Sunday, June 26, 2011

Spiritual Discernment



“To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.  The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing.  

 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy.  He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit.  Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.”     I Cor. 12:8-10   NLT

The gift of discernment is the special ability that the Holy Spirit gives which enables a person to quickly perceive with assurance whether such things as people, events or beliefs are from God or Satan.

Christians with the gift of discernment know that Satan and his demons disguise themselves as holy.  (I cor. 11:14-15)   They also know that Satan empowers counterfeit miracles to deceive people and that he empowers false teachers, false prophets, false apostles and false doctrine.   (Ex. 7:11-22, 8:7, Matt. 7:21-23, II Tim. 3:8, II Thess. 2:9, II Peter 2:1, Matt. 7:15, II Cor. 11:13,  I Tim. 1:3, 6:3).

This gift can motivate a believer to seek God’s will and purpose and apply that understanding to individual and congregational situations.   It provides the ability to distinguish between truth and error, to know when a person or act is of God.

Sometimes the gift of discernment is referred to as “discerning of spirits”.   Church members with this gift are responsible for keeping false teachings from influencing and possibly perverting the church.

The power of discerning good from evil is present in mature Christians by virtue of guidance through the Holy Spirit.

All Christians should seek to discern the truth.

Do you have a solid understanding of Scripture and sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit?

Are you keenly aware of moral sin and doctrinal heresy?

Do you have an awareness of demonic presence and how to help people be free of demons?

“I’m speaking the truth in Christ—I’m not lying, as my conscience assures me with the Holy Spirit..”   Romans  9:1  CEB


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