Of the revelatory gifts of the Spirit (prophecy, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, discernment of spirits) the one that is often most misunderstood is discernment of spirits. Because it is misunderstood it often leads to abuse of the other revelatory gifts, people discern something and that becomes the basis of a prophetic word or word of knowledge. This misuse is not limited to spiritual revelation, someone discerns something and that dictates how healing is ministered often leading to an attempt to cast out demons rather than dealing with emotional hurts or mental strongholds that need to be healed or brought down first. In all of this it would be easy to throw out the gift of discernment as just to problematic, yet, like all other spiritual gifts, Paul defines spiritual discernment as needed for the church to function properly in its mission to a broken world.
Recognising that we need this spiritual gift there have recently been published some superb books on how to discern, and how to operate in the gift of discernment. What is missing though is an understanding of what the discernment of spirits is all about. While it is true that this gift is about discerning what spiritual forces are operating in a situation, as well as how they are operating, this is not what the heart of discernment is about. Discerning of spirits is never an end to itself. There is always a reason for discernment and a way forward. It is this lack of understanding concerning the heart of discernment, as well as misunderstanding what spiritual discernment actually means, that has led to some authors speaking of spiritual discernment in only negative terms.
If we are going to truly learn to discern we need to learn what the heart of discernment is. Only as we rediscover what this heart is can we bring discernment out of the Divine tool box to help us see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
As I have said, there are some superb books on the how to discern and what to do with that discernment. This blog is not aiming to add to those. Instead it attempts to cut through the clutter that has built up concerning the gift of discernment of spirits and help us to learn how to listen to the Heart that beats with love that is the core of this gift and to move from a position of light bearers.
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