I once heard that when federal agents train at the Mint to detect counterfeit money, they don’t spend their time studying fakes. Instead, they immerse themselves in the real thing. They touch, tilt, and examine genuine bills for weeks, memorizing every detail—the texture, the patterns, the watermarks—until they know it so well that spotting a counterfeit becomes second nature. They don’t have to guess; they just know when something is off.
The same principle applies to our spiritual lives. When we spend intentional time with God—reading His Word, praying, and dwelling in His presence—we begin to deeply understand His nature and character. The more we align with Him, the clearer our discernment becomes. We won’t have to second-guess when something doesn’t sit right in our spirit because we’ll know His truth so well that anything counterfeit will be obvious.
False teachings, misleading doctrines, and even people who distort God’s Word will become easier to recognize. It won’t be because we studied deception—it’ll be because we’re anchored in truth.
So, if you want to sharpen your discernment, don’t fixate on the counterfeits. Get so familiar with God that anything not of Him stands out immediately.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” 1 John 4:1-3 ESV