Special Guest Lonnie Lane: Discernment Grows When We Learn To Talk With God

AI can hand you an answer in seconds, but it cannot teach you how to discern what is holy, what is true, and what is actually from God. We sit down with Lonnie Lane for a prayerful, open-mic conversation that starts with the reality we are all feeling: the nations are shifting, the noise is louder, and believers need a deeper kind of steadiness than information can provide. We also take time to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and reaffirm our support for Israel, asking God to make His faithfulness visible.

From there, the conversation turns personal and practical. We talk about why testimony matters, how “the word of our testimony” strengthens other people, and why peace is often a byproduct of alignment with God’s timing. Lonnie raises a sharp question about discernment in the age of AI, and we unpack what has guided us: learning to talk with God, listening for His voice, and staying rooted in the written Word because God does not contradict Scripture. If you have been searching for Christian discernment, spiritual maturity, and a clear way to test what you hear, this will meet you right where you are.

We also connect ancient Scripture to modern life through Abraham’s call to leave the familiar and follow God into a land he did not know. That leads into what we see changing in the church right now: a growing hunger for John 17 unity, healthier expressions of leadership beyond a one-man model, and a renewed view of holiness as something beautiful instead of legalistic. Part two is coming, and we cannot wait to keep going.

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Transcript

Welcome And Spirit-Led Open Mic

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Holly folks, and welcome back to another episode of Life Around the Fire. And we've been in the studio today, really just kind of kicking some things around concerning our favorite topic, and that really involves God and his kingdom. And in the studio today, we have with us again Lonnie Lane. And Lonnie, it's really just a privilege to have you back. We love you, and you're here for a reason. And I'm sure we're going to find out what that reason is.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

But Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

The main reason is we know that God is good. Amen. And He is faithful. And we're just going to let Him do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Amen. A way of life.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

It's a way of life. So, Lonnie, welcome back.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

And we are going to do in this particular podcast episode, we're going to take some time and we're going to do a little bit of open mic time in which we have already prayed and invited the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us into the expressions of the kingdom of God just like Jesus would. And that we would find ourselves flowing with the heart of our Father because there are some things that are going on in the world today, and I don't need to tell you that we're living in a transitional time across the nations. And one look at Israel will tell you that we are in a major transition right now because all eyes on Israel, and for the record, we've said it before, and I'll say it again: at Life Around the Fire, we are strong supporters of the nation of Israel.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Hallelujah. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

We are absolute friends of Israel. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. In fact, right now we pray for the peace

Israel And A World In Transition

SPEAKER_01 2:24

of Jerusalem. And that you would give your hand of protection a demonstration for the world to see just how much you love your people and how faithful you are to your covenant. But Lord, what we are doing right now together in what we want to see done. We pray for Jerusalem. We understand what's going on, transitioning across the nations, but you're doing something in each of our lives as well. And we're here to let you express yourself once again so that we can find our lives aligned with you.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Amen. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

There's something about your timing and being aligned with you that brings about peace. And for us to have that peace that goes beyond our understanding, but actually keeps our minds focused in on Jesus. That's the peace that we want to express and have a byproduct of what is going to be the result of us being used by God.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

And there's a word of encouragement to each one of you.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

It's by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, our story, about our relationship with God, that we become people that are literally overcomers. And so it doesn't take a person with a great degree to tell their story. And so, as a point of encouragement,

Testimony And The Peace Of Alignment

SPEAKER_01 4:04

that's really what we're doing, what we were doing leading up to this podcast episode today, is that we're sharing our stories because there's something about doing that that allows other people to relate. And so, Lonnie, you have a wealth of experience in your walk with the Lord. And it's because of that that we're kind of looking to tap into some things in your life a little bit later, but you kind of wanted to give a little question and answer time with me personally. And so if you are comfortable with uh just kind of taking things from here and any question that you feel comes to your mind that you'd like to ask me, I would love to feel that question and to add an answer.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Okay, Davey, first of all, it's it's it's a delight and honor to be here with you and uh say hello to everybody around the world. I was amazed to find out how many people and how many churches and congregations are actually tapping into Davy's show around the world. That's it's wonderful, Davey. It's really so hello, everybody. When you asked that question just now, or you that proposition that you put put before me here, the first thing that that that came to

AI Shift And Discerning God’s Voice

SPEAKER_02 5:19

me was you were talking about that we are in a different time in the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

We're we're in a some it was such a big shift. If AI alone was an enormous shift. And people who are relying on AI at one time, very short time ago, relied on the Lord.

unknown 5:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

But now they've got answers right there to snap of some fingers. I see it in my own family. I've been writing, right? I'm a writer, so I was been trying to write a book, and things would pop up on my screen in a in a slightly different font that was AI. I got a better AI having a better way to say what I just said, or introducing this thought or that one. I had to eliminate two different manuscripts after I had been writing for a while because I wasn't, it wasn't just me. Wow. So it's pervasive, this way of AI. So I you're a man of you're so faithful to the Lord, and you have discernment of what is of God and what is not of God. But not everybody out there may. So can we can you talk about that for a little bit? Of how do we we're only at the beginning of this season? Or I don't even know what it's not a season, I don't know what to call it, this move of the enemy. Um how can we talk to people about how how do they discern what's, and just from your own experiences, how do you discern what is of God and what is not of God? And what are the consequences in each direction? That may be that's like three weeks in a discussion in your show.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

But a valid question and something that I'll share the answer that I have today, and or at least some of it, and the aspect of discernment for me was something that took place relatively early in my relationship with the Lord, and I really couldn't explain it to begin with, and it was that I knew things that I hadn't studied. And at first it surprised me and I didn't really know what to think about it, and I was a little bit skeptical about it. And had some people that I knew that were older in their relationship with the Lord than I was, and so I asked, I said, I got this stuff going on, and you know, I I'm I I kind of like know things that I didn't know before and I and I studied. And what uh what do you do with it? What do you do with it? And they they said, Well, you talk to God. I said, Well, what do you say?

SPEAKER_00 8:13

You say, Speak, Lord, your servants listening. I said so.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

That was new to you?

SPEAKER_01 8:26

I said that that you so you can talk, you don't have to posture yourself, do a certain pose, or you know, you could you can talk. Yeah, you learn to talk with God. That's what you learn to discern. I said, so this is relational, this isn't formula, so this isn't like having a formula. So what I can say is the formula is there is no formula.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

I like that.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

The formula is there is no formula, just like fingerprints and snowflakes. There's so many variances, so it takes us having relationship with God that we learn to hear and understand his voice.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

And I'm a man of scripture, I'm a firm believer in the written word of God. It's the foundation for everything that we do in this ministry. And I say it with tears in my eyes, because it's not always been the case in my life. I have been a person who has been a truth seeker most of my life, but I've not always been a person who's been in the here the Bible. It used to be mom, apple pie, Chevrolet in the Bible. It was kind of for squares, for squares. But I've come to find out that it is a living word and it is the bedrocks for we have to have a bottom line. We all do. Yes. And so we've chosen the written word of God to be the bottom line. So that's factored into my discernment as well. I spend copious amounts of time in the written word of God, because God will not contradict his own word.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

It's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Okay, so that's my answer today.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

I think just as an analogy that just came to me is there are people who do not do not regard the word that God would speak to them, fresh, anew, alive. They're gonna get it from somewhere else or somebody else. And so it's pre it's like pre-food pre-chewed up food, you know, in a sense, and it's not fresh with what God wants to say today. So uh, you know, I honor the fact that you want it directly from the Lord to find out what he's saying.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

And I found some interesting things. Now, I don't necessarily say I have a relationship with my Bible. Okay. I it's if that's the case for somebody, that's fine, I guess. But I found that my my my my encounter, though, with the scriptures has been at times rather unique in the sense that I will have a passage that will seem to float off the page. And it is like it seemed to float off the page, and the author was speaking to the reader. And I love it when the author speaks, right? And so in reading the scriptures, sometimes I'll ask God to read it to me.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Oh, that's lovely.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

And use my voice. And so, but yeah, uh there are some people that look at the written word of God and they don't have a real appreciation for it because it's like you said, it's already been given. How can it be relevant today? Excuse me, because it's eternal.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

It's eternal, yes. And it's fresh all the time. It's fresh. Learn new things from the same sentence so many different times.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Okay. So what was the question that we originally asked?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

The question was discerning times.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

How do you discern, yes?

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Isn't that fascinating? Yes, since I'm just picking up on what you're what you're you're saying, what you were indicating. No matter what's going on in the world, it's relevant. The Bible is relevant. I just read a sentence the other day and it said, I forget what the sentence was. This is what happened when it didn't work, and this is what happened when it did work. And there could have been decades in between those two things, but God was bringing a juxtaposition of between this is what happens when it's not properly applied or recognized, but when you do it right, here's the Lord, you know, and it's so I mean, and in one sentence, in one in one sense, and and case in point, I'll share from the scriptures something similar that happened just today.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Just today, uh, I was reading on the life of Abram and Abraham, okay. And in Genesis 12, it says that the Lord said to Abram, Leave your country and then go to this place that I'm gonna show you.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Right.

Abraham’s Call And New Wineskins

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Okay, well, that's a pre-delivered word. Abram got it. How's that relevant to me? Well, lo and behold.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Thousands of years ago.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yeah, exactly. A thousand of years ago, how can that translate over to me today in 2026?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

That's a good analogy, so go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Well, just like Abram, God has called me to leave my sin.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

And go into a kingdom that I don't know anything about.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

His kingdom. He said, leave it and go to the land that I'm showing you.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

That's excellent. Yes, that's an excellent analogy.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

And so here we are, yeah, and I am following him into a land that I was not born in, but I'm born again into.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Yes. I can't imagine, folks, I'm talking to you on the listening right now, that there's anybody who is truly following the Lord that hasn't had to leave people, a place, a mindset, a way of life, uh, a way of earning a living. Or we could, you know, put a pile of things together, but you can't you can't do use old ways for the new kingdom reality.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Well put. Well put you can't put new wine in old wineskin, yeah. Because it will destroy the old wineskin and the wine will get spoiled. Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

And the the So we better not hang on to anything.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Let's not hang on to anything, and in fact, let's let's let's do this. Let's embrace each day for what it's worth, and that is that it's the one we've got.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Yeah, amen.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

It's the one we've got, and the promises that God distributed to people prior to us, we are the recipients not only of what they were given, but we have a better covenant, even crowning that. So here we are grace upon grace, glory upon glory, and we are living in a day and hour where kings and priests and prophets long for. They looked into it, and here we are living it right now.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

I'll tell you what comes to me, and this is based on some of the discussion that we had before we were on the air, is that there are changes that are coming to the church that have to be, because the world is at a different place, and there's a new um a new way of God has introduced himself and what he requires over generations of whatever happens, whatever's going on in the world at the time. The people in the 1700s knew different things, we know more than they knew, and et cetera. You get the picture. But this new AI or whatever it is seasoned that we're we've just entered, I am intrigued by even thinking about and looking in the scriptures. And what, Lord, what do you have to say that's gonna override a lot of that stuff so that your people are locked in on you, looking in your eyes and holding on to what we're you're saying, not get seduced by what? This all this AI stuff that looks like it's so effective. We got to be aware of the fact that there's this is a new time, a new season.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Well stated. Well, and you and you you are sounding the trumpet right now, even by what you're saying. And it doesn't take a person shouting for it to be delivered. What you're saying is we're living in a different day and a different time, buyer beware.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Yeah, right. Yeah. So what do we do with that now? Where do we go with that now? I wish I could give it an aim.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Well, well, I think I think I think where where the church needs some changes, oh, big time. There are, but there are also, and and this is leading a little early, but it's a foretaste of what I'm gonna ask you to talk about, and that is two things. Number one, what are the good things you see taking place in the body of Christ?

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Well, that's an excellent question. I would like to hear what your answer is.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

And number two, what are the challenges that are facing the body of Christ? Now, there's a list we won't be able to answer all of them, but whatever comes to mind. And so, but you you answered this, you you presented this statement concerning we need a change. Yeah, or and and changes are taking place, fortunately. And the three the three the three areas that I see the most change coming into are these three areas. Um I'm talking about my own personal life, but I what I see in our part in expressing things to the body of Christ are these three things. Number one, John chapter 17, it is the prayer of Jesus for the body of Christ

Church Change Through Unity And Holiness

SPEAKER_01 18:25

to be one, even as he and the Father are one. That type of unity does not come by us having creeds and doctrines, all good as those are, it comes by the presence of God and him causing his glory to so meld our hearts and minds that we see him and cause us to lay down our swords and let him beat them into plowshares. But it takes his presence. So it's John 17 is number one, see a change taking place. The unity in the body of Christ, it's happening, but it needs to change, so we need to be praying.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Before we go into number two and three, can we talk about that? Because we have like maybe three three uh podcasts over that issue because that has been a major concern of mine for all these years. We are I I came into the church, and I will just say this in one sentence. I came into the church as a as a Jewish person, not as somebody who's quote Christian. And when I came into the church and I looked around and I said, Where's the Bible? What what what's this Easter Christmas thing? But there's no none of the Passover, none of it just the whole Old Testament isn't there at all. But that's what God said. You got wrong, a wrong paradigm to begin with. We have such situations where we have one man running the whole show when God said, five-fold ministry at least. Yeah, thanks. He has examined or expressed rather tasks for almost every single person that's been sitting quietly in the audience, not saying we're doing anything, but yet there are so many things that are that he's called the body, so that the body is functioning in all the different ways that we are meant to function. So this church does our church today, even today, does not it's not the church that he dis that he designed, that he he was called for. And in which case there are not a lot of the the things that would the church is counting on happening is not gonna happen because we're not the church that he wants it to happen as the groundwork for it. We could talk about this for like three weeks, probably.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

We could we could talk about that until the three weeks, excuse me, the three weeks came and went, and still have more to cover because it is one of the major things in the heart of Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Major. It's right there with the kingdom, it's right there with the Father's heart. So I mean, it's major, his body being one, and it's going to take place.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

It has to.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

It's going to take place, and the process of that happening is one of the things that we're going through right now.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

It's the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

It's the beginning, or at least we're into it now.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Well, and just we can speak, folks, we can speak about this personally because we belong together to a to a church, to a congregation that has doesn't have a pastor. Did have, but we don't have one anymore, because we have a at least a fivefold turns out to be a sixfold right now. We have a group of people who are among us, who are of us, who are wise and discerning and completely given over to the Lord and with hearts of, you know, looking for truth. And but and we're all learning. But it it doesn't have one man who's the only man we ever hear from, who's, you know, speaking the same way, because when you have just have a pastor, you only hear from like a pastor. I've been in church situations where we the pastor was a prophet. It's fascinating to listen to what he was saying, but it's like, we're going there. And he was like, someplace high. But he had no idea how to get us there.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

I mean, it's an example. So but so to say if. If our little group is is this way, whether it's perfect, it's not perfect. It's never going to be perfect. But it's a beginning. But I'm sure we're not alone.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

No, no, no, no. We we we by you're exactly right. We we are not. In fact, in fact, it's once again, it's one of the chief things that priority-wise I see as being a change that we're undergoing, and sometimes even by us kicking and screaming.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

But get a lot of opinions. A lot of people get a lot of opinions.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's one that's gonna rule in the end. And fortunately, that's the that's the uh word of God.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Amen. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

The second thing, the second thing that I see as God's working in the body of Christ across the nations is understanding and walking in the beauty of holiness.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

Well, that's precious.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Because holiness has gotten a bad rap in some respects. It's because of its clothesline religion background, and there's a variety of legalistic things, unfortunately, that have been tagged onto holiness. But in a nutshell, holiness, in a nutshell, holiness is the complete absence of evil. And the complete presence of God.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

I would add to that the complete absence of self-motivation.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

That being evil. And you're correct, but the oftentimes the information concerning holiness is where we stopped, and it's not the application of a life of holiness. And that's because oftentimes in the West, we equate learning with information. Yeah. And learning really hasn't taken place until we apply things in our life. We know that. But uh because we have so much information, holiness is one of those things that is easily said, but very infrequently that I've seen anyway treated as a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

Or recognized. Or even recognized as a beautiful thing maybe when we my experience is I start to think about what holiness is when I first recognize what isn't. You know, it suddenly you hear something from the pulpit or whatever it is like, wait, well, hold on. That's not it's not holiness. It's you know, it's become aware of that. But and that that's a whole discussion we could have.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Oh, and and and and and and and and and and we will, because these three uh legs of this tripod that I'm talking about involve something that's not going to go away in just a minute and on to the next. You're right. We could spend and we will.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

I should have just let you finish with a one, two, three, because we didn't get to three yet, but I I get excited about what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Oh, well, and that's that's why that's why you know we're gonna do. We're gonna take a moment right now, and we're gonna take a pause, and we're gonna go to part two coming up to finish this podcast series up with Lonnie. But folks, we love you. And I thank you for tuning in, but more so than anything else for your prayers.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

We really, really, really need and live by your prayers. And so,

Closing Thanks And How To Connect

SPEAKER_01 26:25

as you've been praying, we've been seeing things develop because God answers prayer. And what I mean by develop, things are opening up where we're actually able to begin to help more people from around the world in ways that actually touch their lives in a meaningful fashion. And you are part of that, and we thank you for that. And for those who have been giving, thank you so much. Matt offering that you present goes so far because the culture that we're reaching into, the exchange rate from the American dollar to their currency far exceeds the one-to-one ratio. So we we thank you. But if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, folks, please feel free to drop us a line at life around the fire at gmail.com. That's our email address. Or you can type in Life Around the Fire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you. In the meantime, God bless you. Adios, amigos, and stay tuned to part two.