Gift Of Discerning Spirits

Any thoughts or comments???

Love In Jesus Christ
SoulSearching

I had to ask a brother in our church to explain the gifts and what they really are. (I came to Pentecost late) But my experience with Discernment of Spirits is that if you have this gift you are able to recognize the presence of either good or bad spirits in people around you.

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Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Originally Posted by cynjo59

I had to ask a brother in our church to explain the gifts and what they really are. (I came to Pentecost late) But my experience with Discernment of Spirits is that if you have this gift you are able to recognize the presence of either good or bad spirits in people around you.

It is the supernatural ability to "see" (discern) into the spirit realm. You will see demons, evil spirits, and spiritual manifestations.

It is not the "gift of doubting and gossiping about your brothers and speculating about their motives...". That is not a gift... it is called judging, and we should not do this.

yes. I think discerning the Spirits is often used as a scapegoat to point fingers at whomever one wants to point his finger at for no good reason. I personally believe that very few people even know Christ, and fewer still have good sense, let alone discernment of the Spirits.
In Religious ferver especially, we are prone to become foolish by function of trends. There is a woman roaming about the Appalacians who is convincing people that God actually filled her son's teeth with gold, rather than healing him--people believe her! Spirit-filled people shouldn't be decieved so easily. It's one thing to be foolish in your mind and in your flesh--it's quite another to be (or claim to be) filled with the Spirit (or pastor a church even) and continually believe garbage--nevermind distinguishing between good and evil Spirits by the Holy Spirit.
I cannot count the number of times when a person has said "That man is a devil" and when I asked him for evidence of such a conviction, he merely says "discernment."--as if I'm supposed to believe him just because he says he has the gift of distinguishing Spirits. If God speaks to you and not to me, and he wants me to hear what he has to say, why hasn't he provided you with reason? If God has spoken to you, let him reveal his case to me. Are you his servant, or his friend? If you are so much more spiritual than I, why is it that you do not know what your Master does?
I understand that at times God will say things and show us things that we cannot bring to words--it happens to me more often than not. But in such cases it is unreasonable to insist that people understand, when you yourself cannot put it into words. If God wants you to prophesy, he'll give you words. Moreover, whenever God has revealed something about the spirits to me, it is NEVER simply "this guy is evil--that guy is good--this message is wrong--that message is right" but rather "watch this--see that? See? I told you. There it is. Now, look at this. This here is a sign of... Now you know why I told you to come here." Discernment is not a gut feeling, it's not an emotion, and it's not a set of chill bumps. People who distinguish spirits are not ignorant of them. If God wants you to tell me who is evil and who is good, he's going to give you a basis with which to do so--of course, he could speak to my heart as well, but if he doesn't give me the same *exclusive word* that he does to you, don't blame me for not believing you.

Hey what's wrong with that? It's happened in my church. And just happened again the other night. Now don't ask me why God didnt just give a new tooth instead of filling it with gold (or silver). All I know is that gold speaks of divinity in the Bible and silver redemption. But who cares, as long as the filling is done painlessly and you dont have to pay the dentist to do it.

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I would like to comment on the gift of descerning spirit.Ever since I was a little girl I have had questions, sometimes hard questions for those who should have known the answer however even though I was young, I always had these "feelings" about whether or not to believe someone; When I got saved many years later I was always getting mixed messages from people so I prayed for descernment, it's really the only gift I actually prayed for, and Praise the Lord He gave me that gift; I am usually right on when I talk to people and I can tell if they are real or false spirits; It isn't always a blessing,because sometimes you have to tell someone when they're wrong, but if you can do that with the love of Christ then it's good. We all need this most precious gift in these last days, because there is so much false information out there. I have never felt it was a supernatural gift, it has just always been part of me.I think it is part of all of you too you just choose not to use the gifts of the Lord.

Molly, well said! I too have prayed for the gift of discernment. Many times God has revealed the truth about something or someone. I don't feel it's a form of judgment, but a revelation of truth. Praise God for this special gift!

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"Be not angry that thou cannot make others as you wish them to be since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be." Thomas a Kempis

Amen Fiat, in these times we all need to ask for the gift of descerning spitrits. Praise the Lord HIS gifts are sitll available to all who ask.

I like the point didaskalos made above:

There's also something He put me back together said:

I agree and disagree with all this. Let me explain. I do believe discernment can be that 'gut feeling' or 'chill bumps' initally... especially if it's regarding something you're not paying attention to. I call that an early warning system. I do not consider that a strong enough basis on which to issue a word to anyone else. It's just that gift saying 'slow down, hold on, look around, keep your eyes open'.

Sometimes nothing pans out, but that doesn't mean a threat wasn't present. Demons don't always care to tangle with an alert Warrior of Christ, just the way rapists prefer to target women in parking lots who don't project an air of being aware of their surroundings. They like easy marks.

I also rarely think it has anything to do with a particular person being a threat. I take the whole judging of others directly extremely seriously. If I do get that feeling, that is reinforced by factual evidence, either concrete, tangible evidence, or unconnected confirming words delivered to other Christians by the Holy Spirit. (There's been times when I've still not been entirely positive that perceptions aren't being skewed, and the Holy Spirit's guided Christians who are miles away and completely unconnected to the situation at hand to deliver a word of confirmation.)

There are times when I think a situation or a place might be hazardous, but not the people involved, Christian or not. Too often we're quick to place blame on the people -- and forget that our battle is not against flesh and blood.

Here's an example. I have many friends who are pagans, and I've known them long enough to know that their friendship with me is genuine. They would not knowingly or willingly bring harm to me. But face it: There's gonna be demons around. If I felt a threat in their presence, my first priority is to work on trying to pin down the direction of the threat. If I concentrate, I can usually get an idea of where they are. It's not the person involved, it's the demons that are the threat. An abuse of the gift of discernment would be to point fingers at the person and scream how evil they are, "You're of the devil!" -- they might be pagan, but that does NOT mean they harbor malicious will toward you or are planning some deep evil. They are deceived by Satan. You're not willing any souls for Christ by condemning someone as evil when odds are great that they're not evil.

People feel a threat, and immediately turn into Chicken Little, and chaos erupts. If you feel a threat, there's usually a reason, and if you hash it out with the Holy Spirit, you'll find out what that threat is, or at least the direction in which it's located.

Yes, there have been times when the gift has gone off because of a specific person. I believe my particular gift of discernment is honed toward detecting danger. I've always had a Warrior mentality, so my first thoughts are always along the lines of securing a location, evaluating risks and hazards, looking for the enemy, and so forth. If I had to put it down to figures, I'd say nine times out of ten that I'd start getting that chill up my spine, the internal alarm systems blaring, it had everything to do with the presence of demonic spirits in the area, and nothing to do with people around me, whether or not they're Christian or Pagan.

The people are NOT our targets. On the times where the threat IS from a specific person, I don't believe the Holy Spirit will allow for even a shadow of doubt. The feeling I've had when the threat was definitely from a specific person was almost crippling. A tidal wave of sudden, powerful, absolute conviction, a strong urgency of "Get. Out. Of. There. NOW!", alarms blaring in my head, adrenaline going haywire, "Get out of there! Fall back now! That's an order! Regroup!"

We are protected better against demonic spirits. But a physical person can be a very real and present danger to us on a physical scale. And when I get those orders to retreat immediately, you bet I do. And every time I've been able to speak with a Christian, particularily one who understands spiritual warfare, within a short time span after those incidents, even if they're half a continent away, they've often had the same sense of urgency. It's not always specific, sometimes it's nothing more than a sense of danger and a feeling that you need to pray. Now. Sometimes it's regarding a specific person in prayer.

If you get that warning vibe in a situation, all it means is the Holy Spirit wants you to be alert and aware, and start paying attention. If it wants you to start bringing something up, it will give you definite confirmation on the matter.

God is a just God, a fair God, an orderly God. When He holds court, rest assured it is NOT going to be a kangaroo one. When listening to Him, He provides the evidence and the course of action, not just to one person, but to many -- and if additional confirmation is needed, word often comes from people who have nothing to do with the situation, and have no idea what they're talking about, but have a strong burden of the spirit to pass on a certain phrase or key element.

...and I hope this was somewhat coherent.

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I was raised in a church where my Parents went on an invite from a friend. I witnessed many people who had been given different gifts. Some had the gift of tongues, others had the gift of discernment, and a couple others that escape me right now. But, I fully believe that certain people can actually be given these gifts or can attain them thru prayer and use them for the good of others in the community or the church. If my opinion is outdated or wrong, please let me know.