Gifts of the Spirit pt.4-Discerning of Spirits

The third of the revelation gifts, discerning of spirits, gives supernatural insight into the spirit world. This insight could be given by an impression as well as actually seeing or hearing into the spirit world.

Whereas the word of knowledge gives us revelation of present or past facts, and the word of wisdom reveals the plans and purposes of God, discerning of spirits has a more limited focus—that of spirits only.

Discerning of spirits is not discerning of just evil spirits. Discerning of spirits is the discerning of spirits—divine spirits, demonic spirits, and human spirits.

Discerning of spirits enables a person to know the presence, the activity, and the nature of a particular spirit.

This is not to be confused with the “gift of fault finding”. Discerning of spirits is operated by the Holy Spirit and He determines when and how to give us insight into the spirit realm. The gifts of the Spirit are for the building up of the church. Anyone with the “gift of fault finding” is in control of that “gift”, turning it on and off as he wills, and he is no help in building up the church.

Discerning of spirits can reveal, for example, that the true motives of a particular preacher are not from love for the people but rather, that he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Discerning of spirits can reveal that the friendless, poverty-stricken man in your church has a passionate heart for God that has been tried in His fire and is most pleasing to God.

New Testament Examples

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.

This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved."

She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her. (Acts 16:16–18)

Throughout the book of Revelation, John sees and hears divine, demonic, and human spirits. It is through the gift of the discerning of spirits that we have John’s eye-witness (and ear-witness!) account of what we read in the book of Revelation. Here are two of the many instances:

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. (Revelation 5:11)

Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. (Revelation 16:13)

Two Modern Day Examples

The Unclean Spirit. Nearly 24 hours a day, and especially at night, a young man yelled profanities, jump up and down, howl, screech, hit himself and others, and shook violently. Although he had never exercised, his strength was could over-power nearly everyone he came in contact with.

One day, he walked and stood in front of me. My eyes were drawn immediately to his eyes. At that moment, I did not see his eyes but the eyes of an unclean evil spirit filled with hatred. The sight of this demon’s eyes was so evil and intense that the hair on my neck stood up and chills ran down my spine. I was very young in spiritual matters, but I understood that there was something inside this young man that caused him to exhibit all these strange behaviors. One day a few weeks after this encounter, this young man walked past me. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “Quick, lay hands on him. Cast out that devil and pray for healing.” I obeyed. The demon came out and the man was restored whole. His countenance glowed brightly and his behavior returned to normal—peaceful, kind, and gentle.

The Revealing of an Evil Spirit. Evangelist Perry Stone told of an event that occurred during a revival that he conducted at a church in Virginia in the early 1980's. He had been preaching at this church for a couple of weeks and many unsaved people throughout the community were attending the revival and accepting Christ. One night, while sleeping in the evangelist's quarters of the church, he was awakened by the sound of someone attempting to enter the back door of the church. He heard the door open and close. Then he heard footsteps as someone walked down the hall toward his room, and he listened as the door to the nearby janitor's closet opened and closed. Just as he was wondering why the janitor would clean the church in the middle of the night, the door to his room opened. He watched fearfully as a figure about four feet tall that resembled an Egyptian mummy walked through his room toward the kitchen, dragging what appeared to be two bags of garbage. The figure then came back through his room, looked at him and smiled an evil grin, walked out the door and into the pastor's office next door. He heard file cabinets open, then there was silence. 

Shortly thereafter, the pastor of the church unexpectedly closed the revival and began to spread rumors about the evangelist.

This nearly destroyed the evangelist's reputation and almost caused him to leave the ministry. Ten years later, this evangelist returned to this town and, while he was there, he received a phone call from a young man who asked him to come to the hospital and pray for him. The evangelist did so and the young man was healed. After he was released from the hospital, he contacted the evangelist to tell him this story:

"I attended your revival when you were here ten years ago, and I was so upset at the way you were treated by the pastor that I stopped attending church altogether. I enrolled in a local university and became involved in satanism and the occult. During that time, I learned that while you were preaching that revival, the son of a leader in the satanic church had come to the university campus to recruit, heard about your revival, and went to the church parking lot one night while you were preaching. He stood outside and asked satan to bring an Egyptian spirit to disrupt and end the revival."

When the young man described the spirit, the evangelist realized that it was the very same spirit he had seen in his room ten years earlier. And he knew the young man would never have known about the incident through other sources because the evangelist had told nobody. Yet, ten years later, he was able to stand in the same church where the trouble had occurred years earlier, and explain to the church the reason for the problems they had encountered.

The gift of the discerning of spirits produces a security against false doctrines, lies, and all things from the demonic. This gift can also help a church to choose the proper men and women to fulfill various ministries within the church.

It is my prayer for you that Father will continue to help you to hear His voice, and more and more frequently.

With God’s grace and in His peace,

Gary

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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

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