How to Discern Truth in a World of Teachers, with Heather Cofer

When you’re constantly being bombarded with messages, how do you discern which ones are biblical and which ones contain bad teaching? In this episode of Grounded, guest Heather Cofer shares how to ask the right questions to ensure that what you’re letting into your mind matches God’s Word. 

Connect with Heather

Instagram: @heathercofer
Twitter: @HeatherACofer
Website: https://www.heathercofer.com/

Episode Notes

• “How to Discern Truth in a World of Teachers” notes from Portia Collins.
• “Flippant or Faithful? 10 Questions to Ask Ourselves When Examining a Truth Claim” blog post by Heather Cofer.
• Sign up for emails at ReviveOurHearts.com.

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Erin Davis: Go ahead, pull out your phone. I know, like me, you've got yours close; I've got mine close. I want you to think about all of the messages that are coming into your head, into your heart, into your home, through podcasts, through social media posts, through YouTube videos. That's how we're coming at many of you. So, with so much coming at you so much, how can you discern what is biblical and what is way off base? We're gonna be talking about that today. I'm Erin Davis, and this is Grounded.

Portia Collins: And I'm Portia Collins. In many ways, we live in a truly amazing era.

Erin: That’s true.

Portia: As believers, we have access to more teachers, more sermons, more Bible studies, more Christian books, than Jesus's followers have had in any other era. And that's good, right? 

Erin: Yes. I mean, if we had to put into the categories that are good or bad, I think we'd have to put it in good. I'm so grateful that we have so much content at our fingertips. But I'm not sure that we're equipped to ask the right questions that will ensure that what we're letting into our minds actually matches God's Word. 

Portia: Well, today's word is discernment.

Erin: Oh, I love that word.

Portia: Discernment. It’s a favorite of mine? 

Erin: Yeah, you do say it a lot.

Portia: I do. I believe in practicing it. So today, we're gonna dig into this. And really, the question is, “How can we discern good teaching that lines up with God's Word from bad teaching which leads us astray? It is not always easy to tell the difference. But today's guest is going to help us.

Erin: Yeah, we can't just rely on our own intuition, or whatever you want to call it, to be our filter because we have deeply fallen natures. So, Heather Cofer is our guest today. She emailed me not that long ago, and here's what she said. This is a direct quote from her. She said, “I've had a deep burden growing in me to equip women to know how to spot and protect our minds and hearts from the unsound teaching that's bombarding us.” 

I love that word “bombarding.” I do feel bombarded at times. I feel bombarded with messages, many of them good, but some of them I can't quite tell the difference. And I'm sure that you feel bombarded too. 

So, Heather's going to teach us how to discern, there's our word of the day again, how to discern if the ideas that are constantly being hurled at us actually line up with the plumb line of God's Word. That's the standard, right? And then, Portia, speaking of God's Word, we're not just going to talk about God's Word. We don't just want to talk about truth here. We actually want to dig in. So Portia is going to point us to the source of all truth. Yeah. I hope you have your Bible. If not, you still have time to grab it. You can jump ahead and turn to 2 Timothy 3. Portia, I'm so excited to hear you teach.

Portia: Well, I am too and guess what? I am ready for you to give us some good news. 

13:46 - Good News (with Erin)

Erin: Oh, I love it when I get to be the good news girl. I wore my yellow just to be the ray of sunshine today. I've decided I'm going to dress for spring even if it's not quite here. So yeah, let's jump into some good news to start your day. 

I want you to imagine this: you have no way to read the Word of God for yourself. So maybe you hear a podcast like this that points you to the Bible as the source of truth, but you can't read it for yourself because there is no Bible in your language. It's hard for us in America to imagine that. Get this, 1.5 billion people, that was with a “B,” speaking 6,661 languages . . . I didn't even know there were that many languages. But 1.5 billion people speaking over 6,000 languages do not have a full Bible in their first language. I've sometimes heard it called their heart language. 

But today's good news is that one last people group has to try and navigate this crazy world without a Bible translation of their own. 

So, let's start with a quick geography quiz. Where is Nagaland? I don't even know if I said that correctly. So, I definitely could not point it out on a map. But if you guessed northern India, there's your gold star. So, today's good news comes from that faraway land, far away from me anyway, maybe closer to you. There's a ministry called the Deaf Biblical Ministry, and they just released the first sign language Bible for the deaf community in Nagaland. That translation process took them over two years. Sign language is just that, it's a language. 

As I was researching this good news, here's something I learned. This is a quote, “The English Bible is not enough for deaf people because the English grammar is different from sign language grammar. Did you know that I didn't? Also, not all deaf people are literate. Hence, the need arises for a sign language Bible, translated specifically to meet the spiritual needs of the deaf in Nagaland. 

So, we celebrate that God loves all of His children, and that He is motivating His people to get His Word into the hearts of His image bearers everywhere. So now we only have 6,660 languages to go to get God's Word translated into every language. 

Do you have a Bible in your language this morning? Do you have one that you can run to when you hear a sermon or a podcast? And one that you can ask the questions we're going to talk about today? If so, you can thank God for that this morning. You can pray that He would continue to provide workers to translate His Word into every language in His world. He will do it. He's always at work. And we think that's good news. 

Hey, P. Go ahead and pull that Bible out in your heart language. I'm ready to learn.

Portia: You know, I was just sitting here thinking 6,660 languages is not too much. 

Erin: Absolutely. 

Portia: He can make it happen. I'm ready to have a Bible in my heart language. In fact, many Bibles, you can see some of them behind me. 

Erin: You’re a Bible collector. 

Portia: Yes, we are truly blessed. Thank you so much for that good news, Erin. 

Erin: My pleasure. 

17:00 - Grounded in God's Word (with Portia)

Portia: All right, we're gonna switch things up a bit this morning. Normally, this is where we would talk to our guest, Heather, but we're going to get grounded in God's Word, so turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy, the third chapter. We're going to look at verses 6–9. 

Okay, so while you're turning there, let me just give you my little spiel. In an age where fake news spreads faster on social media in other media, faster than the truth, it is startling to see how quickly people can be misled. I mean, we see it every day. Consider those viral stories that captivate millions. And then later on, they are found out to be completely fabricated. Yet, these stories have already shaped the opinions and caused reactions and people are following it. 

And so, this modern dilemma of discerning truth from falsehood really echoes an age-old warning about deception and its impact on the vulnerable. So, I want you to listen to what is said in 2 Timothy 3:6–9. It says: 

For among them are those who worm their way into households and deceive gullible women overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions, always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres. 

God's Word for God's people. In order to fully understand this passage, we need to take a trip back to the Old Testament really quickly. So, while not while they are not mentioned by name, Jannes and Jambres are found in Exodus. 

Jewish tradition identifies them as magicians in Pharaoh's court. So, these two gentlemen opposed Moses and Aaron by replicating their miracles through sorcery. So, you remember, when Moses and Aaron would do these miraculous things, these magicians, the first couple of miracles, they also were replicating them, but they weren't true. And so, the story, or the instance of Jannes, and Jambres as reference here in 2 Timothy, serves as a powerful illustration of those who choose to resist and counter truth with falsehood, despite seeing the truth with their very eyes, witnessing it firsthand. 

It's important to understand that this act of opposition is symbolic of a deeper resistance to the divine truth and authority of God.

So, we see here in this passage in 2 Timothy, Paul is calling us to beware, beware people like Jannes and Jambres, specifically people who exploit the vulnerable, resist the truth, spread falsehoods. Pay close attention to how these deceitful individuals are described in the text— worming their way into households, leading people astray, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth.

Sister, let this passage serve as a mirror for us today. May we be challenged to look at our own vulnerabilities, our desires, our passions, and look at them and think on how they might make us susceptible to self-deception. Let us learn to practice discernment, which is to distinguish between true wisdom and the mere accumulation of information. What Jannes and Jambres is to Moses, these deceivers of our time are to the truth. They are resistors and corrupters. Yet, their folly is destined to be exposed. We can cling to that promise because we know that God and His truth ultimately prevails. 

So, what are our takeaways here? What can we take away here? First, we need to cultivate a discerning spirit. No notice when I say cultivate, pray for wisdom and discernment to distinguish between truth and falsehood, in all areas of life is especially in what we see, read, and hear. 

Next, test the teachers, just as the Bereans did in Acts 17. Just as they examine the Scriptures daily to verify what Paul was saying to verify his teachings. We also should evaluate the messages and the teachings we encounter, and we should line them up against the truth of Scripture. 

Number three, we must also be diligent students of truth. You need to invest time in studying God's Word deeply, regularly, in community. Understanding Scripture is our best defense against deception. It equips us with the knowledge to recognize falsehoods. I kind of already alluded to this, embrace community accountability. Engage with a community, a Christian community of believers, who see you and know you not just in the digital space, like we are now. But people who know you, see you, and are committed to truth, fellowship with others, and provide a platform for mutual edification and correction. It helps to safeguard us against deception. 

Also, I want you to think critically in an era where information overload is there and things are at our fingertips—chat, GPT, and everything. We need not lose the skill of thinking, the habit of thinking, critically assessing the news, assessing teachings, assessing information that we come across, and asking questions and seeking evidence before accepting those things as truth. And to crack this, patience and prudence, avoid the rush to just get new information. Rich withstands scrutiny and is consistent over time. The one thing about truth is it does not change, while falsehoods often crumble under careful examination. So, stand firm sisters, know that despite the prevalence of falsehood, the truth will always triumph. And let us commit to being women who seek the truth, who live by and not are not easily swayed by the deceptive tactics of modern-day Jannes and Jambres.

Erin: Portia, I'm gonna starting putting JJ in the margins of my Bibles, those who would deceive, those who would want to warp our minds like those magicians in Pharaoh's court. Thank you so much for that. 

Okay, Grounded team, you're listening. I'm gonna go rogue here for a second, social media team. I know you're listening. I want you to take those application points out of Portia's notes, and I want you to drop them in the chat for our ladies, because that's a lot to chew on. I want the ability to come back and think about those things, like: embrace community, accountability, apply critical thinking. So social team, please take care of that for me. 

The other thing I'm gonna go rogue on is right now in the middle of this episode, I'm gonna stop and pray. Two hundred-ish episodes of Grounded have taught me that when the tech is not aligned, when all of these things seem to be going wrong, very often, that's because there is an episode that God intends to hit us right in the hearts and the minds. And of course, we have an enemy that would like nothing more than for us to continue to be those kinds of women who are weak-minded and whisked away by every kind of teaching. 

So, I'm going to pray before we talk to Heather, and then we'll jump into that conversation. Lord, we love You. We want to follow You, and we want to be women of truth, Lord, but we are fallen. We are weak-minded more days than not. I pray for this episode. I pray that you would bring all the tech into alignment. Lord, I pray for Heather and I as we jump into this conversation. I pray for many, many women to find this episode and realize the power and importance of discernment. God, this is all for You. Help us to be strong, Spirit-minded women. It's in Your name I pray, amen. 

28:19 - Grounded with God's People (with Heather Cofer)

All right. It is time to get grounded with God's people. Now, Heather Cofer is Judah’s wife. She's a mama to Jude, Genesis, Geneva, Jayven, Jack ,and baby Juniper. She's also my friend. I love talking to her, and I know you're gonna love hearing from her. Welcome to Grounded Heather.

Heather Cofer: Thank you so much for having me. 

Erin: Did I get all those baby names right? 

Heather: You absolutely did.

Erin: Good. Hey, I'm going to start this interview with one word, and then you tell me what it means. Here's that word, keeper.

Heather: Oh, boy. If there's one word that means a lot to me . . .

Erin: It’s a loaded one.

Heather: Yes, absolutely. Well, I started thinking about this concept of keeper a couple of years ago as the Lord was just working me through some Bible study. I came across this word in the context of Titus 2 in one of the translations. Instead of working at home, it says keeper at home. 

I thought, Oh, I'll just take a little dive into what this word means. It does have a lot of ideas of keeping and all that. This term “keeper at home” is only used in that one place. But the root word means “to guard, to be a guard.” And that just sent me on this journey of looking through Scripture at what it means to be a keeper, what it means to guard, what God has entrusted to us. 

It's something that has been deeply convicting to my own heart as I've realized the places where I am not being a keeper and need to be a keeper, according to God's Word. So that, in summary, is a being a keeper being a keeper, as being a faithful guardian of what God has entrusted to us. 

Erin: That’s a beautiful summary. I mean, keeper, in our language feels a little bit passive. But guard, or faithful guardian, kind of makes me want to stand at attention. That is an active word and an active concept. So, let's unpack it a little bit. 

We do live in a unique era, as we said in the opener. I mean, one of the things that thrills me and troubles me about this era is that everything, everybody, me included, can say something with authority. We can claim to be an expert. I know you've been pondering the implications of that. What's on your heart?

Heather: That's a good question. Yeah, I've had to wrestle through that myself. Ultimately, in my own heart, as I have asked the Lord, what do I say? What do I not say? Who do I listen to? I realized the utter importance of seeing the Word of God as my authority. So, when I hear something from someone else, what's my first turn? Is to, “Oh, that resonates with my feelings,” or “Oh, I heard so and so say something.”

Erin: Or my experiences. 

Heather: Experience is a huge one. Or is my first turn to the Word of God to say, “Okay, let's see.” Because just like Portia brought up with Jannes and Jambres, they had a semblance of it. It looked like it was true. It looked like it matched the power of God. That's how the enemy works. There's going to be something in it that looks like, sounds like, feels like it lines up with what's true. 

But just like the age old serpent question in the garden, “Did God really say?” He's still doing that today. And so that's why it's absolutely critical that when I'm filtering something, that I'm hearing somebody else say that, that's my standard: what is the word of God say? Or that I'm being faithful to submit myself to the Word of God? Then I wholeheartedly back up what Portia said about allowing others to hold me accountable to that standard as well and godly community. 

Erin: Yeah, as you said that serpent question, I thought, That's actually the right question. “Did God really say?” That is the right question. And we can only know the answer to that by going to His Word. So, there's kind of redemption in the things that the snake says.

You wrote a blog post, we're going to drop the link, about the difference between being flipper or faithful. I was reading it in preparation for this episode and found it deeply convicting. But you list some really great questions to help us have diagnostic questions to help us be better keepers. I'm gonna just feed the questions back to you. You let me know, anything that comes to mind? Is there explanation, adding clarity to a confusing passage or confusion to a straightforward but hard to swallow passage? And so, tell me what you're talking about there, about that tension?

Heather: Yeah, so I think as I've done my own looking into some of these things that have come across my path, some of these movements or messages that I've heard, I've noticed that when it's something that is deviating from God's Word, it will often take a clear passage like, let's say something like you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Erin: Yeah, I was going to say that exact one. That was very straightforward. Yeah.

Heather: Yep. And that is changed, or they have to justify other places in Scripture that that's not really what love means. They have to sort of push away other things that clearly define what love is in order to use that passage to justify what they mean. So then, your whole framework of what is biblical is thrown off, rather than conforming to what the Word of God says as a whole.

Erin: Yeah, that's so good. Like, you're right. We have to kind of clear some theological hurdles to get to whatever point that is they're making. And God is not a God of confusion, that comes straight from His Word, not that we understand all things, we're not Him. But unnecessary confusion is not from Him.

Here's another question you asked, I think this is so strong: are they dependent on alternate Greek or Hebrew words, or obscure cultural context to support their claim that it says something different and how it was translated? 

I once heard a pastor say you know just enough Greek and Hebrew to be dangerous. So, like, go light on it? Because we're googling that word in Greek, let's tell the truth. We don't know actually the nuances of language. So, what's your heart there about? You don't miss applying those ancient languages and cultural contexts?

Heather: Well, I first heard this a few years ago when I was coming in close contact with those who were supporting certain sins in Scripture, and how that is actually okay. Actually, that you can be a Christian, and you can hold on to these sins. They were using sort of obscure context, and they would have not known this word to be like that. But they would have used this word in this way instead. So therefore, it doesn't actually mean what is printed out in front of us in the pages of Scripture. I was just like, “Whoa, this is a huge claim.” 

So then, I started looking into it. My husband, and I actually started going through some of these arguments together. I was actually quite shocked at how quickly they did fall apart. If you really decided, “No, I'm going to make the Word of God my authority, then I'm going to evaluate these through the lens of a whole counsel of Scripture.” I found such increased confidence that the Word of God is truth. It has the ability to make everything clear. It directs our paths. 

Erin: Yeah, that's so good, Heather. I was in a class recently, a seminary class, and the Prof said, “If you come to something in Scripture that no one's ever seen before, it doesn't mean you're wrong.” And then he kind of smiled and said, “It just means you're probably wrong.” 

Taylor Swift has trained us all to be looking for Easter eggs in everything, right? We're trying to find that thing. And in Scripture, it's not an Easter egg hunt. We're looking for orthodoxy; we're looking for alignment with what has always been true. And again, if you have to apply something totally out there to get to that, I would question your methodology. 

Here's another great question. You alluded to this, but I think this gets to the heart. Is the person interpreting Scripture through their own experiences? Or are they viewing these experiences through the lens of Scripture? Where are you seeing young women or women of any age kind of led astray through this experiential lens?

Heather: Yeah, that's a great question. I think we can. A big part is experienced, maybe things that they've experienced in the past. Often, when they have been in a situation where the Word of God was misused, then they can begin to interpret everything through the lens of misuse, rather than going back to the Word of God to have their minds and hearts renewed. 

“I was told that that's what the Bible teaches.” But that's not actually what the Bible teaches. But then if you have that in your mind, and you're not being renewed in your thinking, then when you hear certain passages of Scripture, you can begin to subtly dismiss them and say, “Oh, well, that actually doesn't apply to me because that was used wrongly,” or “It must not actually mean that because so and so told me something that . . .

Erin: There was a really high-level soccer player. We don't have to name names. But she recently got a career-ending injury in her last game. What she said publicly was, “This is how I know that there is no God.” And I thought, Man, isn't that the lie of our day, that the character of God does not line up with my experience of who I think He should be, and so this cannot be true. It’s so, so tragic. 

This all really comes down to the authority of Scripture, and the sufficiency of Scripture, and the inerrancy of Scripture, which is really important. I heard something really powerful this week. It's a saying used in addiction recovery. Here's the thing, I think I'll just say it over and over from now to the end of time. But the thing is, the most dangerous neighborhood to enter alone is the one above our shoulders—our minds, our thoughts. Isn’t that good?

Heather: Yes!

Erin: You touched on this, but how specifically does community help us grow in discernment?

Heather: Well, I think one thing that's so important to understand is that all of us are going to have blind spots based off of our particular sin issues, past experiences, family backgrounds, whatever the case might be. Other people who are filled with the Spirit of God are there to help us. They're one of His means of grace in refining and sanctifying and helping us grow. And we see that all throughout the New Testament, in the one anothers—exhort one another, encourage one another, confess your sin to one another. And then like in Hebrews, where it talks about exhorting one another every day, so that you're not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 

It is part of God's structure, because we are the Church, to help grow us and build us and prepare us to one day meet Jesus face to face. It's a joy and a privilege. I think sometimes we can push away from that, whether it's due to pride, whether it's due to past hurts. We say, “No more of that for me. I can do this on my own, just me and Jesus.” But that's not how Jesus designed it. We are His Bride together as a Church. We can't be separated from one another. So, taking that seriously and listening to those who clearly bear the fruit of righteousness in their lives, is something that sometimes can sting in the moment, but it has long-term good in store for us if we're willing to listen to those who love us and ultimately love God. When they help to say, “I don't know about that, or let's go to the Word of God together to see what it says.”

Erin: Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking of several women in my life who I would consider deceived. And I'm talking about Christian women, not women who have rejected the gospel outright, not even women who rejected Scripture outright. But in an area of their life, I can see they've been led astray. Others could say that about me, I'm sure, as you mentioned. I have blind spots in some areas. But if I could trace it back to something, it would be abandoning the value of Christian community. It just starts there. It's so important. 

Heather, I could talk to you about this endlessly. What I'm going to wrap this up with is this final question. You mentioned this word just a second ago. I feel like at its core, this is a pride versus humility issue, whether or not we are being good keepers. Pride says, “I cannot be deceived. I’ve got this. I’ve walked with the Lord for twenty years, or I read my Bible through three times,” or anything we could say that starts with us. But humility says, “I am capable of being deceived just like everyone else. We're all daughters of Eve.” So how do we ingest messages humbly? We don't want to just turn off all the messages. How do we ingest information and messages with humility?

Heather: That's a great question. I think the very first thing that we do is we bring it before the Lord and say, “Lord, if there is something here that is going to be dangerous for me or the people I might pass it along to whether that's the people in my home—my children or my husband—or those I'm close to, I want to be submitted to Your Spirit.” 

And so, it starts with that submission to the Holy Spirit. Then also, if I start saying something or if I listen to something and share it with somebody else, when a godly person comes because it's not every single person who comes, we know that as believers. There are going to be people who don't agree with us. But it's when a godly person comes to us who has shown that they are submitted to the Word of God and says, “I have a little concern about this or about that.” We say, “Okay, I know this person loves me. They've shown that they love God, and that they are willing to themselves walk in humility and change if they see something in their own lives. It's important for me to listen, even if I come away not fully agreeing or seeing things a little bit differently than them.” 

If Scripture allows differences in perspective, I still have probably in some way been sharpened or changed in my own thinking so that I am thinking more clearly or even with discernment. But some people describe it not just between what's right and wrong, but what's between what's right and what's almost right. We have a greater ability to see between what's right and what's almost right. Then moving forward we have that understanding in our own hearts, “Oh boy, in this or that area, I could sense myself almost being pulled away.” And so like you mentioned, that reminder, that knowledge in front of our own minds and hearts, we still have the ability to be deceived if we are not in God's Word. Obeying God's Word is a protection for us.

Erin: Hey, man, as exclamation boy, at the end of this conversation. I mean, any sister should pray, we should say, “But for the grace of God go I.” Like, I could have just as easily gone down that dark path, had that warped thinking. Ask the Lord to keep us. He's our keeper, ultimately. So, really good conversation. 

Heather, I want to bring you back. We'll talk more about this soon because I know our Grounded sisters want to have that follow-up conversation. Thank you for being with us. You are a member of the Grounded prayer team, which are the amazing force behind this podcast. So, a double thank you and that party.

Heather: It's a joy.

Erin: All right. P., you're up. 

Portia: I am, and I want everybody to listen close because I've got a secret to tell. Y'all see the smile on my face? Okay, so get this. Tomorrow Revive Our Hearts is going to announce an upcoming online event. One for those who love a prodigal, one on how to love and live God's Word, another one on trials and suffering, and one on prayer. Each one will be hosted by our girl Erin Davis, along with guests like: Kay Arthur, Ray and Jani Ortlund, Mary Kassian, Kelly Needham, Katherine Wolf, and many more. So, are you excited? I'm excited, okay. 

In some ways, these will feel like extended episodes of Grounded. You can only sign up for them from Revive Our Hearts. This is not gonna be anywhere else. Okay. You are hearing about it first right here on Grounded. So, I want you to do this: head on over to ReviveOurHearts.com. Yes, right now. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. If you are not already receiving emails from us, I want you to sign up for our emails. When registration opens tomorrow, you will be ready to sign up for these online events. Let me just tell you, it's gonna be great.

Erin: We're ready to tell our sisters about those online events—biblical help for real life—and we hope to see many of you there. 

Well, it's been an amazing episode. We knew it would be, technical glitches at all. I feel like the Lord got the victory which is what we want to say on the end of Grounded. I also expected you all to engage, and you did.

Janelle, who I think of as our Grounded missionary (I think she's in Brazil, but certainly in South America), she really resonated with this: if you come to something in Scripture that someone has never seen before, it means you're probably wrong at that. I mean, I said that somewhat tongue in cheek. But the idea is, the goal is not to find something new. And so, she said, we must know our Bibles, exclamation point. That is the takeaway.

Jenny said, “The truth is we're prone to want Scriptures to match up with what we want.” And that is so true. That's an Eve-like temptation. 

And Megan said that she's got women in her world that are very feelings-driven. And so, when Scripture doesn't match up with their feelings, there is a temptation to believe that must be false. 

So, you guys are seeing what we're seeing. We don't want to just point fingers at others, not that you did that. But we want to say, “Hey, we are guilty. We are capable of being deceived. We ask the Lord to keep us. He's in it as even as we try to stand guard over what the Lord has entrusted us for. Portia, do you walk away with a takeaway or two?

Portia: Yeah, I do. One of the things that I was thinking about in our want to become discerning, sometimes we still miss it because we start trying to gravitate to what did someone say about this person? What does someone still say about this person? And listen, here's the thing, you have to cultivate discernment within you. You cannot rely on Portia or Erin or anybody else to be your discernment. 

So, you need to do those things I talked about in the teaching: you need to be a student of the Word, you need to pray and rely on the Holy Spirit. Don't just run to another person and think they're going to give you the discernment that you need. We have to be diligent to cultivate that through study of God's Word and prayer. 

Erin: Yeah. I wanted to touch on the Spirit with Heather; we just ran out of time. But you know, when Jesus was leaving, His disciples were like, “Oh, no!” And He said, “I'm sending a Helper, and He's gonna remind you of everything I've taught you.” And so, the Spirit indwells us, and He will help us see rightly, but we do have to be listening. So, lots to think about, lots to ponder. I hope that we've grown in being keepers. What's next week’s episode?

Portia: Well, calling all my girl moms. You know, I love being a girl mom. 

Erin: I know. 

Portia: Join us next week. Jen Oshman will be our guest. She'll be here with insights on how we can teach our girls to embrace God's good design. I'm sad Erin, because I'm actually not gonna be here. 

Erin: I know! You're gonna have to watch the playback, but I love how one episode spills into the other episodes and builds into the other episode. Like this thought of being keepers definitely feeds into what we teach and lead the girls and young women coming up behind us. As Portia mentioned, my cohost can't make it. Dannah is off for several episodes. Portia can't make it either. So, I'm going to have a special guest host. You're going to love her. I'm not going to tell you who it is. You'll have to just wait with anticipation. But I'll be there. I can't wait to see you there. So, let's wake up with hope together next week on Grounded. We love you. 

Portia: Grounded audio is provided by Skype. Grounded is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.