Discerning The Spirits

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God” -1 John 4:1

John is talking about spiritual discernment here, being able to differentiate between the many spirits present in our world. We should know that when God is replaced in society something else will take His place.

We must understand that there are two different realms that are present in the world – a physical realm and a spiritual realm. We are spiritual beings shelled in our physical bodies that occupy the physical realm. The physical realm is made up of physical matter that you and I are able to interact with.

The spiritual realm is one that we are unable to see. Yet, the spiritual realm had a great presence in the world and it highly influences our lives. Once we understand this that in the spiritual God and Satan have a fight going on got our souls it’s easier to understand what is happening in the world today. I believe we are seeing that fight in the physical realm today. It’s getting easier to see by each passing day.

That being said, being able to discern the spirits we interact with daily is of the utmost importance for those of us who genuinely believe in the Lord.

We are like sponges in our spirit. What I means is we are capable of attracting other spirits, and like sponges we are able to absorb things in our spirits from those around us.

Spiritual discernment was very important to John for a few reasons I believe. If you have read John you see John talk about future days and the person Antichrist but he also talks about the spirits of antichrist that are already present in the world today. What we attract and absorb is capable of influencing us in our spirit. That is why spiritual discernment is very important to us as believers because we don’t want to be led away from the Lord.

John even says in the same verse “test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone into the world.” What we must understand is that there are two kinds of spirits present in the world. Those two spirits being a righteous spirit and an unrighteous spirit.

John spoke of the children of God and the children of the devil (Satan). He said, “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever doesn’t do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn’t love his brother” (1 John 3:10). John has touched on spiritual discernment, but I’m going to dive a little deeper.

Who may be asking “how can I tell when a spirit is good or bad?” John says, “By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God” (1 John 4:2-3). John tells us that to discern whether we are interacting with a spirit of God the first place we begin I’d with Jesus. The righteous spirit will acknowledge, confess, and genuinely believe that Jesus was born into this world and walked in it. This is an acknowledgment that the Lord became flesh and dwelt among mankind.

This is a difficulty for many people who live in the world today. Some will say that they do not believe that the Lord was ever in the world. And others will say that Jesus was a real person, but He was no Messiah. Those who do not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah will fall into either of these two categories.

In Isaiah, it is prophesied that Jesus would be a stumbling block of offense to both houses of Israel, and as a trap and snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Isaiah 8:14). This prophecy occurred at a time when Israel was divided into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom of ten tribes and the southern kingdom of the tribe of Judah (the Jews) and Benjamin. The levites returned to the southern kingdom prior to the Assyrians conquering the northern kingdom.

The southern kingdom was conquered by the Babylonians after the northern kingdom had been conquered. Part of this prophecy is talking about the gentiles that would inhabit the city. So, this was prophesied before Jesus was in the world they He would be a stumbling block for the Israelites. Peter also quoted this prophecy in 1 Peter 2:8. And this prophecy still stands today. Jesus is a stumbling block for many people.

These people may not confess Jesus but at the same time they don’t speak against Him. These are the people who have a curiosity about Jesus and want to learn about Him. There are many people who don’t know. I think John was painting a picture in these two verses that is black and white.

The person that is unsure is not someone who is full of conviction in their faith and I don’t think that John is talking about this type of person. I believe that at one point in time every believer fell into a category where they were not full of conviction in anything. We were all lost sinners at one point in time.

However, we eventually sought the Lord and found Him. When we found Him and began to believe in Him and our faith began to grow. We confessed and acknowledged that we genuinely felt God in our spirit. The unsure, lost sinners is someone who can be reached. It is important that we love people, lead by example and allow God to speak through us if we are given an opportunity. I believe this is where the church messed up. We cannot force Jesus on people and expect them to believe in Him. It is because of what the church has done that some people hate the church and think they hate Jesus.

The person John is speaking of when he says “every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God” is someone that is full in their convictions of not believing. John says that the one who is fully convinced in their disbelief has the spirit of antichrist. They are not the person antichrist but they are antichrist.

There are two polar opposite ends of the spectrum with the spirits, those in the light and those in total darkness. Those in the light are fully convicted believers of God. John says to those in the light, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Those who are in total darkness are of the world and speak as of the world. Those who are in total darkness are fully convicted non-believers and by being fully convicted they refuse to repent and turn to God. Then there is the other group I think that fall in the middle that are considered to be unsure or lost.

John says that we can listen to the confession of these spirits to discern what part of the spectrum a spirit is in. If a spirit confesses Jesus, then they are in the light. If a spirit does not confess Jesus and speaks against Him that Spirit is in darkness. Then there are spirits lost in darkness that want out of the dark, these are the spirits (people) we should be ready to help.