Discerning of Spirits

Discerning of Spirits

True Discerning of Spirits is not mere suspicion or intuition.

Before we discuss what this gift is let us first discuss what this gift is not. Discerning of spirits or discernment as some would call it, is not the gift of suspicion. It's not a natural knowledge or an insight that comes from experience, rather it is a supernatural knowledge that comes from the Holy Spirit.

Many have been wounded by those who claim to have discernment when all they really have is suspicion, but for the sake of appearing spiritual they claim to discern one thing or another about an individual that may or may not be true. True discerning of spirits is given by the Holy Ghost to help others ,not to destroy the lives of our Christian brothers and sisters or even those who have not yet come to know the Lord. I'm taking the time to make this clear because of friends of mine who were seriously hurt by somebody who claimed to discern something terrible about one of them, and proceeded to spread vicious rumors that brought much pain and heartbreak to many. Rumors that caused the split of a congregation in a church which was just beginning to grow, scattered the youth leaving them with nobody to turn to and caused a man of God and his wife to suffer much unnecessary shame, turmoil and heartache, leaving two ministries in shambles. He was accused of being homosexual by a woman who claimed to "discern" a spirit of perversion and homosexuality. But he was not homosexual. The woman simply lied and lead others to believe that the man was gay. Her "discernment" was nothing more than suspicion which turned into deception as she lied and professed to have heard from God in the matter.

The Word of God tells us that to bear false witness about another is a sin and gossip and lying lips are an abomination and something God hates, as well as those who are quick to run to mischief. Discerning of spirits must not be confused with criticism and fault finding and suspicion and judgmental attitudes.

Psychics, Palm Readers and Fortune Tellers

Psychics, palm readers and fortune tellers often claim to have the gift of discerning of spirits and or the supernatural ability to see into the Spirit realm given by God but be forewarned it is not the gift of discerning of spirits at work. In fact palm reading and soothe saying and fortune telling and psychics séances and such are actually forms of witchcraft that are specifically forbidden and those involved in ghost hunting and such psychic phenomena are not operating by the spirit of God. In the book of Acts we read of Paul who was followed by a woman crying out to the people saying These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

This woman had a evil demonic spirit of divination in her by which she gained much money for her masters.

Ac 16:16 ¶ And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,

The spirit of divination is the demonic spirit by which soothsayers , palm readers, fortune tellers and those who practice other such things, work to deceive others into accepting false reports that are not given by the Spirit of God. Such things are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN and should not be confused with the gift of the Holy Spirit known as discerning of Spirits. They are simply not the same. In fact for every true gift of the Holy Spirit that God has given Satan has attempted to imitate for the purpose of deception. Divination is just one such perverted imitation.

Discerning of Spirits

The gift of discerning of Spirits like all the others gifts of the Holy Spirit are given and operated as the the Lord wills. Not as man wills. The discerning of Spirits is the supernatural ability to discern the driving force in a given situation. It is the gift that allows one to know whether a situation or person is being affected by an evil spirit or by the Holy Spirit or another heavenly being as well as to identify the character of the heart of man. It is the supernatural ability to see into the Spirit Realm which coexists with the natural realm in which we live.

When I speak of the Spirit realm, I am speaking of another dimension in which celestial or heavenly creatures exists . To understand it better consider a pond in which there are fish swimming. The fish in the pond have never been out side of the pond. As far as they are concerned nothing exists out side of their pond. This pond is all the world to them, it is the realm in which they live. The dimension in which they exist, consists of water plants and fish , insects and such that enter into the pond. On occasion they see drops of water causing the tops of the lily pads to move but they really have no concept of rain or anything that exists out side of the pond. Having never been out side the pond they lack the ability to see or even understand that their realm or dimension coexists with yet another realm out side of it and along with it. Until somebody reaches in and pulls the fish out he cannot conceive of an existence outside of what he knows.

In this sense mankind is the same way. Mankind who has never seen into the Spiritual realm has little concept of what exists all around him , for it is hidden from him. Discerning of Spirits is the gift whereby the Lord allows a person to see into the realm that exists all around us which we refer to as the Spirit realm. In the Spirit realm there are spirit beings such as angels and demons and also the Holy Spirit. It is also commonly referred to as the heavenly realm, however I feel that term is somewhat misleading because the Spirit realm does not exists only in the heavens. It coexists with the realm we live in, which is the natural realm. It exists everywhere, on earth , in heaven and in hell.

Those with the gift of discernment are often allowed to see into this realm for a period of time and for Gods purposes and will sometimes observe angels or demons or even both. It is done to give wisdom and knowledge regarding a matter, to inform of spiritual battles taking place or even of demonic attacks. It is also used to reveal when sickness is the result of a demonic spirit. It is even used to bring encouragement. The gift of discernment does not always entail seeing into the spiritual realm, but will often be manifested as a knowing in ones spirit. To put it simply the discerning of spirits is given to identify the nature and the character of spirits both those that are seen and those that are not seen. This includes the following.

The Holy Spirit
Angelic Spirits
Demonic or Satanic Spirits
The Human Spirit

Instances

A couple of the instances in my life:
Some years ago God had given a dream to me in which he revealed to me that certain activities I had been involved in had stirred up the powers of hell and Satan had become quite angry regarding the matter. Upon awakening from the dream I opened my eyes and was quite surprised to see my bed surrounded by angels. The gift of discerning of spirits was in operation as God allowed me to see into the spirit realm and see the angels he had sent to protect me. In this God used the dream which was given to me and the gift of discerning of spirits to inform me of the enemies attempts and Gods divine protection.

In another instance a woman had come to me for prayer reporting to me that her eye had begun to twitch uncontrollably . She supposed it to be some sort of problem with the nerve and was asking for prayer. I looked into her face to begin to pray and as I did I saw a dark wispy spirit flowing in and around her eye. It appeared as smoke. I prayed for her and commanded it to leave her. Within a short while the spirit left her and the eye ceased to twitch. The ability to see this wispy dark spirit came as a result of the gift of the Holy Spirit known as discerning of spirits.

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