{"id":152310,"date":"2024-03-05T14:53:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T19:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/archives\/152310"},"modified":"2024-03-05T14:53:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T19:53:36","slug":"discerning-of-spirits-%f0%9f%92%a5-this-is-a-powerful-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/archives\/152310","title":{"rendered":"Discerning of Spirits 💥 This is a Powerful Weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=16muBXh9ytA<\/div>00:00:05<\/a>Today I\u2019m going to speak about the remaining gift of revelation, distinguishing or discerning of spirits. The ability to recognize, identify\u00a0\u00a0 and distinguish between various\u00a0 kinds of spirits that confront us.\u00a0\u00a0 And in this connection we need to bear in mind\u00a0 that the Christian ministry is a ministry in\u00a0\u00a0 the spiritual realm. In Ephesians 6:12 Paul says\u00a0 we are not fighting enemies of flesh and blood\u00a0\u00a0 or persons with bodies, but we are\u00a0 arrayed against an evil spiritual kingdom,\u00a0\u00a0 spirits of wickedness. And so it is essential that\u00a0 we are equipped to handle our spiritual enemies. The purposes of this gift, I\u00a0 would suggest, are fourfold.\u00a0\u00a0 First of all, to lift the veil that\u00a0 covers the unseen spiritual world.\u00a0\u00a0 The world that we really have to\u00a0 deal with if we\u2019re to be effective.00:01:12<\/a> Secondly, to enable us to see\u00a0 as God sees. In 1 Samuel 16:7\u00a0\u00a0 the Lord told Samuel this, \u201cFor God sees not as\u00a0 man sees, for man look at the outward appearance,\u00a0\u00a0 but the Lord looks at the heart.\u201d This gift of\u00a0 discerning of distinguishing of spirits enables\u00a0\u00a0 us to go below the outward appearance\u00a0 and see the condition of the heart.00:01:39<\/a> The third purpose of the gift is to protect us\u00a0 from deception. We are reminded that sometimes\u00a0\u00a0 Satan comes to God\u2019s people as an angel\u00a0 of light. He appears to be very beautiful,\u00a0\u00a0 very good and very wise. But his whole\u00a0 purpose and intention is evil and destructive. The fourth purpose of this gift is to enable us\u00a0 to diagnose people\u2019s problems and so help them. Now the gift is discerning of spirits,\u00a0 it\u2019s not just discerning of evil spirits.\u00a0\u00a0 There are various kind of spirits that confront\u00a0 us in the Christian walk. Let me mention four:\u00a0\u00a0 First of all, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 It is very important to discern the Holy Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0 Secondly, there are angels, both\u00a0 good angels and evil angels. Thirdly,\u00a0\u00a0 thee are demons or unclean spirits. And fourthly,\u00a0 there is the spirit of man, the human spirit. Now I want to give you some examples\u00a0 of the operation of this gift\u00a0\u00a0 from the New Testament. First\u00a0 of all in the ministry of Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0 In John 1:47 and following, you read\u00a0 how Nathanael came to Jesus and it says: \u201cJesus saw Nathanael coming to Him,\u00a0\u00a0 and said of him, \u2018Behold, an Israelite\u00a0 indeed, in whom is no guile!\u2019\u201d (NAS) How did Jesus know that there was no guile\u00a0 in Nathanael? There was no outward way of\u00a0\u00a0 knowing it, but He discerned in Nathanael\u00a0 a guileless spirit. Nathanael was amazed. \u201cHe said to Him, \u2018How do You know\u00a0 me?\u2019 Jesus answered and said to him,\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Before Philip called you, when you were\u00a0 under the fig tree, I saw you.\u2019\u201d (NAS) Probably Jesus was standing preaching and\u00a0 Philip was standing there somewhere in the\u00a0\u00a0 background under the fig tree listening,\u00a0 but Jesus looking over the heads of those\u00a0\u00a0 who were closer to Him, saw that face\u00a0 and discerned that guileless spirit.\u00a0\u00a0 Nathanael was amazed, but Jesus said\u00a0 to him, \u201cThis is only the beginning.\u201d \u201cAnd He said to him, \u2018Truly, truly, I say\u00a0 to you, you shall see the heavens opened,\u00a0\u00a0 and the angels of God ascending and\u00a0 descending upon the Son of Man.\u2019\u201d (NAS) Jesus said, in effect, not merely will we discern\u00a0 human spirits, but we\u2019ll discern angel spirits\u00a0\u00a0 too. And of course, later on in the New Testament\u00a0 this was fulfilled a number of times. For instance\u00a0\u00a0 in Acts 27 we read about Paul on the ship that\u00a0 was being so terribly tossed by the storm.\u00a0\u00a0 They hadn\u2019t seen the sun or the moon or the stars\u00a0 for many days. All hope of survival was given up,\u00a0\u00a0 but an angel of God came to Paul on the ship.\u00a0\u00a0 And after that Paul stood up and spoke to\u00a0 those men and encouraged them and he said this: \u201cFor this very night an angel of the God to\u00a0 whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me,\u00a0\u00a0 saying, \u2018Do not be afraid, Paul; you\u00a0 must stand before Caesar; and behold,\u00a0\u00a0 God has granted you all those\u00a0 who are sailing with you.\u2019\u201d (NAS) So we see that an angel came\u00a0 to that storm-tossed ship,\u00a0\u00a0 but the only one who was aware of\u00a0 the presence of the angel was Paul.\u00a0\u00a0 Paul discerned what the others could not\u00a0 see, an angelic presence there on that ship. I’d giving you examples of two forms of discernment Jesus discerning a guile spirit in Nathanael and Paul discerning an angel of God on the ship. Now also from the ministry of Paul, I want to\u00a0 give you an example of discerning an evil spirit,\u00a0\u00a0 a very significant and important example. This\u00a0 describes what happened while Paul and Silas\u00a0\u00a0 and their company were in the city of Philippi to\u00a0 bring the gospel to that city. And they were going\u00a0\u00a0 every day to a certain place of prayer, but there\u00a0 was a slave-girl following them making dramatic\u00a0\u00a0 spiritual pronouncements about them. This is\u00a0 the record as we find it in Acts 16:16\u201318: \u201cAnd it happened that as we were going to the\u00a0 place of prayer, a certain slave-girl having\u00a0\u00a0 a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing\u00a0 her masters much profit by fortunetelling.\u201d (NAS) The spirit of divination in Satan\u2019s\u00a0 kingdom is the fortunetelling spirit,\u00a0\u00a0 the one that predicts the future, that tells\u00a0 you whether you are going to be rich or poor,\u00a0\u00a0 whether you are going to marry a\u00a0 blonde or a brunette, whether your\u00a0\u00a0 mother or your aunt is going to die, and many\u00a0 such things. That\u2019s the spirit of divination,\u00a0\u00a0 the fortunetelling spirit. It is not from God, it\u00a0 is from Satan. The Scripture then goes on to say: \u201cFollowing after Paul and us, she kept crying\u00a0 out, saying, \u2018These men are bond-servants of\u00a0\u00a0 the Most High God, who are proclaiming\u00a0 to you the way of salvation.\u2019\u201d (NAS) It is very significant that what she was\u00a0 saying was absolutely true. That is an example\u00a0\u00a0 of Satan coming as an angel of light. But she was\u00a0 nevertheless not serving God, but Satan. You see,\u00a0\u00a0 Satan\u2019s purpose was to confuse the people\u00a0 of Philippi. They were used to divination,\u00a0\u00a0 they were used to people with evil spirits. If\u00a0 Paul and his company had accepted this girl and\u00a0\u00a0 her testimony, the people of Philippi would have\u00a0 concluded, \u201cWell, here is just another example of\u00a0\u00a0 what we have been used to all these centuries.\u201d\u00a0 But Paul didn\u2019t fall into that trap. Through\u00a0\u00a0 discerning of spirits, he identified the spirit as\u00a0 an evil spirit and this is how he dealt with it: \u201cAnd she continued doing this for many\u00a0 days. But Paul was greatly annoyed…\u00a0\u00a0 [Do you know that it is legitimate\u00a0 sometimes to be annoyed?\u00a0\u00a0 To be annoyed with the devil is not a\u00a0 sin.] …But Paul was greatly annoyed,\u00a0\u00a0 and turned and said to the spirit [not to the\u00a0 girl, but to the spirit], \u2018I command you in the\u00a0\u00a0 name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!\u2019 And it\u00a0 [the spirit] came out at that very moment.\u201d (NAS) So the evil spirit was discerned by Paul\u00a0 and then cast out in the name of Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0 That was a critical point. It\u00a0 set the whole city in an uproar.\u00a0\u00a0 Satan\u2019s purposes had been revealed and frustrated\u00a0 and he became exceedingly angry and the most\u00a0\u00a0 unnatural tumult broke out in that city. That was\u00a0 Satan\u2019s response to his devices being revealed. Now let me give you just one example that is a\u00a0 little similar from my own personal experience.\u00a0\u00a0 Actually, this incident in my life is mentioned\u00a0 in Catherine Marshall\u2019s book Something More.\u00a0\u00a0 It happened while I was ministering at a church\u00a0 in Chicago. At the close of a service a lady came\u00a0\u00a0 to me and asked me for prayer. She said she had\u00a0 personal problems. The Lord showed me, I think,\u00a0\u00a0 probably through the word of knowledge, that she\u00a0 had been a spiritist medium. And I said that I\u00a0\u00a0 wasn\u2019t prepared to pray for her. So she went\u00a0 away but came back a few weeks later. She said,\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI have given up being a medium. I want you\u00a0 to pray for me.\u201d So I felt that I couldn\u2019t\u00a0\u00a0 refuse. I wasn\u2019t confident of her sincerity, but\u00a0 I began to pray with her, and it was hard going.00:08:44<\/a> After a while I paused for a moment. And as I\u00a0 paused, she began to look at me intently and\u00a0\u00a0 there was a kind of strange fixed stare in\u00a0 her eyes and she said, \u201cI see you in a car\u00a0\u00a0 and it\u2019s wrecked against a tree and there\u2019s\u00a0 blood.\u201d For a moment my heart sank and I thought,\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m going to be in a car that\u2019s wrecked\u00a0 against a tree.\u201d And then I realized that\u00a0\u00a0 isn\u2019t the Holy Spirit. That\u2019s the spirit of\u00a0 divination by which she operated as a medium.\u00a0\u00a0 And so the anger of God came over\u00a0 me and I said, \u201cYou divining spirit,\u00a0\u00a0 I reject you! I do not accept that as my\u00a0 destiny! I\u2019m not going to be in any car\u00a0\u00a0 that\u2019s going to be wrecked against a tree!\u00a0 I refuse it! I will not accept it from you!\u201d I don\u2019t believe that the woman was\u00a0 delivered. At least not at that\u00a0\u00a0 time. Because I really don\u2019t believe that\u00a0 she had repented of her evil practices.\u00a0\u00a0 But I really believe that that\u00a0 was a turning point in my life.00:09:44<\/a> You see, when you go to a fortuneteller,\u00a0 the fortuneteller predicts something evil\u00a0\u00a0 about your life, as often happens. If you say,\u00a0 \u201cOh, isn\u2019t this terrible! Think what\u2019s going\u00a0\u00a0 to happen to me!\u201d in a certain sense you are\u00a0 submitting to Satan\u2019s destiny for your lie.\u00a0\u00a0 And if you submit to it, very\u00a0 probably it will be worked out.\u00a0\u00a0 What we have to learn to do is identify Satan even\u00a0 in his deceptions, reject him, turn away from him,\u00a0\u00a0 turn to God and the Scripture and the Holy Spirit,\u00a0 and receive God\u2019s destiny for our life and believe\u00a0\u00a0 that rather than Satan\u2019s destiny. But these days\u00a0 it\u2019s very important that we are able to discern\u00a0\u00a0 even when Satan comes to us in the\u00a0 guise of an angel of light.
Source : Youtube<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=16muBXh9ytA00:00:05Today I\u2019m going to speak about the remaining gift of revelation, distinguishing or discerning of spirits. The ability to recognize, identify\u00a0\u00a0 and distinguish between various\u00a0 kinds of spirits that confront us.\u00a0\u00a0 And in this connection we need to bear in mind\u00a0 that the Christian ministry is a ministry in\u00a0\u00a0 the spiritual realm. In Ephesians 6:12 … Continue reading Discerning of Spirits 💥 This is a Powerful Weapon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":152311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[988],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1709668416-maxresdefault.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152310"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}