Spiritual Discernment part 5: The Holy Spirit at work
The discernment of spirits involves detection of God's presence as well as the lack thereof. It is a rare preacher or layperson who would dare to be bold enough to declare that their particular congregation is lukewarm as Christ did of the Laodiceans. Unfortunately; there is too much human praise (such as accolades to Pastors) which in and of itself isn't necessarily wrong; but if it is in the spirit of the world where "what is honorable among men is an abomination to God" ( Luke 16:15 loosely translated). Empty praise we could do without; of course false accusations and and overcritical spirit aren't helpful either. It is; nonetheless being UNloving and not edifying brothers and sisters in Christ if we don't care enough to help them when we can see that they are compromised in some way; we should desire fruit to multiply in others.
We were discussing Pilate's line today with Christ "what is truth"? ( John 18:38). With today's culture tending to have the effect of not wanting to "offend" anyone as its biproduct of downright falsehood; it seems that there is little making us uncomfortable or thinking about the fear of the Lord nowadays. The truth is as a "two edged sword" ( Heb. 4:12). We also need to remember that He comes with a sword to smite the nations and even judge the church in some ways ( Rev. 2:16; Revelation 19). Paul didn't mince words with Peter but openly rebuked him in his hypocricy ( Galatians 2:11-19). Jesus Himself of course was God and able perhaps to be more critical than any of us; but again He rebukes all those He loves ( Heb. 12:6). The words of Proverbs 27:6 discuss the benefits of a rebuke of a friend; and this could be multiplied with many other cross references.
The point here is that if we don't make truth clear and expose error then the cure is worthless at best and perhaps worse than the disease. Any strongholds the enemy has must be dealt with before deliverance.
The discernment of spirits involves detection of God's presence as well as the lack thereof. It is a rare preacher or layperson who would dare to be bold enough to declare that their particular congregation is lukewarm as Christ did of the Laodiceans. Unfortunately; there is too much human praise (such as accolades to Pastors) which in and of itself isn't necessarily wrong; but if it is in the spirit of the world where "what is honorable among men is an abomination to God" ( Luke 16:15 loosely translated). Empty praise we could do without; of course false accusations and and overcritical spirit aren't helpful either. It is; nonetheless being UNloving and not edifying brothers and sisters in Christ if we don't care enough to help them when we can see that they are compromised in some way; we should desire fruit to multiply in others.
We were discussing Pilate's line today with Christ "what is truth"? ( John 18:38). With today's culture tending to have the effect of not wanting to "offend" anyone as its biproduct of downright falsehood; it seems that there is little making us uncomfortable or thinking about the fear of the Lord nowadays. The truth is as a "two edged sword" ( Heb. 4:12). We also need to remember that He comes with a sword to smite the nations and even judge the church in some ways ( Rev. 2:16; Revelation 19). Paul didn't mince words with Peter but openly rebuked him in his hypocricy ( Galatians 2:11-19). Jesus Himself of course was God and able perhaps to be more critical than any of us; but again He rebukes all those He loves ( Heb. 12:6). The words of Proverbs 27:6 discuss the benefits of a rebuke of a friend; and this could be multiplied with many other cross references.
The point here is that if we don't make truth clear and expose error then the cure is worthless at best and perhaps worse than the disease. Any strongholds the enemy has must be dealt with before deliverance.
This comment thread is locked. Please enter a new comment below to start a new comment thread.
Note: Comment threads older than 2 months are automatically locked.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Posting comments is currently unavailable due to high demand on the server.
Please check back in an hour or more. Thank you for your patience!
Report Comment
Which best represents the problem with the comment?