On the topic of intuition, let me say right up front that I am, by no means, an advocate of women’s lib. I’ll probably receive hate-mail from angry women when I say this, but I believe that most men are smarter than women, and they’re better at most activities than women. In my opinion, except for childbirth and nurturing, the men win. So when I speak of intuition, it’s not easy for me to admit that women are the superior intuits. Most of the experts (men and women) agree with me that women certainly have the edge. I’ll include a few scientific conclusions made by one expert that actually make sense to me. In an article written for Psychology Today, Ronald E Riggio, Ph.D., says that it’s mostly true that women are better intuits. He says there is a logical and also a research-based answer for his conclusion. So here you go:
- As a group, women are better at reading facial expressions of emotions than men. They are more likely to pick up on the subtle emotional messages being sent by others.
- Women are also better at expressing emotions through their facial expressions, tone of voice, and body, particularly positive emotions, while men are better at controlling felt emotions and at hiding emotions behind a “poker face.” (emphasis mine)
- Women are seen as more empathic than men, and that they are more likely to see themselves as empathic. (Empathic – showing an ability to understand and share the feelings of another) In other words, women tend to be more “open” to others’ emotional messages. This may add to the perception that women have some special ability to intuit what others are feeling or thinking.
To end this scientific portion of the blogpost, Dr. Riggio poses the question, So is women’s intuition myth or reality? Mostly reality, and it’s based on gender differences in nonverbal communication skills. In fact, the term “women’s intuition” may have been created by emotionally-clueless men.
Now, on to the spiritual portion of the blogpost. I have to go there, because in reality, a Christ-follower’s intuition (whether man or woman) is more of a spiritual gift than what science has to say about it. After a person is born-again, the Holy Spirit (a gift given by God) enters the body. It is a special sort of intuition called, spiritual discernment. We all can have it. It’s our innate intuition (given by God, our Creator) on steroids. The actual Spirit of God becomes the ruling entity inside us. Did you hear me? The Spirit of God inside YOU and ME! What can be better than that?
But wait. There’s more.
A qualification before receiving this gift of spiritual discernment, a catch, the proverbial fine print, must take place. But before you roll your eyes and close this page, read on just a bit further, will you? Listen: It doesn’t cost a thing. Unless, that is, you don’t want to live according to God’s principles and unless you don’t want to give up some things that are the antithesis of a God-honoring life. However, what you’ll give up doesn’t in any way compare to the joy and peace you’ll receive afterward. It’s really a no-brainer.
Ok. What’s the catch? What do I have to give up?
Yourself.
When you surrender yourself (give up your wants and needs) in total obedience to God and what He wants for you, it can look a little like marriage. When you enter into the covenant of holy matrimony, you promise to give up your wants and needs and, in a perfect world, become more interested in fulfilling the other person’s wants and needs. If you’ve never been married, it’ll be a little harder to understand this surrender of self.
News Flash: To repent of your wrongs and surrender yourself to God is to be free. Seems like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Surrender and be free. We generally view surrender as a negative. An, Ok, I give up…that is, seeing no way out of a situation; it’s over. But it’s not that way with God. The reason is that He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows what you need better than you know it. Let Him (the one who created you) control things, as He’s the eagle flying high above the forest. He can see everything, and even better than seeing everything, He knows everything from start to finish. KNOWS. But it’s hard to trust in someone we can’t see, isn’t it? I know, I get it. But there must come a time when lay down your pride and then give up your right to yourself in order to receive His best for you.
When you make the decision surrender yourself completely to God and His ways, to be born-again, you will receive the gift of His Holy Spirit, which allows you to see the things of God, to hear the voice of God over the voice of man, to live, not according to man’s ways, but according to God’s ways. And God’s way is always the better way. Always. Besides the free gift of salvation which His Son, Jesus Christ, provided through his death on the cross, to then receive the Holy Spirit’s discernment (intuition) is the best gift God has ever given to any saved human being.
