Regina Dawn Akers

Recently, I asked myself, “What is the difference between discernment and judgment?” It seems important to be clear on this.

The answer came to me by remembering words that were given through the Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of Matthew. I felt clear on the meaning of discernment by remembering a passage from chapter 13 of that interpretation:

To know My Gift, you must put down your thoughts of fear and turn away from its evidence. Through your consistent choice, I will give you My Gift. [But] I cannot give the gift of Love if it is fear that you choose.

Both thoughts [of fear and Love] are in your mind now. Where will you choose to put your faith?

So that is how I can feel if I am using discernment. Discernment is looking at my thoughts or looking at the world and asking the question, “Is this a thought I will put my faith in?” I am literally choosing where to put my faith when I use discernment.

Judgment is also defined in the Matthew interpretations. It is defined by Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount. (By the way, a friend of mine joyously calls it “Discernment on the Mount.”) Here is what is said about judgment in chapter 7:

Judgment is like a knife that cuts the Son of God into pieces, for what you judge as separate from you is seen as separate, and so it cannot be seen as one.

For me, this definition has a completely different feel to it. Discernment is simply asking if I will put my faith in a thought. But judgment is the thought of separation. I can feel the effects of judgment when I do it. Through the error of judgment, I seem to cut myself off from that which I judge, and I can feel the guilt of separation as it penetrates my heart.

Here’s the good news: When I make the error of judgment, I have another opportunity for discernment. In each and every moment, there is another opportunity for discernment. So as I feel the pain that seems to be created by the error of judgment, I can look at that pain and ask, “Is this a thought I will put my faith in?” I can remember that the Holy Spirit teaches that I am always innocent. And I can choose not to put my faith in guilt or anger or fear. I can allow the thoughts of judgment to be undone, and I can return my mind in gratitude to Truth.

In the Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of Romans, judgment is called the tool of illusion. Discernment seems to be a tool that is used to undo illusion by allowing us the opportunity to look at our thoughts and carefully, and purposefully, choose again.

I am grateful for discernment.

I see guilt, fear and unworthiness in my mind. I could say that it is coming up because of circumstances that have shown up in my life, but if I let myself see those circumstances as causing these feelings, I am lying to myself.

These feelings, which I have chosen, are the cause of my experiences.

I want to look at this honestly. I want to be very, very honest with myself.

I am responsible for everything I see. There are no exceptions.

What I must do is close my eyes and not look at anything . . . I must let go of my thoughts about these seemingly specific circumstances . . . and I must look at the guilt, the fear and the sense of unworthiness in my mind. I must be very honest and say, “I believe in these feelings.” And I must continue to be honest by recognizing that belief is a choice.

If I believe in guilt, and I think I see guilt in me or in someone or something else, it is because I am making that choice.

Amen. download Buck Privates dvd
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“This is the only thing that you need do for vision, happiness, release from pain and the complete escape from sin, all to be given you. Say only this, but mean it with no reservations, for here the power of salvation lies:

Question: Are there circumstances where “forgiving” could reinforce the idea that a wrong was committed?

Regina’s answer: There was a person that I had a very hard time forgiving, even though I had a lot of willingness to forgive him. Talk about loud ego chatter!!!!! My mind went on and on and on about how awful he was. I would do everything the Holy Spirit asked me to do. I rested my mind and let current thoughts of accusation fade away. But as soon as I let my mind wander, my mind was back to accusing him of being guilty again.

Then one day, I asked myself why I couldn’t forgive him when I sincerely, sincerely wanted to. In that questioning, I realized that I was upset with him because I thought he had betrayed me and was also betraying download See No Evil dvd others. As soon as I hit on the word “betray,” I saw a flash of a long line of betrayals in my life time. They went all the way back to 5th grade!! That’s when I realized the mistake I had been making.

We aren’t forgiving people or situations in the world. To think that is to believe those people or situations are real. We are forgiving misperceptions in our mind. We are forgiving false beliefs and concepts.

As soon as I realized I was forgiving the concept of betrayal, the entire focus of the forgiveness shifted. I started to see how throughout my life I had repeatedly had expectations of people based our relationship. It didn’t matter if it was friend, co-worker, lover, boss, teacher of God or whatever. Whenever a relationship had a label on it, I had unspoken expectations of how to be true to one another based on our relationship. Then, I followed those rules. But somewhere along the way, someone else didn’t. BETRAYAL!

As I saw the consistent building blocks of each betrayal, I was able to see that it had all been setup and played out in my mind in order to prove that betrayal was out there. This is when I chose to let go of the concept of betrayal.

It took about a week to let this concept go. I could feel it coming up like a hard knot within my body. It seemed to work its way up from my stomach to my lower chest, then my upper chest, and then it came up. I shook as I felt the feelings of the betrayal during the final coming up. I was with the person who had represented the most recent betrayal at the time. I sat shaking and crying, and I told him something was coming up for me and I needed to talk. He said, “Let me check my email first.” At first I was shocked that he didn’t run to my aid . . . I was obviously upset . . . but then I realized that in order to forgive the thought of betrayal, betrayal needed to be present. He came over after a few minutes and we talked briefly. I shared my feelings as honestly as I could. I let it come out just as it came out. My purpose was not to blame. It was to be
free of this concept.

After talking to him, I went for a walk. I started feeling better as I walked. After a few minutes, I was feeling quite happy. Then the thought crossed my mind, “He didn’t even apologize!” At that thought, I laughed. When I laughed, I knew I had completed the forgiveness process.

The kinds of actions that I had perceived as betrayal seem to continue. Yet, I simply don’t see those actions in the same way anymore. It is difficult to put into words, but once a concept is gone, you can no longer be affected by it.

This was a long answer, but the morale of the story is that we aren’t forgiving people or circumstances. We are forgiving false concepts.

The Holy Spirit’s interpretation of 1 and 2 Timothy can be helpful in letting go of personhood and learning to forgive concepts or feelings within the mind. You can read those interpretations at www.forholyspirit.org.