The Gift of Discerning of Spirits
ABOUT DISCERNING EVIL SPIRITS
REBUKING ENEMY THOUGHTS
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:4,5 NASB)
For many years I swallowed the lie that the enemy could not hear my thoughts. Because of this, I prayed silently. It was only after the Lord started teaching me about spiritual warfare and using His authority against obstacles, that I realized most of the warfare is seeded in our thoughts. I discovered this when I would take a quiet time to pray and listen to the Lord, then suddenly I would get an interruption by hearing a spirit speak. Sometimes it would be in response to what I was thinking. Then when I would rebuke it in Jesus’ Name, (still within my thoughts) it would give a rebellious reply as it was leaving. Boy was I surprised. Actually I was shocked at first, but then it gave me more strength to fight the battle, because I KNEW I was making a difference. The bottom line to this example is that the realm of God is spirit, and so is satan’s. They don’t need our open mouths to hear us.
When the enemy speaks directly to your thoughts, you are hearing a thought that does not originate from yourself as mentioned above, and is the counterfeit of the Lord’s voice. The problem is that because it is a thought, it has no voice inflection and “sounds” the same as the Lord’s voice. If you have some doubts that what you are hearing may not be the Lord, be alert to Him bringing warnings to you. He may use another Christian. You may be directly admonished, or perhaps the person’s body language will hint what was said or done was offensive. In a group situation, the leader might ignore your input as if you hadn’t said it. Test yourself. Is what I’m hearing out of joint with the body of Christ? Does it bring strife? Does it point the finger, bringing guilt and condemnation, or does it build up and edify?
If you hear the enemy occasionally, do not be anxious, or feel guilty. It wasn’t your idea to hear him or listen to what he said. Your place is simply to recognize him and resist his attempt to snare. He must flee in Jesus Name. (James 4:7) There are two reasons the enemy is allowed to touch us: intentional sin and the Lord’s purpose. In these last days the Lord has even more of a purpose for us to overcome the enemy. We will be called to recognize the darkness and leave it behind. There will come a day when darkness will be under our feet and we will rule and reign with Him. (Romans 16:20; Revelation 2:26,27; 3:21; Hebrews 2:7,8; 2 Corinthians 10:6)
If you recognize the enemy either through or to your thoughts as a pattern, start resisting in Jesus’ Name over and over again. Do not be concerned that you will grieve the Holy Spirit of God by mistaking Him for the enemy. Obviously, the Lord knows and understands your plight, especially in learning to discern. He wants you stable and established in hearing HIM. God will work with you to get His will accomplished in hearing Him.
Every time you come up against the foreign thought, rebuke it in Jesus’ Name. If you belong to Jesus, you WILL OVERCOME. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. (Isaiah 54:17) Do not fret or fear this, simply take an active part in renouncing the thought in Jesus’ Name. Set your face like flint and rebuke as often as you need to until you are no longer harassed. You have the authority of Jesus’ Name, and the devil hates and fears His Name. You can stand in the Lord and resist all that would come against you.
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURAL STUDY ON ENEMY HEARING OUR THOUGHTS
DISCERNING COUNTERFEIT SPIRITS
Counterfeit spirits have the power to counterfeit any manner of hearing the Lord. They can speak to and through one’s thoughts. They can answer fleeces, give visions and pictures, etc.
The following is a list of the works of occult spirits that open the door to counterfeit spirits. This list is compiled from many full time deliverance ministries who have cast out thousands of demons resulting from the use or practice of the below. People who have toyed with anything regarding occult activity do not realize it is not a game. The forces behind those seemingly harmless pursuits are deadly. If children or adults could see the real issues behind the scenes they would never choose that road for a simple amusing diversion. That road leads to death and hell. (Incidentally, the word channeling in the new age movement, is a camouflaged way of describing the function of mediums, and that is a wide open field for familiar spirits. This has entered the school systems.)
Amulets, Astral projection, Astrology, Automatic handwriting, Fantasy Books, Card Reading, Channeling, Charms (good luck pieces), Clairvoyance, Conjuring, Consulter of the dead, Crystal ball, Deliverances (non-scriptural), Dispatching demons, Divination, Diviner, Dreamer, Charms, Clairvoyance, Communication with the dead (necromancy), Conjuration, Crystals, Dream catcher, Drugs, Dungeons & Dragons, Eight ball, Enchanter, ESP, Fetishes (good luck pieces), Fortune Telling, Gypsy, Hallucinations, Handwriting analysis, Horoscopes, Horror movies, Hypnosis, I Ching, Incantation, Indian burial ground, Indian Jewelry, Indian artifacts, KKK, Magic, – Black, White, Yellow, Gray, Good luck charms, (St Christophers, rabbit’s foot, clovers, crickets), Healing through psychic healer, Higher levels of martial arts, Household gods and idols from other countries (including Buddha and Japanese Bogota, shrines), worshiping of statues of Jesus, worshiping of statues of angels, worshiping of statues of cupids, worshiping of statues of Mary and saints, Witchcraft paraphernalia, Mediums, Blood covenantors, Horror & occult (movies TV, books, computer games, toys), Psychic hot line, Incantations, Incense, Life or reincarnation reading, Magic games, Medium, Mental telepathy, Mind control, Mind reader, Music, heavy metal, Necromancy (talking with the dead), New Age, Non-Christian exorcism, Occult, Ouija board, Pagan objects (Buddha, Tiki), Pagan temples, Palm reading, Palmistry, Past life readings, Pendulum divination, Pokemon, Potions, Psychic healing, Psychic predicating, Pyramids, Ritualism, Rock music (secular or Christian), Role playing games (like Dungeons/ Dragons & Kabala), Satanism, Science fantasy (movies, books, games, etc) Séances, Soothsayer, Sorcery, Sorcery games, Spell or hex, casting, Spirit guide(s), Spiritism, Spiritist, Table lifting, Tarot cards, Tea leaves, Toys of magic including E.T., Transcendental Meditation, Voodoo, Warlock, Water witching, White magic, Witchcraft, Yoga.
Anyone can be badgered by the counterfeit if the Lord lifts the hedge. That is why Christians must be trained to use great discernment. Doors open to these spirits in several ways:
- They have access to badger people who have toyed with occult activity in relationship to mediums, horoscopes, Ouija boards, palm reading, 8-balls, channeling, new age etc.
- A bad weed in one’s heart of lusting for supernatural knowledge leaves one vulnerable. Lust for knowledge in a Christian most often is found in one who finds ways to demand answers from God.
- The lust of itching ears with an absorbing desire for supernatural experiences also will open the door.
- People who look for signs are vulnerable. They are ones who lay fleeces before the Lord on a continuing basis. Fleeces, if used at all, should be used with extreme caution as unto the fear and respect for the Lord.
Because even in a purified vessel one can hear the enemy, this is a very important warning: If you have ever been involved in ANY FORM OF THE OCCULT, RENOUNCE IT. If in your past you played with Ouija boards, 8-balls, read horoscopes, had cards or palms read, attended seances, been involved in the new age movement or any such thing; you have become a candidate for a familiar spirit’s yoke. (Isaiah 8:19, 29:4) This will make your hearing impure, warped, twisted, and polluted. Verbally renounce these past associations in Jesus Name, and turn your back on them and rebuke. (“I bind satan and renounce all association with ___________in the Name of Jesus, I resist them and break any spiritual yokes of enslavement assigned against my spiritual hearing, in Jesus Name.”)
If you have had association with witches or anything stronger you need to seek deliverance through an appointed gift. This is a strong warning. If you do not renounce these things, you will find yourself yoked into hearing a familiar spirit and following its road. You will lose your hedge and be severely cut back so as not to lose your soul. (Isaiah 5:4,5)
WRITE YOUR RENOUNCEMENT IN JESUS’ NAME.
The best safeguard to keep from receiving a supernatural experience from evil forces is to seek Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our door. (John 10:1, Revelation 3:20) We do not want to stumble in desiring the EXPERIENCE of the supernatural, we want to desire HIM. “But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:24 NKJV)
DISCERNING ENEMY DREAMS AND VISIONS
The characteristics of dreams from the enemy are usually full of twisted accusations and darts that wound. Sometimes a dream will have knives, darts, sharp cutting instruments that inflict and cause pain. The purpose is to dump fear, remorse, guilt, torment, and barriers to one’s relationship with the Lord. The dream can be resisted and stopped by thinking “In Jesus’ Name” during the dream.
Also many times enemy visions and dreams will have a numbing, immobilizing or even paralyzing influence over man’s will. This can happen with an inability to speak or move the body, or lack of freedom in exercising the will. Another characteristic of an enemy dream is the inability to wake up, as the sleep is so deep, that when the person does wake up in the middle of it, it is such a lethargic state that it is very difficult to stay awake. Frequently there is the tendency to fall right back to sleep into the same enemy onslaught. I have learned to truly fight myself awake and then stay awake to do adequate warfare and gain the peace of the Lord before I go back to sleep. If you suffer this, always remember that thinking or speaking the Name of Jesus will break the enemy restraint. His Name is a very powerful weapon.
The Lord continually mentions in the Bible, we shall find Him when we search for Him with all our heart. He is to be our first love. He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. Seeking Him is not a mellow, “What will be, will be,” attitude. It is a pursuit, and it goes upstream against the current. Christians are not immune to enemy experiences. Enemy conflict is a current sent against us for two reasons. Both are because THE LORD ALLOWS IT. First, intentional sin lifts the hedge. The Word says, “herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward man…give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully….Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin.” (Acts 24:16 KJ, I Tim. 5:14B KJ, Ro 14:23B KJ) When I disobey the training of my conscience I give cause for the enemy to speak reproach, the hedge is lifted and I get “dumped on.” Most often when I get dumped on by a nightmare or bad dream He reminds me of those three verses. [The more mature we become in the Lord, the more sensitive our conscience becomes to very slight details in a day. An example would be attitudes that grieve the Holy Spirit like being critical of others in our thoughts.] I can always tell an enemy dream because it is almost always a personal accusation to that particular day. The problem with enemy dreams is there is always a measure of truth in them. So after I take heed to of the partial truth, I must then overcome guilt and condemnation and remember that I am covered by the blood of Jesus. I must also remember it is His righteousness that keeps me, not my own. The Lord does not want us buried in guilt that puts another layer between ourselves and His love.
The second reason the Lord allows enemy conflict is that the Lord wants us to become an overcomer. Satan puts many things in our path to try to get us off course, discouraged and tired, waylaid and delayed, all the while hoping we will give up. The Lord allows this to help us to grow, overcome darkness, and find HIM. We cannot find Him without resistance. The two go hand in hand.
