Discerning Of Spirits
As we continue in 1 Corinthians 12:10, we
read
“...to another discerning of spirits…”
I
want to stress something: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A “GIFT” OF
“DISCERNMENT”! .... The gift is properly termed: “DISCERNING OF
SPIRITS”.
Many
people use the term “discernment and get this confused with the “Word of
Knowledge”. We should all use discernment (the ability to detect
truth or lies, also the ability to understand a difference, or to identify
as separate or distinct). Discernment, however, is not the
same as the gift of the Holy Ghost which is properly termed “DISCERNING of
SPIRITS”.
Discerning of Spirits is literally, the ability to recognize or perceive
SPIRITS in any given situation. It is “seeing” into the spiritual
realm and knowing by which spirit SOMEONE IS SPEAKING OR by
which someone is ACTING UNDER THE
INFLUENCE at any given time.
Discerning of Spirits is Not
It
is NOT the ability to detect "attitudes, character flaws, or
motives” in people, nor is it some sort of “psychological” insight.
It
is my firm belief that if there were to be just one gift in a church, this
would be a most important one to have, especially in this age of deception
in which we live. This gift is properly used as PROTECTION to God’s
people against the counterfeits of the enemy (our adversary, the Devil).
It
is vital that we always remember that Satan is a deceiver (see
Revelation 12:9;
Revelation 20:1-10, and that he
transforms himself into an angel of light (see
2
Corinthians 11: 14). It is also VITAL to note that
Satan's ministers CAN APPEAR as "ministers of righteousness", yes, even
PENTECOSTAL PREACHERS that claim to have SPIRITUAL GIFTS. This is
why it is so vital to understand the true operation of the gifts of God
and to reject anything that does not fit the description of their
operation as seen in the Word of God.
We know that Satan is the leader of all evil, rebellious spirits and in
fact took 1/3 of the angels of heaven with him when he fell.
The most subtle means of deception is to counterfeit, and this is exactly
how Satan works. The greatest danger for the believers is to accept
anything and everything in the realm of the supernatural as being from
God. Not everything that shouts is a Christian. Not everything
that you see professing Christ is really Christ’s. Satan is a master
at counterfeit and will cause people to appear to be a Christian.
For example, in
Acts 16:16-18, we have the
story of a young lady who followed Paul around crying that these were men
of the most High God and that people should listen to them. There
are many men today in the pulpits who would just love to have this.
Paul, though, acting with the gift of DISCERNING OF SPIRITS, “discerned”
that she was NOT of God and commanded a demon spirit to come out of her.
The men around Paul apparently didn’t have a problem with her and COULD
HAVE even enjoyed the “prestige” it appeared to bring.
Let
me caution you before you begin thinking that just anyone and everyone can cast out
devils. I'll not get into that particular teaching at this moment, but
you should read
Acts 19:13-16.
YOU need discerning of spirits. You need to know by which Spirit
someone is operating at any given time. It is with this gift that a
church can effectively wage Spiritual Warfare.
