"For the spirit of the Lord fills the world, and that which holds everything together knows every word said." (Wisdom 1: 7)
Wisdom, knowledge and holiness are attributes of the Holy Spirit. He imparts these same gifts to people. The Holy Spirit is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent.
"God, create in me a clean heart, renew within me a resolute spirit. Do not thrust me away from your presence, do not take away from me your spirit of holiness." (Psalm 51: 11)
The highest consequence of grave sin is losing the presence of the Holy Spirit in the soul. For anyone who is aware of this presence and has enjoyed it like David, it is an unbearable situation. Less grave sins or venial sins cause the diminution of the Holy Spirit in the soul. The Holy Spirit is the best promise and the best gift of God. In fact, the Holy Spirit is the only thing we need. God is the source of all inspiration and power. Inspiration and power come to us through the agency of the indwelling Spirit. David calls the Holy Spirit here, the Spirit of holiness. Indeed holiness is the original condition for inspiration and power.
"There is, you see, a spirit residing in humanity, the breath of God conferring intelligence." (Job 32: 8 – New Jerusalem Bible)
The NIV renders it thus:
"But truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding."
The Holy Spirit gives understanding and knowledge.
"My dear friends, not every spirit is to be trusted, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets are at large in the world. This is the proof of the spirit of God: any spirit which acknowledges Jesus Christ, come in human nature, is from God, and no spirit of antichrist, whose coming you have heard of; he is already at large in the world." (1 John 4: 1-4)
The spirit of antichrist works to deny the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is a critical principle of discernment of spirit. When we add to this another principle: "By their fruits, you shall know them," you have an unassailable battery of discernment of spirits.
The antichrist will diminish Jesus whenever and wherever he can. The good spirit bears witness to Jesus and spreads knowledge of His name everywhere.
"The particular manifestation of the Spirit granted to each one is to be used for the general good…….to another, the power of distinguishing spirits…" (1 Corinthians 12: 7 – 11)
Today more than ever we hear many voices not just in the market place but inside the household of God. The gift of sorting out these voices and their messages belong to the discernment of spirits. A good way to nourish this gift is to immerse oneself in sacred scripture. Jesus is the good Shepherd. He calls His sheep. They recognize His voice and follow Him.
"Do not stifle the Spirit or despise the gift of prophecy with contempt; test everything and hold on to what is good and shun every form of evil." (1 Thessalonians 5: 19)
Do not stifle the Spirit.
Do not sadden the Spirit.
Do not let the Spirit become weakened in you.
Cultivate the Spirit.
"About the gifts of the Spirit, brothers, I want you to be quite certain. You remember that when you were pagans, you were irresistibly drawn to inarticulate heathen gods. Because of that, I want to make it quite clear to you that no one who says 'A curse on Jesus' can be speaking in the Spirit of God, and nobody is able to say, 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12: 1-3)
The gift of discernment of spirits helps us to discern the will of God for us in concrete situations. The same gift can be used to discern the spirit inside a person. The above scripture gives a simple guideline. Nobody who causes Jesus can have a good spirit living within him. On the other hand, acknowledgment of Jesus as Lord is sign of the presence of a good spirit.
Do you want to exercise the gift of discernment of spirits, then fill your mind with the word of God. The word of God is filled with principles of discernment. One of my favorites is "By their fruits you shall know them."
