Seeing the spiritual world (demons and angels)

[parsley]

I Cor 12

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. Also there are different ways of serving, but it is the same Lord being served. And there are different modes of working, but it is the same God working them all in everyone.

Moreover, to each person is given the particular manifestation of the Spirit that will be for the common good. To one, through the Spirit, is given a word of wisdom; to another, a word of knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit; to another, faith, by the same Spirit; and to another, gifts of healing, by the one Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the ability to judge between spirits; to another, the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues; and to yet another, the ability to interpret tongues.

One and the same Spirit is at work in all these things, distributing to each person as he chooses. For just as the body is one but has many parts; and all the parts of the body, though many, constitute one body; so it is with the Messiah. For it was by one Spirit that we were all immersed into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free; and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. For indeed the body is not one part but many.

If the foot says, "I'm not a hand, so I'm not part of the body," that doesn't make it stop being part of the body. And if the ear says, "I'm not an eye, so I'm not part of the body," that doesn't make it stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If it were all hearing, how could it smell? But as it is, God arranged each of the parts in the body exactly as he wanted them.

Now if they were all just one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are indeed many parts, yet just one body. So the eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you"; or the head to the feet, "I don't need you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be less important turn out to be all the more necessary; and upon body parts which we consider less dignified we bestow greater dignity; and the parts that aren't attractive are the ones we make as attractive as we can, while our attractive parts have no need for such treatment.

Indeed, God has put the body together in such a way that he gives greater dignity to the parts that lack it, So that there will be no disagreements within the body, but rather all the parts will be equally concerned for all the others. Thus if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; and if one part is honored, all the parts share its happiness.


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Heb 5:12
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God...But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.


Eze 44:23 They (priests) shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
​

While that Ezekiel verse is about discerning more tangible things, it confirms that God does in fact want us to know the difference between beneficial and harmful things, good intent and bad. Some believers teach "judge not" in a way that inhibits discernment.

If you can see things that others do not see, then allow yourself to be a spokesman and representative to the Body for these things that are not others' specialty. They have gifts you need, and you have gifts that they need.

Once you start seeing the harm that can be done when unclean spirits hang around a person too long, you will probably realize that vigilance is needed. Start looking into how others have handled spiritual warfare, and develop your confidence in standing against supernatural intrusions.

Some verses:
http://bible.org/seriespage/spiritual-warfare-ephesians-610-20
http://www.battlefocused.org/spiritual-warfare/scriptures.php
http://www.battleinchrist.com/deliverance/the-sword-of-the-spirit/spiritual-warfare-verses

More valuing general discernment:

Mt 16:3
And in the morning, `There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?

Ho 14:9
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them.


​

 

[mp1991]

I had the ability to see demons when I was a child. I was physically attacked by demons multiple times when i was young. I still feel them and see them in my dreams, but i am too scared to cast them out, i just run or ignore them. I really need some advice because i can feel the opression in my life and i am so lost at this point i dont know which way is up. I know I didnt invite them in because i was four when it started, at least thats as far as I can remember. I just feel like i am losing my mind and sometimes feel unworthy of god to protect me from my fears.

 

[joey_downunder]

mp1991 - don't believe the lies that you first have to be "worthy" before God will protect you. If you believe in Jesus you are saved!

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

Therefore you are set FREE from Satan's right to you! Jesus' victory over Satan at the cross is now your own!!!!

Do you know much about what Jesus did for you and what it means?

 

[denise4him]

will you pray God removes a dark depression ive had all my life and heal my heartfrom many tradagies ivebeen through

 

[LilLamb219]

I had the ability to see demons when I was a child. I was physically attacked by demons multiple times when i was young. I still feel them and see them in my dreams, but i am too scared to cast them out, i just run or ignore them. I really need some advice because i can feel the opression in my life and i am so lost at this point i dont know which way is up. I know I didnt invite them in because i was four when it started, at least thats as far as I can remember. I just feel like i am losing my mind and sometimes feel unworthy of god to protect me from my fears.

They want you to feel unworthy...they want you to stay as far away from God as possible. Don't let them win in that game.

Have you spoken with your pastor about this? If not, do it SOON! Read your bible, go to church, take the Lord's Supper, sing hymns, everything to do with God will help keep them away.

 

[mp1991]

Thank you for all of your advice. I do believe in jesus and what he has done for me. I think my problem is that i havent been to church in a few years and i need to be surroundef by other believers. I have made many mistakes in my life and this is why i feel unworthy and ashamed. I have asked for forgiveness, but haven't been able to forgive myself.

 

[BFine]

This thread is old and even though the OP hasn't been
on here since 2007 (is that correct?) I will add this comment
just in case he does return or someone else is dealing with
this as well.


As a Christian you should not be communicating with demons except to rebuke
them in Jesus's name... that is your first response to encountering a demon.
Destroy any material that is related to those encounters since now you know
you shouldn't of been communicating with them. Destroy any occult material.

Do not seek to contact spirits, nor involve yourself with anyone else
who contacts spirits or is messing with the occult world etc.
Repent of that if you haven't.

The ability to discern spiritual matters is for the purpose of preventing someone
from being defrauded, lead astray or harmed.
Do not abuse your gift or use it wrongly.
Always seek God when any such encounter happens --Ask God to reveal
the purpose of such "visits" (right then, don't wait!)

In the visits angels made to humans, if the human/humans were scared the
angel always reassured the human (with words like don't be afraid or fear not)
and would go on to tell the human what was to happen or what the person should do etc.
It wasn't angels just dropping in for no good reason-- angels are ministering spirits and God's messengers etc.

If you have any more visits from angels who act contrary to that which is written
in the bible, rebuke that angel.
If you encounter a demon, rebuke it from you in Jesus's name.
Immediately Seek God in prayer and ask Him to protect you and reveal anything that is sinful in your life and make repentance of such things ASAP!

I would encourage you to seek a mature Christian mentor and prayer partner at
church. Do discuss this matter with your minister.

 

[raelynn127]

my name is Carlee and i have the same "ability" as you do. i saw your post on the internet about beeing able to see speritual events. in your post you asked if anyone else had the same thing happen to them. i have talked with perole who have seen them but they all mostly believe that they are just seeing things. i have the thought that you have had this same thing happen to you when you try to explain what you see.
i wanted to ask you if what you see has been getting more vivid and accuring more often? lattly what i see has been getting more extream. my mom has the same gift that i do and so dose my aunt. the demons have been getting violent. one jumpped on my moms back and one clenched onto my leg. has anything like this ever happened to you lattly?

 

[raelynn127]

know that you can protect yourself. if they physically go after you physically go after them and tell them to get out.

 

[raelynn127]

my name is Carlee and i have the same "ability" as you do. i saw your post on the internet about beeing able to see speritual events. in your post you asked if anyone else had the same thing happen to them. i have talked with perole who have seen them but they all mostly believe that they are just seeing things. i have the thought that you have had this same thing happen to you when you try to explain what you see.
i wanted to ask you if what you see has been getting more vivid and accuring more often? lattly what i see has been getting more extream. my mom has the same gift that i do and so dose my aunt. the demons have been getting violent. one jumpped on my moms back and one clenched onto my leg. has anything like this ever happened to you lattly?

 

[vocalyocal]

Hey everyone,

Before i became a Christian, I was able to see demons and rarely angels.

I went to a youth retreat, became a true Christian, and thought i wouldn't be able to see them anymore, which was good because they scared me so much.

After the retreat i've been committing my life fully to Jesus. A week later I saw them again.

They show up more often when i'm scared. Coming home from a movie called 'Flight Plan', I was fearful of going home because I knew I would see them. Sure enough, I did.

It's become so normal for me to see them, I wish i could put more emphasis on this .

A friend told me that God wanted him to tell me that Satan will only resort to showing himself if he knows that I will bring people to Christ (sweet!).

When I have some more time, I will make a list and post a few stories of my experiences with demons. I've had a few conversations with them. Some are interesting.

But, God has taught me lessons through this. That I shouldn't be afraid of them. That i shouldn't be fascinated with the demonic spirits. And that God will show them to me for a reason (to pray for certain people, etc).



Does anyone else here have this gift?

I didn't even ask for it, I received it before I had the Holy Spirit.

I would like to ask anyone if there is anything I should pray for about this gift? I don't really know what to do with it anymore. Sometimes they do still scare me. Any verses?


Thanks. God bless you.

just remember they are liars!.....they love to mix a little lie into a whole bunch of truth, personally I would begin to ingnore them, as they feed on fear and anxiety

 

[xxxxxxtra]

You are deluded. You talk as though God has appointed you to some special office.. Get a bible and read the truth.. Seriously..

 

[Gods decernment child]

I've seen, felt and heard demons since I was 5. I've seen demon children that looked liked twins in a paramid( like a cheerleading paramid)which represents satan I've found out. It went boy girl boy girl, on the bottom then boy girl boy on the top. On top of that was the same boy and girl and then boy was on the very top. They had pale faces, black hair( girl had long black hair and the boy had short black hair), they had perfect features. They're eyes were black. The boy had a dark blue suit on and the girl had a dark blue dress on. They would just stare at me. It was not a dream, and I was not hallucinating. It was very real and it put fear in me. I would see them only at night when the lights were off. They would be on the foot of my bed, on my sisters bed or on the floor facing me. I saw them almost every night till the age of about 9. Once I didn't fear them anymore they went away. I never told anyone about them until I was like 16. I've heard them too when I was 17, but that's a different story. I fear them till this day of seeing and hearing them again but I've become accustomed to demons. It's made me tough. I don't fear them as much. And I know that Im protected by God. I just thought to share my story. I've looked online to see if anyone has seen the same thing but no one has. Share my testimony that demons are real, God is real. I've also seen signs from God too, that's the great thing about the gift of discernment. Thank you for reading. Have a blessed day!

 

[Mom to Heather]

I don’t believe in happenstance. Everything happens for a reason. This topic came up today for me and I was inclined to share it here too. I hope that someone who needs to see this, reads this post. As a child I was very sensitive to good and evil spirts. And it took a lot of training myself to block them out. For decades blocking out the evil also meant not being able to see the good ones either. However, there are very holy buildings and areas where the presence of good is so overwhelming and I can relax enough to let them come though. I had a lot of guilt for not utilizing my gift outside of Church walls and guilt that perhaps my faith is so strong in part, from seeing what others cannot. I have great respect for those who believe and do not need to see. As a mother of adult children now, who have the same gift, my primary focus was teaching my boys to ask for the Holy Spirit to surround them and protect them from evil. My father used to give me a blessing each night before bed, and I can just imagine an armor of white light surrounding my body as he spoke.

 

[BFine]

Put on the full armor of God each day....
bible study on that armor here:
http://www.freebiblestudyguides.org/bible-teachings/armor-of-god.htm

 

[orangeness365]

I thought for a while that I was seeing angels and demons, but I'm pretty sure at this point that if I saw anything they were all demons. I would see either shadows or bright lights in the generic shape of people. I thought the shadows were demons, and that the bright lights were angels, but the Bible says that even satan can appear as an angel of light. I take meds now that make the hallucinations and voices go away. I became so delusional while listening to the voices that I thought I had to commit suicide to avoid going to hell for starting WWIII, and that there was a time limit. i missed the time limit and thought for a couple of months that I really had started WWIII and was destined for the worst part of hell imaginable. The voices kept claiming to be God, but would tell me not to pray. I stopped praying for a year or so, until I got really desperate around the time that the voices were telling me to commit suicide and that I was destined for hell. The voices also told me to stop talking to my family for the most part, and if I did talk, i had to repeat whatever the voices told me to say. It was such a nightmare. I would always see red eyes or golden eyes staring at me while I was trying to sleep. I hope I never hear voices again. There was a time for a while when I heard voices even on the meds, before upping the dosage, when I heard just one voice claiming to be Jesus, and reciting scripture to me. I don't really believe that I've ever heard God while I was awake, although there are times when I thought that God spoke to me through dreams a couple of times. Recently I had three dreams in a row of satan attacking me, and telling me to worship him. It bothered me a lot. In the dreams I tried to fight back and was too weak to fight.

 

[markme2]

Blake heley book the Vail explains this I have been to his seminars

 

[aiki]

Hey everyone,

Before i became a Christian, I was able to see demons and rarely angels.

I went to a youth retreat, became a true Christian, and thought i wouldn't be able to see them anymore, which was good because they scared me so much.

After the retreat i've been committing my life fully to Jesus. A week later I saw them again.

They show up more often when i'm scared. Coming home from a movie called 'Flight Plan', I was fearful of going home because I knew I would see them. Sure enough, I did.

It's become so normal for me to see them, I wish i could put more emphasis on this .

A friend told me that God wanted him to tell me that Satan will only resort to showing himself if he knows that I will bring people to Christ (sweet!).

When I have some more time, I will make a list and post a few stories of my experiences with demons. I've had a few conversations with them. Some are interesting.

But, God has taught me lessons through this. That I shouldn't be afraid of them. That i shouldn't be fascinated with the demonic spirits. And that God will show them to me for a reason (to pray for certain people, etc).



Does anyone else here have this gift?

I didn't even ask for it, I received it before I had the Holy Spirit.

I would like to ask anyone if there is anything I should pray for about this gift? I don't really know what to do with it anymore. Sometimes they do still scare me. Any verses?


Thanks. God bless you.

No such ability is listed in Scripture as a gift. In fact, I would urge you take a careful inventory of your life and ponder in what ways you may have opened up yourself to the demonic or how someone close to you (a parent, usually) has invited demonic oppression into your life.

Have you ever fooled around with an ouija board?
Have you ever participated in a seance?
Have you ever had your palm read, or had a tarot card reading, or been to a fortune teller?
Are you a fan of occult books, or music, or movies?

All of these things provide ground in your life to the demonic. All of these things need to be confessed to God, and repented of, and may require the concerted prayer of senior people of God on your behalf for freedom from their demonic effects.

You should not be seeing demons nor should you be talking to them.

I have seen the great power the name and blood of Christ has over the demonic. When you see demons, claim both over yourself and the demonic and command the demons to go. If they will not, get other believers involved. Remember, though:

James 4:7
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Submitting to God must always come before resisting the devil.

I would also recommend you not commit yourself to God. That is an effort of Self and it cannot make you godly. Self only ever produces more of itself. Instead, the submission of yourself to God, as James commands in the verse above, is the right way to go. Victory for the Christian always comes by way of surrender. If you want to go to great heights with God, you'll have to humble yourself before Him and present yourself a living sacrifice to Him. The more you commit yourself to God, the more of the work of God you're trying to do. But only God can make you more godly. No amount of your commitment will accomplish what simply yielding to His will and way will accomplish.

Selah.

 

[tturt]

The enemy can disguise himself as an angel of light (II Cor 11:14). The affects of the demonic included talking and going into the herd of swine. (Matt 8).14). Godly angels were seen such as "And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men." Mat 28:2-4

Some believers can see into the spirit realm but don't think individuals should do the initiating. Everything Yahweh does has a purpose. So when you see, you would need to ask Him. This is one of the major differences between ungodly and Godly worlds.

 

[Dave-W]

No such ability is listed in Scripture as a gift.

Neither are shipbuilding, mathematics, or electronics. And yet there are extremely gifted people in each of those fields. I recently read a story about someone with Asperger's Syndrome who designed guitar effects for a rock band and could hear the sound of the effects box just by looking at a circuit diagram. (Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison)

Are you claiming these abilities are all demonic in nature? Or my own great grandmother's math abilities (won state champion math bees as a kid) were demonic?

If they are not, I am wondering why you say the OP's situation IS. In scripture we do have occasion where God opened the eyes of an individual to see the spirit world around him. 2 Kings 6.15-17

While I do not personally know of anyone who operates in this fashion; I could easily see where this could be a part of the gift "discerning of spirits." (1 Cor 12)