Discernment
302 conversations where the hosts get into discernment.
302 conversations
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'When God is silent': what counts as hearing from the Lord?
- What does it mean to 'hear from the Lord,' and how often should we expect it?
Mike brings a question from his Bible study, whose paragraph heading was 'when God is silent': the author wrote that he experienced God's silence for a couple of weeks and freaked out, and Ben expected a relatable years-long drought story — 'Oh, two weeks.
From No. 603 · Found Out
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Mike frames the question: are more people hearing from God?
- Does it seem like more and more people are hearing from God — and is that real or a lie and a huge distraction?
Ben asks Mike for a two-sentence framing; Mike says listening to the book of Job while mowing made him furious when Bildad 'received a word from the Lord,' turning a bad human argument into an unarguable divine claim.
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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Does God speak more now? Indwelling Spirit versus prophets
- Does God talk to people as much now as he did in the Old Testament or New Testament?
A host asks whether God talks to people as much now as in the Old and New Testaments. Ben's key distinction: the indwelling Holy Spirit means more people can have the experience…
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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How to tell your voice from God's: the Bible test and leniency
- How can you tell the difference between you speaking and God speaking?
Ella distills the question: how do you tell the difference between you speaking and God speaking? Her first answer: we have a Bible — what God is telling you is probably already in it ('Ben's gonna have a proud papa moment').
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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The big question: high-point experiences and everyday faith
- Why don't high-point religious experiences translate into everyday faith, and should they?
- Does everyday faithfulness ('sheep in, sheep out') go together with actively listening for what God is doing, or is it a change?
Ben frames the night's big question: why don't high-point religious experiences — camps, Promise Keepers, big conferences — translate into normal everyday life, and should they?
From No. 596 · Mr. Prayer Closet
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Dawson's question: what to watch for in a new church
- What should you pay attention to when stepping into a church community for the first time?
Dawson, a third in-studio voice, asks what to pay attention to when stepping into a church you've never visited.
From No. 595 · Trust But Verify
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Evaluating the event: Elijah, Josiah, the sign of Jonah, the donuts test
- How do we tell whether a church element has become the thing itself rather than pointing to Jesus?
The hosts work through evaluation tools for curated experiences: Elijah didn't ask God to repeat the fire, and Jesus refused to repeat signs for the Pharisees ('you get the sign…
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Holy Spirit experience: healing, cessationism, and testing the spirits
- Is there a normative experience of the Holy Spirit in the world today?
The central hard question: is there a normative experience of the Holy Spirit in the world today, and what does it mean for a follower of Jesus?
From No. 593 · Do You Hear What I Hear
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Discerning impressions: the exact phrase, obedience, and daily decisions
- Did God give you the exact phrase?
Mike shares a fifteen-year-old unresolved memory of someone saying "God told me," then frames the practical question: "did God give you the exact phrase?"
From No. 593 · Do You Hear What I Hear
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Dear LFTP: Martha, John, and Jerry
- How should a woman in love with her ex's brother tell friends, family, and his parents?
A host reads the first Dear LFTP letter: Martha dated John for two years, then he kept living with her six months after the breakup; John is an emotionally and verbally abusive alcoholic who burned every bridge.
From No. 584 · When Vanek Was Here | Cambodia Testimony, Church Mission, Josiah Queen
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Mike's Berean pushback: can you check your way out of the Spirit?
- Can you "Berean" your way out of the Holy Spirit — canceling genuine direction because the scripture cited for it was wrong?
Ben turns it on Mike: can you "Berean" yourself out of the Holy Spirit — take genuine direction and cancel it because the scripture cited was wrong?
From No. 580 · Not Sure | Old Testament Law, Holy Spirit Guidance, Christian Discernment
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Dear LFTP: ghosted twice by Dawn
- After a twelve-year relationship and being ghosted twice by Dawn, how do I move forward, and are my signs and dreams telling me to wait?
Mike reads the last letter: a 55-year-old man dated Dawn for twelve years, both of them leaving their marriages, was ghosted twice, and now wonders whether his 'divine messages, signs, and dreams' mean he should keep waiting.
From No. 576 · Get A Dog
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Helping vs enabling: three things that must be in place
- How do I know whether I'm helping or enabling someone making destructive decisions?
Asked how to tell helping from enabling, Jared gives three keys: (1) a real personal relationship — not a drive-by; (2) 'be prayerful... and be in step with the holy spirit,' not just the person; (3) know whether it's a heart issue or a wisdom issue.
From No. 569 · Up Late
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Feeling spiritually meh: causes, experiences, and ways through
- Have you ever felt spiritually meh, what does it feel like, and how do you get out of it?
The main discussion: what it means to feel "spiritually meh" — not rebelling against God, but not wanting to do the prayer, Bible reading, and other connecting practices you know are good.
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How do you know what's trustworthy? Dan, Mike, and Boova answer
- How do you know which supplemental Bible resources are trustworthy?
Ben asks each host in turn — 'Dan, Mike, Boova in that order' — how they vet supplemental material. Dan describes a 'sniff test' built on forty years of reading: checking a teacher's kingdom view, past errors like his early enthusiasm for Rob Bell, and the publisher.
From No. 541 · Why Not The Second Heaven
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Dear LFTP: the married man who wants her as his side piece
- Should I block the married man who lied to me and wants me as his side piece, or stick around?
- When someone is cheating, do you tell the wife?
Ben reads a Dear LFTP letter from a woman who fell for a coworker who claimed his ex was out of the picture, then learned via internet research that he is married and bought the house with his wife — and now he wants her as his side piece.
From No. 535 · Solo Contendere
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Dear LFTP: the man who wants her hand but not a relationship
- Is the man who wants to hold her hand but won't date her playing hard to get?
Mike (speaker-0) reads the second letter: a 54-year-old woman met a man who asked her to coffee, then said he isn't marriage- or dating-minded — and then asked to hold her hand.
From No. 533 · You Can Buy Me Phalanges
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One-to-ten appropriateness vote and the planning bafflement
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how appropriate is a shirtless sword swallower climbing a pole as entertainment at a men's conference?
- Was Driscoll right to call out the act publicly, or should he have gone to the pastor privately first per Matthew 18?
Ben poses the question: level of appropriateness, one to ten, of a shirtless sword swallower climbing a pole at a men's conference.
From No. 526 · Secrets and Topless Dudes
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Dear LFTP: the $8 spaghetti sauce in the grocery line
- Should I feel guilty for not covering the stranger's grocery bill when I could barely afford my own?
Boova (speaker-2, who reads the letter on-air) reads a Dear LFTP letter: at a grocery store, a young woman with an $8 jar of spaghetti sauce used the last of her food-stamp card,…
From No. 522 · Biking with Billy Shatner
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Dear LFTP: judging versus holding accountable
- Where is the line between not judging someone and holding them accountable for their behavior?
A listener asks where the line is between not judging someone and holding them accountable. The hosts land on posture and permission: accountability is permission-based and works through encouragement, not force — you can't make anyone change.
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Israel: the land question and a complicated history
- What is actually happening in Israel, historically and now, and what is a right-sized way to look at it?
Taking up Mike's question with an opening caution that one can select facts to make any of fifty or sixty storylines sound right, a host walks through a high-level history: modern…
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Dear LFTP: raising the village without sacrificing the kids
- Should I move my daughters away from my manipulative nephew to protect them?
A writer raising her two daughters alongside her sister and the sister's 10-year-old son sees abusive patterns from the boy's absent father showing up in the nephew, and now in her own seven-year-old's treatment of her six-year-old.
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Dear LFTP: 36, single, and the laundry-facilities suitor
- Why do the men I meet want to kiss but not have a relationship?
A 36-year-old single listener went home with a man whose main selling points were his own place with laundry facilities and a people-free job; he went straight for kissing, then said he doesn't want a relationship.
From No. 508 · The Caduce
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Is Job literal or a parable? Prophecy discussion
- Is the book of Job a literal story or a parable?
- What is prophecy, and can it be infectious or physical?
The hosts dig into the hard question of whether the book of Job is a true story or a parable-style teaching, noting it may be the oldest written book of the Bible.
From No. 504 · Saul, Naturally