repenting sinner; but though forgiven, the soul is marred. All impurity of speech or of thought must be shunned by him who would have clear discernmentof spiritual truth.  {DA 302.2}  {RC 308.3}
 
  
The Bible is a guide in the management of children. Here, if parents desire, they may find a course marked out for the education and training of their children, that they may make no blunders. . . . When this Guidebook is followed, parents, instead of giving unlimited indulgence to their children, will use more often the chastening rod; instead of being blind to their faults, their perverse tempers, and alive only to their virtues, they will have clear discernment and will look upon these things in the light of the Bible. They will know that they must command their children in the right way.  {CG 256.2}
 
God has provided a balm for every wound. There is a balm in Gilead, there is a Physician there. Will you not now as never before study the Scriptures? Seek the Lord for wisdom in every emergency. In every trial plead with Jesus to show you a way out of your troubles, then your eyes will be opened to behold the remedy and to apply to your case the healing promises that have been recorded in His Word. In this way the enemy will find no place to lead you into mourning and unbelief, but instead you will have faith and hope and courage in the Lord. The Holy Spirit will give you clear discernment that you may see and appropriate every blessing that will act as an antidote to grief, as a branch of healing to every draught of bitterness that is placed to your lips. Every draught of bitterness will be mingled with the love of Jesus, and in place of complaining of the bitterness, you will realize that Jesus' love and grace are so mingled with sorrow that it has been turned into subdued, holy, sanctified joy.  {FLB 186.3}  {2SM 273.3}
 
Shall we not in this new year seek to correct the errors of the past? It behooves us individually to cultivate the grace of Christ, to be meek and lowly of heart, to be firm, unwavering, steadfast in the truth; for thus only can we advance in holiness, and be made fit for the inheritance of the saints in light. Let us begin the year with an entire renunciation of self; let us pray for clear discernment, that we may understand our Saviour's claims upon us, and that we may always and everywhere be witnesses for Christ (Signs of the Times, Jan. 4, 1883).  {LHU 15.5}
 
There will be in the office men who will lead into strange paths those whose minds are not firmly established in the principles of present truth. These unconsecrated men will set up false waymarks and will walk in false paths, because they lack clear discernment. They will manifest a burning desire to confederate; to form rings among themselves in order to sustain one another in the wrong principles they advocate. They will voice one another's words.  {PM 150.3}
 
In my last vision I was shown that even this decided message of the True Witness had not accomplished the design of God. The people slumber on in their sins. They continue to declare themselves rich and having need of nothing. Many inquire: Why are all these reproofs given? Why do the Testimonies continually charge us with backsliding and with grievous sins? We love the truth; we are prospering; we are in no need of these testimonies of warning and reproof. But let these murmurers see their hearts and compare their lives with the practical teachings of the Bible, let them humble their souls before God, let the grace of God illuminate the darkness, and the scales will fall from their eyes, and they will realize their true spiritual poverty and wretchedness. They will feel the necessity of buying gold, which is pure faith and love; white raiment, which is a spotless character made pure in the blood of their dear Redeemer; and eyesalve, which is the grace of God and which will give clear discernment of spiritual things and detect sin. These attainments are more precious than the gold of Ophir.  {3T 254.2}
 
These blessings we need. We need the water of life that flows from Jesus Christ, which will be in us a well of water springing up into everlasting life. "The Lord shall guide thee continually." When we are guided by the Lord, we shall have clear discernment. We shall not call righteousness unrighteousness, nor think that things that the Lord has forbidden are right. We shall understand where the Lord is working.  {4BC 1152.1}
 
 
clear  spiritual  discernment
From the light given me of the Lord, men will arise speaking perverse things. Yea, already they have been working and speaking things which God has never revealed, bringing sacred truth upon a level with common things. Issues have been and will continue to be made of men’s conceited fallacies, not of truth. The devisings of men’s minds will invent tests that are no tests at all, that when the true test shall be made prominent, it shall be considered on a par with the man-made tests that have been of no value. We may expect that everything will be brought in and mingled with sound doctrine, but by clear, spiritual discernment, by the heavenly anointing, we must distinguish the sacred from the common which is being brought in to confuse faith and sound judgment, and demerit the great, grand, testing truth for this time.... { 2SM 14.3} 
 
Related Phrase:   Keen discernment
As the work of God advances in our time, there is an increasing need of men of keen discernment, -- men who know God and trust in him for their understanding,-- men who are working for his name's glory. In the days of Israel men were set apart as judges, to decide regarding what was right, and what was wrong. Surrounded by corrupting influences, they endeavored faithfully to warn the people against the things that were wrong, and to exalt righteous principles, and thus to keep the cause of God from contamination with evil. His cause is just as sacred now as it was in ancient times. Today men in positions of trust, in every place, should be faithful guardians of the purity of the church and everything connected with it. We need, O so greatly! keen discernment and clear spiritual eyesight. In this day of sin and abounding iniquity, our eyes need to be anointed with the heavenly eyesalve,that we may see all things clearly. The great and solemn truths for this time, as outlined in the book of Revelation, are to be proclaimed to the world. Into the very designs and principles of the church these truths are to enter.  {RH, October 26, 1905 par. 7}
 
 
need  clear  discernment
Related phrase:  clear discernment is needed  ( below )
No sin is small in the sight of God. The sins which man is disposed to look upon as small may be the very ones which God accounts as great crimes. The drunkard is despised and is told that his sin will exclude him from heaven, while pride, selfishness, and covetousness go unrebuked. But these are sins that are especially offensive to God. . . . We need clear discernment, that we may measure sin by the Lord's standard.  {AG 78.3}
 
 
Ministers should live close to Jesus, that they may rightly represent him to others. He has set them an example in his own ministry. They should labor for souls with the same unselfish love that characterized his labors. They have something more to do than merely to preach in the desk. This is only the beginning of their work. They are overseers of the flock; and it is their duty to "feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." [ACTS 20:28.] They are required to watch for souls "as they that must give account;" [HEB. 13:17.] and they need clear discernment, that no wrong influence may pervert their work.  {GW92 447.2}
 
 
Everything connected with the institution at Loma Linda should, so far as possible, be unmingled with commercialism. Nothing should be allowed to come in that would in any wise lessen the favorable impression you are striving to make. If we manifest a genuine faith in eternal realities, this will have a far-reaching effect on the minds of others. We must allow nothing to hinder our efforts for the saving of souls. God requires us to leave impressions that will help awaken unbelievers to a realization of their duty. Let us use voice and pen in helping those who need clear discernment.  {HFM 77.4}
 
The Need for Clear Discernment - - As we near the time when principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places will be brought into warfare against the truth, when the deceiving power of Satan will be so great that if it were possible he will deceive the very elect, we must have our discernment sharpened by divine enlightenment, that we may know the spirit that is of God, that we may not be ignorant of Satan's devices. Human effort must combine with divine power, that we may be able to accomplish the closing work for this time.  {2SM 15.3}
 
clear  discernment  is  needed
The danger that threatens our churches is that new and strange things will be brought in, things that confuse the minds of the people, and give them no strength, at the very time when they most need strength in spiritual things. Clear discernment is needed that things new and strange shall not be laid alongside of truth as a part of the burden of the message to be given at this time. The very messages we have been giving to the world are to be made prominent. -- An Appeal for Canvassers, pp. 1, 2.  {2SM 14.1}
 
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