As mentioned last week just because we are able to perceive spiritual things, does not necessarily means that we are able to discern them. The ability to be able to discern spiritual truth is a gift of God, that only the Holy Spirit gives to us. Spiritual discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit; and the gift cannot function in a believer, who is not filled in the Holy Spirit, with the daily commitment to speaking in tongues.
A carnally minded believer may mistakenly take spiritual perception for spiritual discernment. He will do this because, his carnal mind has not been renewed with the word of God. And in many instances such a believer is not yet filled with the Holy Spirit.
It is not everyone who claims to discern spiritual truth, that are actually filled with the Holy Spirit. Some have mistaken what they are perceiving in their spirit man, for the gift of the discernment of spirits. There are many instances when I had personally watched believers, who had based their spiritual perception, as the basis for spiritual warfare. We need to be very careful with this; because it makes us vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. There are many Christians with certain spiritual issues today, just because they have not been able, to properly identify their real enemy in spiritual warfare. It is unwise to be kicking the air, without actually hitting any spiritual target of the enemy.
It is possible for us to have a carnal discernment of situations; that often originates from spiritual perception. Such discernments often originates from our knowledge of the word of God, and not as a gift of the Holy Spirit. But in no way is that the spirit of the discernment of spirits.
Our ability to perceive and also discern spiritual truths, always opens us up into the realm of the spirit. We are able to identify what motivates people to behave in certain ways; in order for us to be able to minister effectively to them, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The gift of prophecy flows in this way, as we are allowing the gift of the discernment of spirits, to function through us. We are able to declare with the gift of prophecy the eternal purpose of God, concerning what is being discerned into lives or into situations, that are being presented to us through the gift of the discernment of spirits.
This is very important for those who are involved in the Ministry of deliverance. We don’t minister complete and total deliverance to people, just on the basis of spiritual perception. The gift of the discernment of spirits helps us, in getting to the bottom of spiritual issues, for us to be able to deal with them.
I had personally often seen believers, who will spend long hours praying, in the process of ministering deliverance to people. Oftentimes they are only perceiving the spirit that is being dealt with; but they do lack the spiritual discernment about it.
This happens mostly because those believers, have not been spending enough time in their prayer closets with God, before attempting to minister deliverance to people outside of their prayer closet. There are also Church congregations which are suffering, under the influence of demonic activities today, just because the leadership within those Churches will often hinder the move of the Holy Spirit, with the gift of the discernment of spirits amongst them. God wants to move in their midst, but the Holy Spirit is being resisted. Religious tradition and carnality or the struggles in the flesh, are the biggest hindrances to the move of God today amongst believers. Ignorant Church members, are the ones who suffer most as a result of this.
It is only those who are truly committed to the ministry of prayer and intercession, that are properly positioned by God to help such congregations. They are in a very noble calling of God, as they pray and intercede to usher into their midst, the move of the Holy Spirit in bringing the much needed revival to change their world.
THE DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS BY JESUS
Jesus functioned in the gift of the discernment of spirits, when He ministered deliverance to a man at Gadarenes.
The scriptures says:
“When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.”
Mark 5:6-13 NIV
We need to note here that this lead
evil spirit recognized Jesus, the moment he saw Him. They basically will react in the same manner to any believer, who had been cleansed in the blood of Jesus, and who walks in dominion authority (Mark 16:17-18).
We need to note here that, it was only the leading spirit in the man that initially responded to Jesus. This is a testament to the fact that, the kingdom of hell is highly organized, and does respect spiritual authorities even within its ranks. But this lead evil spirit encountered by Jesus, would not leave just by asking him to leave the man. Evil spirits do always need a physical body, through which they manifest their activities.
Their ability here to be able to stand their ground, while begging Jesus repeatedly not to cast them out, showed to Jesus (Himself) that there were much more to find out about them. Jesus understood that He needed to properly discern, what He was confronting here, by asking the lead impure spirit within the man to reveal its true identity. Whenever prompted by the Holy Spirit in asking the qualifying question, evil spirits do have to respond, because they actually respect our spiritual authority over them. They will always respond because they do know that we belong to Jesus, and that we don’t have any part in them. And just as they obeyed Jesus, they will obey the command from any believer in Christ, to them and in revealing their identities.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit will lead and guide us, in revealing their identities and secrets to us. This basically means that we must listen to our inner man before confronting them; because the Holy Spirit will always lead and guide us into every spiritual truth, that must be revealed to us about their activities.
Jesus was able to get this man delivered, as the truth about the spiritual state of the man was exposed – there was a legion of evil spirits in the man, that needed to come out of him. It was not just an unclean or impure spirit. Jesus soon discovered that they were many, (a minimum of three thousand of them) and that they had actually built up a stronghold in the man. That explains why they would not come out, on the initial command from Jesus to the impure or unclean spirit.
If evil spirits can behave like this before Jesus, they will do the same to any believer in His name. We need to be careful about what we are perceiving in the spirit man. There may be much more that the Holy Spirit may reveal to us as we pray in the spirit.
Now it doesn’t means we are to spend endless hours praying in the spirit concerning certain situations. There are some things that may take longer time to pray about. But we don’t need to be giving the enemy too much attention, which he never deserves. We just can move on to other things. But it is vitally important for us to be listening as we move on, to the inner witness for answers. The Holy Spirit will always give us the answer. We must listen to hear Him always, for us to walk in total and complete victory.
There are also times when our spiritual perception, may be so strong enough in confronting demonic activities. Our inner witness is always right, dependable and trustworthy about them; because he is born of the Spirit of God.
One character trait in demons, which is often used against believers, is in their ability to intimidate.
Paul and Silas were once preaching on the streets of Philippi, when they were confronted by an intimidating evil spirit in a young girl.
The scriptures says:
“She 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 annoyed 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 16:17-18 NIV
The spirit was proclaiming the truth here, but with the purpose of intimidating Paul and the others on his team. We need to note that this intimidation continued for many days, until Paul got annoyed with the intimidation, and had to deal with the spirit.
During our last rural mission trip to Kenya, I personally experienced something close to this. A young girl had been following us around from one village to another. It was just embarrassing to have her to be following us around.
As she followed us, I was listening to my spirit on the inner man, just as I believe Paul must had done for many days at Philippi. The spirit and the behavior of this teenage girl were just intimidating. There was nothing more than that about her.
At one point in time my wife got annoyed with her, and had to address the spirit. My wife perceived in her inner witness, what we all never saw that spirit doing through the girl. Through what my wife perceived in her spirit, we were able to help the girl, and did actually ministered to her and got her delivered. We later discovered that she was being used by someone to intimidate us.
The Holy Spirit will always lead and guide us, as we seek His counsel about every situation that we may confront. He will give us discernment in dealing effectively with what we are perceiving, as we pray more in the spirit. Our ability to pray in the spirit, helps us to stay in touch with the Holy Spirit at all times. He knows better than we do. He knows what the evil one is planning against us. His job is to expose the plans of the evil one against us, even before the enemy begins to put his plans in place against us.
SPIRITUAL TRUTHS ARE ETERNAL
In our ability to be led by the Holy Spirit, we must understand that the things of the Spirit are eternal, and that they never grow old. Anything that the Holy Spirit reveals to us, does has eternal consequences and must always be taken seriously. We need to be paying particular attention to every single one of them.
We are born again on the inside of us. The kingdom of God is inside of our spirit (Luke 17:20-21). All spiritual truths emanates from the inside of our spirit man, before manifesting on the outside as we declare them. Faith is a spiritual truth that comes from the inside of our spirit.
Natural truths or things on the other hand, does have the tendency to grow old and eventually perish. And because as human beings we are susceptible to the deceptions of the enemy, when we are not in the spirit, he uses natural things to seduce, deceive and lie to us. He uses them in carrying out his plans against us. But the spiritual truth is that, we don’t ever have to accept anyone of his seductions, deceptions and lies.
Natural things are what we can relate with through our five human senses of sight, taste, smell, touch and hearing. These are things that the enemy easily manipulates in defeating some believers.
But if we ever want to be successful in our Christian life, we need to be cautious in our relationship with them. We do this by learning to be led always, from the inside of our spirit to the outside world around us. Our spirit man will always guide us, if we cultivate the habit of listening to him. This is because spiritual truths as they come out of our spirit man or conscience, are trustworthy and reliable.
Apostle Paul once said:
“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.”
2 Corinthians 4:16 NLT
The daily renewal of the born again spirit man within us, through prayer and the Word of God rejuvenates us on the inner man. It makes our spirits stronger, more alerted, quicker to respond, younger and smarter; in dealing with the spiritual truth that we encounter daily. The spiritual truth that the Holy Spirit reveals to us, gets us stronger everyday as we focus on declaring them.
But the natural things (including our physical bodies) are dying or wearing out daily. The only thing in us that never dies is the spirit man. That is why it is never enough to have faith in our hearts. We are not saved or healed by following our feelings or the natural law. Faith must be confessed out of the mouth.
The scriptures says again:
“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
We don’t get saved by feeling saved. It is the confession of our faith through the mouth, as it comes from the heart which eventually helps us, in experiencing salvation or healing. Our faith works from the inside of our hearts, on the natural outside of the body. It is as we confess our faith for healing or salvation (as an example), that we are able to reach into the spirit realm until our confession manifests what we are believing God for.
Faith is a spiritual force that works from the inside of our hearts, to affect the outside. It is what we are persistent in confessing, that will eventually come to pass. We can’t feel blessed to experience the blessing of God. It must be supported with our daily confession, of the blessing of the Lord out of the mouth.
The Word of God is the spiritual truth, that reinforces our faith daily as we do this. Feelings can’t do this for us; and the enemy can’t reinforce our faith for us either. The only thing he does is to create the fear of sin and death, fear of sicknesses and failing health, the fear of debts rather than the blessings of God. These are some of the things that the enemy uses fear to create in us.
But we can actually turn his own weapons back on him, by confessing faith in what God says about us rather than his fear. Oftentimes when people will say what they believe, we’ll see them turn around few moments later to confess what their head is telling them.
We saw Jesus practicing His faith one day in Luke 11:20-24. He saw a fig tree that He had perceived to be fruitful, but on getting to the tree to get some figs to eat, there was nothing on it. This is actually how the enemy can be deceptive to us also, as we step out in faith to do what we are perceiving in our hearts. The Bible says that Jesus cursed that tree, in the hearing of His disciples.
Immediately Jesus spoke to that tree, the spiritual truth or law was placed in motion, to bring to come to pass what was confessed. By the following day the tree was dried up to its roots. The words of Jesus went into operation inside that tree. But it took some time to manifest what was initially spoken by Jesus. This is how our faith works. We may be making our daily confessions of faith; but it will take time for what is being confessed to manifest on the outside. But as we continue to be diligent in our daily confession of faith, the enemy may create the fear of it ever coming to manifest in our head. We can always remind him where we stand in our confession of faith. We will let him know that, we are blessed and not cursed. That we are the redeemed of God and not in sin; and that our righteousness is of God.
The manual of our faith is the Bible. If we are not confessing or declaring what we are believing God for, nothing will happen. We can’t just feel the Word of God, in order to receive what it says. Our feelings will never get us into what we are believing God for. We can’t let the enemy defeat us. We must be putting spiritual law and truth into action daily to work for us.
THE WORD OF FAITH HELPS US IN SUSTAINING AND HOLDING ALL THINGS TOGETHER
As another example the words that God spoke in bringing the heaven and earth into existence, are still holding or sustaining all things together, since the time of creation up till this day. Those words are spiritual truths, and they are unchangeable.
The scriptures says:
“The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal]. When He [Himself and no other] had [by offering Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin] accomplished purification from sins and established our freedom from guilt, He sat down [revealing His completed work] at the right hand of the Majesty on high [revealing His Divine authority],”
HEBREWS 1:3 AMP
The words of Jesus are still upholding, sustaining, propelling and maintaining all things since creation till today; because His spoken Word of eternal salvation, healing and the blessing are all spiritual truths. They are the spiritual truths which can never change.
Our salvation, healing and blessing are therefore unchangeable. The enemy may lie to anyone that it is not so; but it is always up to the believer to resist him by faith in what God’s Word says to us about those things. When we proclaim spiritual truth, we will always win. We must never put up with the lies and deceptions of the enemy. We come against him by proclaiming the spiritual truth of God in every situation of our lives.
Spiritual truths are unchangeable.
Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He does not ever change. He will never change what has already been written, or declared to us in scriptures. That’s one reason the unsaved world finds it hard in understanding scriptures.
We need to remember that satan and all the evil spirits with him are eternal beings also. They will never change, but we must realize that they do need a living body on earth, through which they can express themselves. They need a physical body that they can use in manifesting their works. That was why they asked Jesus to send them into the swines, if He would not permit them to stay in human beings.
It’s another reason why hell or hades will be a terrible place for the unbelievers to find themselves in. They will never change or grow old under the eternal torments of hell fire. That’s why many do really want to get to heaven; in order to evade hell.
But yet many who have heard the Word of God will have no excuse when the time comes. What they heard are spiritual truths with eternal consequences. It is better to be a doer of the Word of God, than to just be a hearer only.
Paul once said to the Romans, as he quoted from the words of the Prophet Isaiah about the unsaved:
“when he said, ‘ Go to this people and say, “ You will keep on hearing, but will never understand, and you will keep on looking, but will never perceive. For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. ”
Acts 28:26-27 NET
Spiritual truth can always be perceived, but not everyone is receiving it into their hearts; because it is not common or popular to them. The unsaved world has become dull of hearing, because their hearts are hardened towards the spiritual truth. But those who are saved now will never grow old eternally also.
Our natural body may grow old, but our spiritual body is never aging. Just because the natural body of man may be growing, does not means the angels in heaven will grow old also. Angels never grow old, and they will never die. They are always the same, eternally in the presence of God.
Jesus declared:
“It is the Spirit Who gives life [He is the Life-giver]; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it]. The words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life.”
John 6:63 AMPC
It is the spoken Word of the Holy Spirit into our hearts, that gives us spiritual life not only on the earth, but the life to live eternally with God. His Words are eternal and unchangeable. In the same manner the spoken words of satan in his deceptions, does have eternal consequences as well, for those who do believe in them. It brings death to them rather than life.
Just as faith comes to the heart that receives the Word of the Holy Spirit; it is the same faith which produces the Zoe life of God in us, as we act on the Word of God.
In the same manner the words of satan produces fear, in the hearts of those who believes in him. The enemy uses fear to ploy people into believing his deceptions and lies.
In praying for people at many times on their sick beds in the hospital; I had seen many who acted by faith on the spoken Word of healing to them, until they are fully recovered.
I had also seen people dying because of their ignorance, and sometimes their lack of faith. Some will even say that they will rather die than believing in God for healing. It is what we believe and proclaim, that will come to pass in our lives.
Jesus once said in healing two blind men that had asked Him to help them:
“Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”
Matthew 9:29 NIV
Every thing that we receive from God is in accordance to our faith in Him. God will never go beyond our faith level. He will never give us what He knows we cannot handle.
THE PROPHETIC GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The ability to develop the spirit man is therefore very important for anyone to receive anything through the spoken Word of God. The prophetic word that is spoken in conjunction with the gift of the discernment of spirits, are spiritual truths as well. The prophetic never grows old or dies. Prophetic words are eternal with God also. That’s why we must never despise prophecies. They do have eternal consequences for those who do believe or despise them.
Prophetic words are what holds, sustains, propels and nourishes the body of Christ together, because they are spiritual truths (Ephesians 4:11-13).
But we must understand that there is a difference between the gift of the word of prophecy and the office of a Prophet. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are for every believer, to use (Ephesians 4:8) in edifying the body of Christ.
But the scriptures also says:
“And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.”
Ephesians 4:11 AMPC
We can see here that the office of a Prophet within the Church comes after that of the apostles. To function in the office of a Prophet, a special calling from God is necessary and very important.
There are many in the body of Christ today, who will call themselves prophets, just because they are functioning in the gift of prophecy during Church meetings. Just because someone prophecies in a Church gathering does not make that person a Prophet.
The Amplified Bible says it clearly here that a Prophet is also a Preacher, an expounder or an encourager (in another translation).
Since our spirit never grows old, we do need to be developing it in not only perceiving spiritual truth, but to function in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gift of prophecy and other gifts of the Holy Spirit sustains our hearts with the Word of God. God’s word in the prophetic comes in this way to our hearts. The gifts of the Holy Spirit affirm God’s Word, as the solid foundation in our hearts as we open up to walking in them.
