Discernment

One of the Board Members was asked to write an article for the website, and this is what he submitted. With the things that are happening outside the church walls as well as inside the church it is something God led me to post today.

May God Bless and lead you to a closer walk with Him.

C.I. Wilson

I have been asked to write on the “Discerning of Spirits”. The first thing we should all know is that there are nine gifts of the Spirit, or as the old timers say, Holy Ghost. They are divided into three classes or divisions.

1. Gifts of Revelation

   a. The gift of Wisdom

   b. The gift of Knowledge

   c. The gift of Discerning of spirits

2. Gifts of Power

   a. The gift of Faith

   b. The gift of Miracles

   c. The gift of Healing

3. Gifts of Utterance

   a. The gift of Prophecy

   b. The gift of Tongues

   c.The gift of Interpretation

 

What we are going to look at is the gift of Discerning of Spirits (Discernment). There are two realms of the spirit world. The great-unseen world of spirits is divided into the good and the evil. Our Lord God and Satan are the rulers over their respective realms. This war of the ages is still going on. The Holy Ghost is the active Commander-in-chief of God’s Army. He personally Indwells and energizes the spirit filled believers. For these believers, the discerning of spirits is a valuable weapon.

 

Without the Gift of Discernment, we would not recognize the evil that surrounds us. This evil is all around us and can only be revealed to us by the spirit of God. This is called discernment. Discernment is vital to Christians, especially those who are in the ministry. Ministers need this discernment, sadly however very few have it.

 

I always prayed and asked God to give me what I need when I needed it. This He has done. When evil walks into a church the pastor needs to know it. How does this work? For me, God would always point out someone and tell me that they are not what they are supposed to be, when they would come into the church. Sometimes, the Lord would show me what their problem was, however most of the time He would just tell me to watch them.

 

I remember one person came into our church and the Lord pointed them out, this person had a religious spirit. After the service, this person told me that they hoped I did not mind them yielding to the Lord. I told them that I never minded when people yielded to the Lord’s spirit. When it was God’s spirit in them, I knew it and when it was not the Lord then I would also know that. This person never came back.

 

Ministers, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by having the spirit of discernment. Without this gift of Discerning Spirits, you are inviting trouble for your church and yourself. Discernment is

only one of the Lord’s weapons in this warfare, however, believe me, you need it. How can we fight this war, if we do not know who the enemy is?