Utilizing the Gift of Discerning Spirits

Partnering with Holy Spirit

Introduction

1 Corinthians 12:10 NASB95

10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.

Today we want to focus on the Gift given by the Holy Spirit that Protects, Guides, and Edifies the body of Christ

The Gift of discernment of Spirits or also called distinguishing of Spirits.

It’s my belief this is the most important undeveloped gift in the Body today.

More than ever before in the history of the church do we need the Holy Spirit to impart to people the gift of discernement.

Like Paul said in his day

1 Corinthians 14:1 NASB95

1 Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

I would contend we need discernment.

Not to limit any of the other gifts, but there is a serious lack of spiritual discerment in the church today.

As the enemy steps up his efforts to steal kill and destroy we must be prepared to stand firm

and that is very hard to do when you’re lacking discernment.

I. Understanding the Gift of Discernment of Spirits

A. Definition

Discernment of Spirits: The ability to distinguish between the Holy Spirit, human spirits, and demonic spirits.

Biblical Examples:

Paul discerns the spirit of divination in the slave girl

Acts 16:16–18 NASB95

16 It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” 18 She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.

The interesting thing here is did what the slave girl said untrue?

Acts 16:17 NASB95

17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”

No she was speaking the truth.

The gift of discernment goes beyond the words that are spoken to the Spirit behind the words

It kinda like when your talking with a car salemen.

they are trained to say the right things, but you know its as fake as fake can be

they don’t mean it, instead they are trying to butter you up!

1 John 4:1 NASB95

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

B. Purpose of the Gift

the Gift of discernment of Spirits gives us supernatural knowledge as to the source of the word or deed

Does it have its origin in human wisdom

Does it have its origin in demoic strategies

Does it come from God.

In the spiritual realm its utterly imperitive to know the source.

I learned this lesson early on in my deliverance ministry

eg deliverance where Alter human came up

God gave me knowledge which allowed me to help the individual

The Purpose of Gift of the Discernment of Spirits can be summarized in the following way

Protection: To guard against deception and false teachings.

Guidance: To direct the church and individuals in the path of truth.

Edification: To build up the body of Christ by maintaining spiritual purity.

II. Recognizing the Gift of Discernment of Spirits

Many people have the Gift of Discernment of Spirits and don’t even know it

many people who consider themselves to be “feelers” are often operating in the gift

it can manifest in a number of ways

It can be like your own an emotional rollercoster

Up down… all around

many people with this gift often question their own sanity if they don’t get training for it.

without training you can start to beleive these are your emotions you are feeling.

you may also thin you are under a severe spiritual attack

when in actuallity you are simply discerning what other people are feeling.

with training and practice you can learn to navigate this.

It actually become a powerful tool to helping others.

eg. When I was a youth pastor.....thoughts of suicide from a teenage girl

Now just imagine if I had internalized that. it would have turned into a battle where I was fighting on the wrong front

A. Characteristics of the Gifted

How do you know if you have the gift of discernment of Spirits?

5 Characteristics of someone who has the gift of Discernment of Spirits

1. You Don't focus on the Negative

your not a skeptic. A skeptic is someone who just doesn’t ever believe

A person operating in discernement always wants to beleive the truth

The gift is not to function out of jealousy or bitterness

There are many people online who spend their time tearing down churches or ministries , beleiving they are using the gift of discernment.

Instead they are just extremely negative people who are always searching for the negative in others

Yes the gift of discernment will reveal to correct the wrong, but it also recognizes and promotes the right

remember the purpose is to reveal the Spirit behind the act, not to just simply tear down everything you don’t agree with.

2. You Discern According to the Word of God

not your own personal preferrence

Hebrews 4:12–13 NASB95

12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

3. You deeply desire to operate in the Gift

1 Corinthians 14:1 NASB95

1 Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

4. You Can Specifically Discern the Issue

lets go back to hebrews

Hebrews 4:12 NASB95

12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Its not simply…something doesn’t feel right here, can’t put my finger on it, but something not right

that’s not discernment that skeptisim

if its from the Holy Spirit, He will reveal what you need to know.

Imagine the Holy Spirit coming up to you and saying.....something Not right here!

Now that may be how Holy Spirit initially gets your attention, but He will never leave it at that!

5. Others Recognize the Gift in You

Proverbs 18:16 NASB95

16 A man’s gift makes room for him And brings him before great men.

People will come to you to get your input

Not a group of complainers who come together in an echo chamber

Instead people see your track record and recognize the gift in you!

B. Cultivating the Gift

Like all the other gifts the Holy Spirit gives it to you out of a desire the bless His church

Also like the gifts it doesn’t come fully developed

what I mean by that, Is its up to every beleive to increase in their ability to operate in the gift

Proverbs 27:17 NASB95

17 Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.

hang outwith those who operate in the gift

practice your gift.

recongnize and learn from the failures, but also celebrate the successes

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Let me share with you a personal example.

now please understand the heart where this is coming from.

For years I have been praying for God to release finance upon this church.

giving is about 60% of where it was before the lockdowns

the the expenses have increased dramatically in that time.

Now I’m not saying that to appeal to you to prayerfully consider your giving

although you should, for your own sake

but I tell you this to share with you where I missed the point.

You see I have been praying multiple times a day for God to release heavenly finances

There are so many good and amazing things happening in this church right now,

and in my eyes the only thing holding many up many of these things was the perceived lack of financial resources.

I truly felt that if God would just provide the money

then all these amazing things could be fully manifest

Well this week something shifted, now I’m not saying the church got a massive donation

instead it was shift in my perspective, in my way of thinking.

For those of you who have been around you may remember I shared with this congregation a prophesy I received from Shawn Bolz 10 years ago that transformed my life.

The Key words that have been going through my mind is that I would “enter a season of full faith”

I’ve question God many times when this would occur,

but this week as I was again questioning God about finances, He told me I was asking for the wrong thing

put back, I thought to myself but we need finances don’t we?

then He took me on a journey reminding me of the dozens of times people have recognized a mantel upon me.

in fact last last February I had 3 different pastors tell me God put Moses mantel upon me.

What does that mean. Well I have to admit I don’t yet know. I know who Moses is, but not entirely sure what all His mantel intails

All I know is God told me to ask for Moses mantel instead of financial provision.

So I did, and a I am.

Why to I bring this up today. Well I beleive each one of those people who spoke those words to me, were doing it through the gift of discernment of Spirits

they were able to distinguish what the Spirit of God had intended to put upon me.

Please understand it wasn’t a “I feel God wants to give you the mantel of Moses…”not a prophetic word.

but rather a recognition of what the Spirit of God was doing.

I know this is difficult to understand. for me too!

III. Applying the Gift of Discernment of Spirits

A. In Personal Life

Decision Making: Discerning God's will in daily choices.

Spiritual Warfare: Recognizing and resisting demonic influences.

Relationships: Identifying healthy and unhealthy spiritual connections.

B. In Church Life

Teaching and Preaching: Ensuring doctrinal purity and truth.

Counseling and Deliverance: Providing spiritual guidance and freedom.

Worship and Ministry: Maintaining a focus on genuine, Spirit-led worship.

IV. Challenges and Misunderstandings

A. Common Pitfalls

Over-Skepticism: Doubting everything and everyone.

Misuse of the Gift: Using discernment to criticize or control others.

Fear and Anxiety: Becoming overly fearful of spiritual influences.

The modern church has focused on negating the things the enemy does, instead of discerning the source

eg

Exodus 7:10–12 NASB95

10 So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the Lord had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. 12 For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

The way the modern church deals with that is let’s not deal with snakes

if the enemy can do it we must avoid it.

true if its sinful

but re must remember the enemy cannot create anything

he can only copy and distort

We don’t stop prophesying, becuase of false prophets

We don’t stop speaking in tongues because their is a denomic copy

more on that next week

Instead what I’m saying is we need to discern the Spirit behind such acts.

to determine if its from God or not

We cannot trust our own understanding in these matter

We have to get our understanding from God.

Aaron through down his staff and so did the ones practsing the dark arts.

but let’s not forget verse 12

Exodus 7:12 NASB95

12 For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

The enemy may make copies, but God’s orginal is uncomparable

So how do we overcome these challenges?

B. Overcoming Challenges

Agreement: brings about Unity

Matthew 18:20 NASB95

20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

Love and Humility: Exercising the gift with compassion and gentleness.

Trust in God: Relying on God's power and wisdom, not our own understanding.

Conclusion

Hebrews 5:14 NASB95

14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

For the Holy Spirit to bestow and cultivate this gift in the congregation, to guide us in truth and protecting us from deception.

Closing Prayer

Invitation: Invite those who feel called to this gift to come forward for prayer and impartation.

Blessing: Pray for the church to be a place of spiritual discernment and protection.