The Discerning Word by David Jeremiah

The Discerning Word For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12 We’ve all met them: married couples who have been together so long they can finish each other’s sentences. They even give each other a sideways glance if one hears the other saying something that “doesn’t sound like you.” There’s no fooling people who know each other intimately.

Recommended Reading: Isaiah 1:18

God knows us intimately, but something else knows us just as intimately. And that is the Word of God. God is obviously “living and powerful,” but so is His Word. God can discern the “thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12) and so can His Word. Which is one of the benefits of reading Scripture consistently—to show us who we really are on the inside. And when we encounter a verse that lets us know we have fallen short of God’s glory, we can immediately go to God in confessional prayer and be forgiven. Let the Word be a mirror for your heart. And let God cleanse you of any thought or intent that is not pleasing to Him. We can’t really tell how crooked our thinking is until we line it up with the straight edge of Scripture. Elisabeth Elliot