BUILDING WITH THE FATHER™ | Part 2: Learning to Discern

What if the Father is already speaking and working around you—and the leadership challenge is learning to recognize Him?

🔷 The Challenge Isn't God's Absence
Christian business leaders often ask some version of the same question:

How do I know what God wants me to do?

We ask it when considering a new opportunity, hiring a key person, navigating conflict, making an investment, or trying to determine the future direction of the company.

Behind the question is usually a sincere desire to honor God.

But perhaps we've been starting in the wrong place.

What if the Father is not waiting for us to figure out what to do? What if He is already speaking, already working, and already inviting us into what He has initiated?

Then the challenge changes.

It isn't getting God involved in our leadership.

It's learning to recognize where He is already involved.

That is discernment.


1) Jesus Led by Discernment

In Part 1, we explored Jesus' remarkable declaration in John 5:19:

“The Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing...”

But Jesus didn't only see what His Father was doing.

He also heard what His Father was saying, in John 8:28 Jesus said:

“I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me.”

And again, in John 12:49 He said:

“For I did not speak on My own, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me to say all that I have spoken.”

There is a beautiful pattern here.

Jesus lived with His eyes and ears continually open to His Father.

He saw what the Father was doing. He heard what the Father was saying. And from that place of relationship, He knew how to respond.

This wasn't an occasional spiritual exercise.

It was the way Jesus lived and led.


2) Seeing and Hearing

When we talk about discerning the Father, we're not describing two separate formulas—one for seeing and another for hearing.

They belong together.

Sometimes the Father draws our attention to something He is already doing.

A relationship begins opening unexpectedly. An opportunity keeps resurfacing. Someone on our team begins demonstrating potential we hadn't previously noticed. A door closes that we were certain should remain open.

Other times, we sense Him speaking.

A Scripture becomes unusually alive. A thought repeatedly returns during prayer. A quiet conviction won't leave us. Wisdom comes through another believer at exactly the right moment.

Seeing and hearing are expressions of the same relational reality:

The Father is communicating, and His sons and daughters are learning to recognize Him.


3) The Noise We Bring With Us

The difficulty is often not that the Father isn't communicating.

It's that our own thoughts can be very loud.

We enter situations carrying experience, expectations, preferences, fears, ambitions, and predetermined answers. Before we've listened, we've often already decided what should happen.

John Garfield recently described this tension as the difference between entering a conversation armed with our own arguments and first asking, “Did I actually listen?” His point is important: our confidence in our own reasoning can prevent us from recognizing what Father may actually be saying.

This is especially challenging for accomplished leaders.

Experience is valuable. Strategic thinking matters. Wisdom accumulated over decades is a gift.

But those gifts were never intended to replace dependence upon the Father.

They were meant to be surrendered to Him.


4) Discernment Is Relational

This is where we need to be careful.

Discernment isn't a technique for getting supernatural answers from God.

It's the fruit of relationship.

Jesus didn't merely receive information from His Father. He lived in continual fellowship with Him.

The same is true for us.

Over time, as we spend time in Scripture, prayer, worship, silence, and honest conversation with the Father, we become increasingly familiar with His nature and His ways.

Jesus used the picture of sheep recognizing the shepherd in John 10:27 when He said:

“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.”

Notice the relationship:

They hear.

He knows them.

They follow.

Discernment grows from intimacy.


5) Father, Is This Yours?

There is a simple question I've learned to bring into leadership:

Father, is this Yours?

That question has become increasingly important to me.

Because not every good opportunity is a God assignment.

Something can make financial sense, fit our strategy, match our experience, and still not be what Father is asking us to do.

Conversely, something Father initiates may initially appear inconvenient, risky, or outside the plan we had carefully constructed.

That's why discernment matters.

We aren't simply looking for good ideas.

We're looking for Father's activity.

And we're listening for His invitation.


6) Discernment Requires Humility

There is another side to this that Kingdom leaders must understand.

We can get it wrong.

We remain human. Our desires, fears, experiences, and assumptions can influence what we believe we're hearing.

That's why genuine discernment should produce humility rather than spiritual certainty about everything.

We test what we sense against Scripture. We consider the character of God revealed in Jesus. We invite the wisdom of mature believers. We pay attention to the Holy Spirit's peace and conviction. And sometimes we simply wait.

A Kingdom leader should be comfortable saying:

“I believe this may be what Father is showing me, but I'm continuing to discern.”

That's not weak leadership.

That's mature sonship.


7) From Discernment to Leadership

Imagine how this changes an ordinary business day.

Before entering a difficult employee conversation, instead of preparing only what you intend to say, you ask:

Father, what do You see in this person that I may not be seeing?

Before pursuing an attractive opportunity:

Father, is this Yours?

Before making an important strategic decision:

What are You doing here that I need to recognize?

Before responding to conflict:

Father, what are You saying that needs to be heard?

We still analyze.

We still prepare.

We still use the wisdom and experience God has given us.

But we no longer begin there.

We begin with the Father.


🔷 Pause & Reflect

Take some quiet time with the Father and consider:

• Where in my leadership do I most need Father's perspective right now?
• Am I genuinely listening, or have I already decided what I want Him to say?
• Where do I see evidence that Father may already be working around me?
• Is there an opportunity I'm pursuing that I need to bring back to the question, “Father, is this Yours?”
• What might I need to lay down in order to see and hear more clearly?

Don't feel pressure to manufacture an answer.

The purpose is not to become better at getting answers from God.

It is to become more attentive to Him.


Kingdom Practice

For the next two weeks, begin each workday with one simple prayer:
Father, give me eyes to see what You are doing and ears to hear what You are saying. Help me recognize Your activity and faithfully respond.

Then carry two questions into your day:

Father, what are You doing?

Father, what are You saying?

Write down what you believe you are seeing and hearing. Putting it on paper gives you something you can pray over, test against Scripture, and revisit as Father brings greater clarity.

Don't feel pressured to act immediately. Some things become clearer with time.

Discernment isn't something we master. It's a relationship we mature in.


Looking Ahead

Seeing and hearing the Father leads naturally to another question:

What do we do with what He reveals?

Discernment without response eventually becomes observation.

Jesus didn't merely recognize His Father's activity.

He joined Him.

In Part 3, we'll explore the movement from discernment to obedience—and what it means to faithfully respond when Father invites us into His work.


A Blessing

May the Father quiet the noise that makes His voice difficult to recognize.

May the Holy Spirit sharpen your discernment and give you eyes to see what you have previously overlooked.

May you increasingly recognize the Father's voice, His activity, and His invitations in the ordinary moments of your leadership.

And may you discover the freedom of knowing that you don't have to manufacture God's direction.

You simply need to remain close enough to recognize it—and courageous enough to follow.
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BUILDING WITH THE FATHER™ is a leadership teaching series developed by Building A Kingdom Company™, exploring the biblical principles and daily practices of partnering with the Father to lead and build according to His design. All rights reserved.

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