The camp of Dan brought up the rear when the armies of Israel were on the march. The Danites occupied the hindmost place, but what mattered the position, since they were as truly part of the host as were the foremost tribes; they followed the same fiery cloudy pillar, they ate of the same manna, drank of the same spiritual rock, and journeyed to the same inheritance. Come, my heart, cheer up, though last and least; it is thy privilege to be in the army, and to fare as they fare who lead the van. Some one must be hindmost in honour and esteem, some one must do menial work for Jesus, and why should not I? In a poor village, among an ignorant peasantry; or in a back street, among degraded sinners, I will work on, and “go hindmost with my standard.”
The Danites occupied a very useful place. Stragglers have to be picked up upon the march, and lost property has to be gathered from the field. Fiery spirits may dash forward over untrodden paths to learn fresh truth, and win more souls to Jesus; but some of a more conservative spirit may be well engaged in reminding the church of her ancient faith, and restoring her fainting sons. Every position has its duties, and the slowly moving children of God will find their peculiar state one in which they may be eminently a blessing to the whole host.
The rear guard is a place of danger. There are foes behind us as well as before us. Attacks may come from any quarter. We read that Amalek fell upon Israel, and slew some of the hindmost of them. The experienced Christian will find much work for his weapons in aiding those poor doubting, desponding, wavering, souls, who are hindmost in faith, knowledge, and joy. These must not be left unaided, and therefore be it the business of well-taught saints to bear their standards among the hindmost. My soul, do thou tenderly watch to help the hindmost this day.
Charles Spurgeon
Posted by Chris 
Wings of the Wind 
From Discernment to the Kingdom of God by Bruce Cooper
August 23, 2026“Biblical discernment is not merely about identifying what is right or wrong. It ultimately seeks to determine what is governing, so that believers may distinguish between man’s will and God’s will, and walk accordingly as citizens of the Kingdom of God.“
This is the kind of statement you will find throughout Bruce Cooper’s recent work entitled From Discernment to the Kingdom of God. Every Christian should have the goal of having a better walk as a citizen of the Kingdom of God. In this work, Bruce breaks discernment topics down into easy to bite size chunks so whether you are reading it in a couple of days or over a month or so, you’re discernment skills should improve. Many would think 143 pages too long to bother with on such a subject. I’m strongly of the opposite opinion. I think that what Bruce has accomplished in this short work is masterful for many reasons. It is historically accurate, easy to follow, logical and it condenses a great amount of material in a precise and organized way. Best of all, Bruce uses scriptures throughout as his foundation stones. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in two readings.
With all of the issues that we have in our day around the issue of discernment, I think every Christian could benefit greatly from this well organized piece.
Click here if you wish to go directly to the download page for “From Discernment to the Kingdom of God”
As most of you know, I comment on other’s blogs more than I write on my own. I enjoy the interaction and fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. And I will always enjoy learning. For anyone wondering why I have been silent the past couple of weeks, I ended up in the hospital due to a blockage that caused a backup of fluids into my kidneys. My kidney function was negatively affected but I am healing now after the great work of my urology team, my primary doctor and, of course, the incredible way God created our bodies to heal. I am home but the recuperation will take awhile because of the damage done by pressures put on organs that weren’t able to function normally for awhile. I will resume commenting on other blogs when I am feeling better.
This was the perfect time for me to read this PDF by Bruce that I have been looking forward to reviewing. I have not read even half of the free PDFs that Bruce has produced but the ones I have read have been very helpful. Bruce allows you to download anything that he has written (obviously many many hours of work) at no cost. As a former teacher, I find much of Bruce’s work just like instructive handbooks. They are organized, practical, concise, and the ones I have read are easy reading and well worth the time. Most importantly, as I have stated, Bruce is consistent in using scripture as the foundation for his work.
At a time when Christians need to be just as discerning as they were back in the first century, I highly recommend that any Christian reading this post find the time to download and read Bruce Cooper’s From Discernment to the Kingdom of God.
God’s blessings…
Chris Reimers
Direct link to the download page of “From Discernment to the Kingdom of God.”
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