DISCERNING OF SPIRITS

There are three kinds of spirits: the Spirit of God, the spirit of Satan, and the spirit

of man. Sometimes things are of God. Sometimes things are of Satan. Some-

times things are of the spirit of man. Often we blame God or Satan when it is

really the human spirit that is causing a situation. Perhaps, part of the reason for

the confusion in the Corinthian Church was that they were following the human

spirit. Paul does not tell them that they do not have the Spirit of God, nor does He

tell them that the devil is at fault. Rather he says,

I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as

unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ" (I Cor. 3:1).

He could not talk unto them as unto men, but as unto mere babes. They

were following their human spirit. They were doing what they wanted to do,

instead of allowing the Spirit of God to use them for God's glory and in God's

purpose. Therefore, we need a discerning of spirits to know what kind of spirit--

God's, man's, or evil--is influencing a situation.

A DEAF AND DUMB SPIRIT (Mark 9:17-27)

As Jesus descended from the Mount of Transfiguration, a man brought his

son to Jesus for deliverance from a spirit which would cast him into the fire, then

cast him into the water. Jesus healed the boy by casting a deaf and dumb spirit

out of the child. Not all convulsions are caused by spirits. Some are caused by

organic or physical problems. However, there are some convulsions that are

caused by spirits. We need the discerning of spirits to know if a spirit is causing

the problem and to know what kind of spirit it is. How many of us would believe

that a deaf and dumb spirit was causing that young man's infirmity? Jesus did,

because He discerned the spirit.

LEGION AT THE TOMBS (Mark 5:1-20)

When Jesus met the man at the tombs in the country of the Gadarenes, He

knew that an unclean spirit was tormenting the man. He made that spirit give his

name, which was Legion, for there were many spirits in the man. After all of the

spirits were cast out of the man, they entered a herd of swine, causing them to

run into the sea and drown. Through discerning of spirits, a Christian may know

the number and names of the evil spirits that are tormenting an individual.

GET BEHIND ME SATAN (Mark 8:27-33)

When Jesus began to speak of His rejection and death, Peter began to

rebuke Him. Jesus said to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan...for thou savourest

not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Peter was disturbed

because Jesus was talking about going to Jerusalem to die. However, Jesus

discerned that Peter was being influenced by the wrong spirit, and He rebuked him

for it.

The challenging part of this incident is that Peter had just received his

greatest revelation of Jesus saying, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living

God." Yet, within a few minutes, he was rebuked by Jesus and told, "Get behind

me Satan." We need to be able to discern the spirits so we know which things are

of God. God may give you a great vision, but if you are not sensitive to the Spirit

of God, the devil may influence the way in which you carry out that vision and

hinder the work of God. If you start in the Spirit, you cannot be made perfect by

the flesh. If you begin a work in the Spirit, you have to complete it in the Spirit.

These, then, are the gifts of knowledge: a word of wisdom, by which you

speak a solution to a problem, give an answer to a perplexing question, or give an

insight into a situation; a word of knowledge by which you are able to have a

knowledge of things, either past or present or future; and the discerning of spirits,

the ability to know whether the Spirit of God, or Satan, or the human spirit is the

motivating power.