NATURE
In my last blog I talked about discerning of spirits. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit to help us understand basically the origin of whatever the event, voice, trouble, instruction, activity may be. Reading that article will help you understand this article better.
Jesus is the son of God. As He walked on the earth, He emptied Himself of the right to move in the earth as God. He is called the “son of man” for a reason. He, being God, came to experience life as a man. He ate, got tired, fought battles with the devil and was limited by time and space just like we are. When He tells us that He understands, He doesn’t just understand because He is God and knows everything, He REALLY understands. Jesus, the son of God, son of man, lived our life. He felt pain, loss, hurt and death just like we do. All that to say that Jesus also did ministry just the way a man would do.
HOW CAN I SAY THAT?
No matter how many books like to talk about miracles Jesus did as a child, there is not proof. Jesus grew and grace and knowledge just as we do and the only glimpse that we get into His childhood is when He is twelve years old and gets left behind in Jerusalem, separated from His family. He is found three days later in the temple basically teaching the older men wisdom from the scripture. But outside of that example, we have none.
ALL THE MIRACLES STARTED
We are told in the Gospels that Jesus came up out of the water at His baptism and two things happened. His Father spoke from heaven and said, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” Also, the Holy Spirit (third person of the Godhead) came upon Him in the form of a dove and remained on Him.
THE HOLY SPIRIT FILLED HIM
Then the Holy Spirit drove Him into the wilderness where He was tempted by the devil and fasted for 40 days and nights. After Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness we are told in Luke:
Luke 4:14-15 (NKJV)
14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
JESUS RETURNED IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT
The son of man, Jesus, ministered like a man would minister after the cross and resurrection…by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is confirmed again in the Book of Acts…
Acts 10:38 (NKJV)
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
JESUS DID THE WORKS OF GOD BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
Notice that the verse says, “for God was with Him”. He was God! Why would it say that? Because the miracles Jesus did, He did as a man filled with the Holy Spirit. We will do the same. We can do what Jesus did while He was on the earth. Jesus tried to tell His disciples that very thing but they didn’t understand at first.
John 14:12 (NKJV)
12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
JESUS TRIED TO TELL THEM
Jesus wanted them to know that something was going to happen after He went to the cross and was raised from the dead. He was going to die in mankind’s place and it would bring a supernatural change to the person who would accept what Jesus did. Their spirit would experience a re-birth from the death that came through the sin of Adam and their own rebellion as well. When their spirit was born again, it would house the Holy Spirit. God would live within them…us!!! This is why Jesus could say, that we would do His works and even greater after He presented His own blood to the Father!!
THAT SHOULD EXCITE YOU!
You should be jumping for joy right now! You can be changed and filled with God and do miracles! The Holy Spirit will and has deposited gifts in YOU! You are called to partner with our Heavenly Father by the Holy Spirit’s activity in and through you.
SO WHATEVER JESUS DID, YOU CAN DO!
With that established, when I say that discerning of spirits can and will operate in you if you will ask, you can begin to believe it.
SO HOW DOES DISCERNING OF SPIRITS LOOK?
It is true that God is big, mighty, powerful and unsearchable in all His ways. He is so powerful that His very presence would consume us. It would be dumb to try to interface any electrical device with the sun! I never want to take the mystery out of the God we love! However, He has made ways for us to interact with Him. He has made us partners in this Kingdom of Light. He has called each of us to bring glory to His very name. He chose us to be as Himself in the earth. He didn’t just tell us to do this, He gave us part of Himself to empower us. The Holy Spirit resides with us and gifts us to do the work in the earth. We are a new species with wonderful companionship with God. He speaks! He moves us! He helps us! He loves us! Is it safe to say that discerning of spirits comes through some of the avenues where God speaks to us? Yes! God speaks to us in a variety of ways and the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit including the discerning of spirits, is no different.
SOME WAYS THAT GOD SPEAKS
- WORD OF GOD
- UNCTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (That still small voice in your spirit)
- THROUGH OTHERS
- THROUGH NATURAL THINGS
- THROUGH ANGELS
- THROUGH DREAMS
- THROUGH VISIONS
- AUDIBLE VOICE
- THROUGH THOUGHT PROCESSES
Maybe you can think of other ways that God speaks, but I wanted to show you that it doesn’t have to be audible for you to hear the voice of God or to move in a gift.
DISCERNING OF SPIRITS SUPERNATURALLY GIVES US THE ORIGIN OF AN EVENT ETC…AND CAN ALSO SHOW US THE NATURE OF THE ORIGIN
Jesus discerned over and over again the presence of demonic spirits. He knew they were demons. By the Spirit, He knew the origin. Demons were even singing His praises in many passages, yet Jesus didn’t just know they were demons, He discerned by the Holy Spirit the nature of the demon. Jesus called them unclean spirits, a deaf and dumb spirit, spirit of infirmity and at one point a demon has to deliver up his name to Jesus and he called himself “Legion”. Discerning of spirits not only can reveal origin but nature as well. Is this important to casting out a spirit? At times it may be. If it is the Holy Spirit will give you what you need to get it out.
A DEMON IN NEPAL
I had an experience in Nepal. A demon that didn’t want to come out. I knew that was what it was but it wouldn’t respond to commands. The Holy Spirit told me what to call it and when I did it came tearing out of the man and he was not only delivered but healed of an incurable disease. The Holy Spirit through discerning of spirits also let me know the nature of the demonic spirit to get it out of the man.
HOW COULD THIS APPLY IN OTHER AREAS OF ORIGIN?
If the origin discerning of spirits revealed is of humanity, the nature of that issue may be a broken heart, pride, or some other thing but the Holy Spirit reveals it and helps you perceive (discern it). There is a greater chance of helping the person with the Holy Spirit’s insight.
If it is something that God is doing and you perceive it is God by the Spirit of God, discerning the nature of the situation can help you navigate in power. Such as in my last article. The gift of discerning of spirits let me know the woman on the ground was under the power of the Holy Spirit and I wasn’t to be afraid. The nature of the work was revealed to me. He was doing it because He was giving her an encounter with God and when He was finished, she could get up. All that was discerning of spirits, origin and nature…
SOMETIMES WE “FEEL” THINGS THAT REVEAL THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF SOMETHING THROUGH DISCERNING OF SPIRITS
The best way I know how to describe this is a natural sensation in your body, or even emotions.
Remember the woman with the issue of blood twelve year? She pressed through the crowd to get to Jesus just to touch Him. She made it and reached out, touched Him and was healed! Everyone was touching Jesus but this is what Jesus stopped and said…
Luke 8:46 (NKJV)
46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”
I believe this was a physical sensation that worked with discerning of spirits. He felt power leave Him. I have felt that before. As a result, people have been healed.
YOUR OTHER SENSES CAN BE AFFECTED AS WELL
One of the best things I ever learned is that as discerning of spirits works in me, I “feel” things. I used to think possibly I was losing it. I would walk in a room and if there was deep anger in the people of the room, I would feel angry for no reason. It was like I was the one with the problem. It was very confusing until I figured out that what I was “feeling” was not coming from me but I was “discerning” the nature of either the demonic and sometimes humanity that was in the room. It was a terrible problem for me. I was moving in this gift and didn’t understand the way God would speak to me even through natural things. I was discerning spirits of fear, jealousy, pride, lust and even sickness. When I figured that out, my world changed! I started paying attention to the “feelings” when I would go into a new neighborhood or city. I would pay attention when I was ministering to people so I could help them. I began to recognize even satanic attack against my family or myself before things got to def-con!
This part of the blog is well worth your time if this has been a problem for you. Don’t misunderstand, if you aren’t living submitted to Jesus you may be dealing with stuff that is really your own stuff, but when you are submitted and you “feel” this stuff at the drop of a shoe, well, pay attention and see if you are actually moving in discerning of spirits and God is giving you the nature and origin for the situation at hand.
lisa
Discerning of Spirits Part 1
Discerning of Spirits Part 3
© Copyright Lisa Swayze 2019