The gift of discerning spirits

We are living in the last days and Satan’s reign as the god of this world is nearing its end. Consequently, Satan’s gruesome activities of stealing, killing and destroying are at their peak. The enemy of our souls desires to deflect even the strongest of believers from following Christ so that they can join the wide road that leads to destruction in hell.
To accomplish his evil designs, Satan has a host of demon spirits that work under his supervision. These demon spirits manifest as deceiving spirits, manipulating spirits and spirits of infirmities which cause demon-inspired sicknesses that cannot be diagnosed by medical equipment. If the treachery of the enemy remains undetected many well-meaning believers will become casualties. The rate at which individual lives, marriages, families and churches are disintegrating and dividing is clear testimony that the devil is working overtime. Regrettably, Satan is taking advantage of us because, unlike Paul, we are ignorant of his devices. Instead of unmasking the enemy and exposing him as the evil force behind the wickedness in the world and the church, we blame one another, criticise one another and hurt one another assuming that people are causing troubles to us. Yet, our adversary is one; the devil.
Our good God wants us to detect the evil workings of the devil. Accordingly, He has given gifts in the church that enable us to expose Satan’s schemes. One of these gifts is that of discerning spirits. The term discerning means “looking beyond the outward to the inward, seeing right through.” The Greek word is diakrino, and it carries the idea of forming a judgment or distinction on the basis of what is known. Thus discerning of spirits is a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, which is to be utilised to edify the church.
 Discerning of spirits is a gift whose function is restricted to the identification of spirits. In life there are three main kinds of spirits which are the Spirit of God, the spirit of Satan and the spirit of man (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The gift of discerning spirits probes into the spirit domain and operates to unmask the satanic forces.
  Satan counterfeits the gifts and the things of God. And He attempts to make people believe that when He manifests himself it is the Holy Spirit. This causes serious problems, because even believers can be fooled. A good example of the gift of discerning spirits is shown in Acts 16. A girl praised Paul and his colleagues saying, “These men are servants of the Most High God. They announce to you how you can be saved.”  An ordinary believer, by his or her natural ability to know, might have thought that girl was a Holy Spirit-filled servant of God. Her words sounded very good, but Paul knew by the gift of discerning spirits that it was an evil spirit who spoke through the slave girl. That it was an evil spirit was confirmed when the spirit of divination went out of that girl at Paul’s command.
The gift of discerning spirits  sets people free from demonic oppression.
Though this gift is for a select few, every believer can still recognise some of these demonic manifestations through sound Bible knowledge (1 John 1:1-4). When your senses are trained to discern between good and evil through familiarity with scriptural insight you will be able to know that someone is a Christian even before they say it. Sometimes the Holy Spirit in you will warn you of an incompatible spirit controlling another person. Have you felt that, though nothing visible confirms it and everyone and everything around you seems polite and innocent, there is something definitely wrong? That is discernment.
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