Discerning the Spirit

I was saved in a Charismatic Christian background, baptized through water immersion; filled with Holy Spirit, tongue speaking and devil chasing.

In my early day as a young Christian, I had a lot of opportunities to involve in casting out evil spirits. We witnessed different kinds of manifestation and would conclude among ourselves that there were many types of “evil spirit”. So I was told that one must know how to discern the spirits as what the Bible has said.

That was a big task for me. It was unheard of for a physical being to discern a spiritual being. I just did not know how. Whenever I ask the elder Christians, they would tell me what they saw from the physical point of view of which, I also could see for myself. I was persistent to know how but they could not answer my questions. So they asked me to ask Jesus.

They could not be wrong on this, so I asked Jesus…

I did not just ask questions on discernment only but everything that I could not understand; I started to ask my Lord, Jesus...

Praise the Lord for His wisdom and faithfulness. He did not answer all my questions but He made me understand my questions and from there, He enabled me to answer my own questions! Sometimes, He would just ask me questions and when I answered Him, His questions gave me the answers and made me understand.

He first enlightened me with His grace and He built me up on the platform of His righteousness. He revealed to me the differences of the different covenants that He had made with mankind. He asked me to focus on the cross which was the center and the turning point for all mankind. He made me understand the meaning of “It’s finished!” and He did not just stop at “It’s finished!” He continued to show me what He had accomplished through the cross and what His finished work had brought, through Apostle Paul’s letters. Indeed, He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

He set me free from condemnation and as I grew in His grace, the answers to my questions started to reveal one by one.

Thank God that I was asked to ask Jesus. If not, I will still be living in confusion and not having any of my questions answered!

Discerning the spirit is not about the discerning on the types of evil spirit but discerning whether a person is ministering the word of God that has been filtered through the cross. Every human being is a spirit being. When we share the word of God, are we sharing the new covenant truth or are we sharing by mixing the old and new? Or are we ministering to people as if Jesus has not yet die on the cross? Are we preaching the gospel of Jesus or the gospel of Pharisee?

Jesus came in flesh so that He could die on the cross to accomplish the Father’s will. So if we acknowledge Jesus who came in flesh, then we must also acknowledge the finished work He had done on the cross. If He did not laid down His life to die for us on the cross, He will still be going from places to places healing people on the street, casting out devils from people, teaching people the truth because He is of no sins. If He is of no sins, He will not die. As for us, we are sinful and although we are healed by Him but when we die, we still go to hell! He chose to lay down His life and died on the cross because He came in flesh.

Any message that is not filtered through the cross will bind people. A message that has been filtered through the cross is of the new covenant truth and will set people free. Apostle Paul, who is known as the Apostle to the Gentile and Apostle of grace, had only the old testament materials as his resources and references during his time. But through these resources, he wrote majority letters of the new covenant. These letters were written based on the shadow of the old covenant and he expounded the realities through Jesus' death on the cross. These are present day's living words that are setting people free and are fit for feeding in the congregation. When we feed the congregation with these new covenant truth, we are feeding them with the Bread of Life. If we feed the congregation with law or mixture, we are actually feeding them with stones. Discern who is trying to turn the stones into bread?

Old covenant preaching brings us to sin consciousness while new covenant preaching makes us righteousness conscious. Old covenant preaching makes us self consciousness while new covenant preaching makes us Jesus consciousness. Discern the spirit; are we being ministered by new covenant spirit or old covenant spirit?

Unless we are established in grace, or else we can never know how to discern the spirit. When you smell grace, you know that Jesus is being preached. Just like when you smell the aroma of coffee, you know that the famous coffee outlet, Starbucks is just round the corner.

Grace is the aroma of our Lord Jesus Christ.