welcome to today's class on acts the person and the gifts of the holy spirit this is lesson number 10 the gifts of the holy spirit part two let's pray heavenly father we ask that you would open up the eyes of our understanding so that we would know you better lord give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you thank you it's your good pleasure to give us the kingdom thank you lord that it's your desire to help us and so you sent your holy spirit thank you that you never leave us forsake us or abandon us we love your presence we honor and bless your great name the mighty name of jesus amen amen oh boy just putting ourselves in remembrance of how good god is can just change your whole moment and day amen all right let's get going we have a lot to cover today so remember i know that i give a lot of examples a lot of scripture references but these are to help you so that when you are reading your bible you can look at it and go wow remember that was the gift of knowledge sorry not the gift of knowledge the word of knowledge that was the discerning of spirits that was the word of wisdom and and then you can write it in the margin so then that way you never forget but it's just a way to you know you may never stop and think about these things unless i bring them to your attention so i just want to be able to leave you with things that are going to help you in in your private time your bible study your meditation time for days and years to come hallelujah all right in a brief review the first gift of the spirit that we looked at was the word of wisdom which has to do with the future this gift reveals it is a word a fragment or a piece of insight from the mind of god regarding his will his plan and his purposes secondly we looked at the word of knowledge which is just a word or a piece of supernatural revelation by the holy spirit of certain facts from the mind of god the word of knowledge has to do with the past or the present this is not natural knowledge and it is not a natural gift the word of knowledge deals with facts which exist whether it be in the past or in the present so let's continue with a few more examples of the word of knowledge remember these are the gifts of the spirit which is not entitled the gift of knowledge it's so easy sometimes to let that slip but it's not the gift of knowledge so it's better to learn this now but the word of knowledge it's a word of knowledge it's a piece it's a fragment it is the second gift listed in the revelatory gifts it reveals all right first kings 19 14-18 the prophet elijah challenged the prophets of baal the lord sent fire from heaven in response to his prayer which consumed the sacrifice i'm sure you remember this one the prophets of baal were slain and jezebel vowed that elijah would be killed elijah was afraid thinking he was the only one left serving god so he ran for his life and after a day of running he sat down and you told the lord i've had enough just kill me as he was asleep an angel came and fed him bread and water twice and let him know that there were there are seven thousand that have not bowed their knee to baal that was good news he could not have known that otherwise it was a special word and it had specific knowledge it is the specific number that sets this answer apart elijah was strengthened to find out this inside information that he was not the only one second kings chapter 5 verses 21 through 24 when naaman was healed of leprosy and wanted to give the prophet elisha changes of clothes and silver and gold elisha refused it kahazai went back to naaman without elisha knowing about it and asked for clothes and money naaman was so thrilled to be healed that he gave gehazai twice the amount of money he asked for then hid this transaction from elisha when elisha asked a hazel where he had been he said nowhere that's second kings 5 25 elisha responded was my heart not with you wow verse 26 how could elisha be sitting in his own house and yet know what was going on several miles away god revealed it to him through the word of knowledge god gave elisha a supernatural revelation of what had happened and it exposed gahesai as a hypocrite god wanted to help kahazai otherwise kahazai could hide in darkness and darkness would hide in him forever second kings 6 8-12 every time israel's enemy syria would set up ambushments against israel the prophet elisha in israel would tell the king of israel the enemy's plans finally the king of syria thought there must be a spy in his camp the syrian servants told their king that it wasn't spies after all but it was the prophet elisha who told israel's king the plans ahead of time these plans came to elisha by heaven's knowledge and saved israel from danger praise god the battle is the lord's john 4 7 through 26 jesus operated in the word of knowledge to convince the woman at the well of her need for a savior he told her she had five husbands and the man she was living with now wasn't her husband jesus used that knowledge not to punish her not to put her down but to bring her to salvation notice the direction of this gift all the gifts give glory and point to the love of god she was made aware of god's tender care the gift opened up to her heart and chain and lives were changed her life was changed it was never exploited she was not exploited a word of knowledge came in the form of a vision revelation 1 10-20 to john on the isle of patmos a word of knowledge can also come by way of the inward witness or revelation or the audible voice like it did to samuel when he was a child he heard an honorable voice say to him samuel samuel this is found in first samuel 3 4-10 samuel heard that voice and thought it was eli the prophet the word of knowledge may come through the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues or through the gift of prophecy it can also come through an angel or a dream there were angels who spoke to the shepherds when jesus was born they said in luke 2 verse 10 fear not for i bring you good tidings of great joy for unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior which is christ the lord and this will be a sign to you you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger the word of knowledge reveals certain facts directly from the mind of god remember the revelation that the word of knowledge brings is never future tense it's present or past tense and it reveals certain facts from the mind of god not something that is going to happen that is a future that is a future tense which is the word of wisdom you're right a word of knowledge came in the form of a vision to peter and cornelius they received direction in acts chapter 10 verses 9-19 peter fell into a trance and received a vision while at joppa after he saw the vision the holy spirit spoke to him and said behold three men seek you in that amazing three men not two not one not five three men now it had to be important for god to make that specification these men were sent by cornelius who was at caesarea which was located a few miles north of joppa the lord spoke to peter in joppa and cornelius who was in caesarea at the same time the bible says that as cornelius was praying angels came and told him what the lord said in joppa at the house of simon the tanner is a man named peter tell him to come up here and he'll give you the words of truth so the lord verified the information that he was going to receive from these men one he told them how many and then he put it to his uh you know into his thinking they're going to tell me the truth from god you know because otherwise he could have thought anything notice the exact the precise coinciding information was given to both of these men that was a word of god's knowledge cornelius learned exactly where peter was by the holy spirit so connelius sent three men to joppa to find peter when the men arrived at peter's house they found out that god had already spoken to peter the holy spirit said standing down at the gate are three men and i want you to go with them peter knew supernaturally by a word of knowledge that these men were at the gate by this word and peter's obedience the whole gentile world was open to the gospel of jesus these were the first gentiles to move in the word of knowledge the word of knowledge is for all believers when the gifts are functioning souls are drawn into the kingdom and needs are met and jesus is being confirmed in the lives of the believers praise god you don't have to wait for a prophet to come to town or from someone who you know or heard that they are being used in the gifts you have the holy spirit and he will reveal god's plan his purposes and his will to you it's his job that's what he came for but more than that he is loving you don't want to see your children school you know uh squandering their life not knowing where they're going what they're doing no you desire because you love them that they know what the will for their life is and that they would follow that path and until they get on that path as a parent you just you're always praying and praying and trusting god and praying and believing god that he will show himself to to them and so it is with the holy spirit he wants us to walk in that perfect plan in the perfect will of god the holy spirit was sent to reveal the mind of the father the gifts operate as the spirit wills not according to our own will but don't let that um you know throw your mind to where you just want to like throw in the towel and think that these gifts will never how could they ever happen for you you already have information that the father sent the holy spirit to live in you and he's our teacher he's our god he's the revealer and he will never leave you or forsake you he's inside of you so make sure that your thoughts line up with the word of god that you don't cheat yourself out of a gift a beautiful gift that the lord has specifically for you to minister to others believe that when you pray that if you need a gift to manifest that the holy spirit will do it you don't have to ask him to do it for a specific gift he's going to give you that perfect gift for that moment for that situation and remember that the best gift is going to meet the need of that moment remember that and so don't ever cheat yourself don't ever think no you know this is not going to happen for me that is not the truth that is the lie from the devil and you're listening to him and not the word of god so make right choices choices that bring life amen then don't try to mimic a gift you know to look important or you know to look big in front of people that will get you into trouble and the devil can accommodate you with familiar spirits these demons are called familiar spirits because they describe their nature that describes their nature they are familiar with you or the per or the people or the person involved and where you're ministering to and they want to mess up your life and they want to mess up anybody's life but the gifts of the spirit are to edify exhort and to comfort the church holy spirit's name is what comforter amen the number one way a believer hears from god is by their inward witness brother kenneth hagin has a book called how to be led by the spirit it used to be an individual book it could be that it is now inserted into another book but call ken and hagin's ministry ask for that book add it to your library and then study it study it because it is such an important topic for every believer the holy spirit illuminates the word by your own personal bible study through preaching or through meditation and that renews your mind and causes your thoughts to line up with holy spirit and to line up with the word otherwise you'll listen to the goofy ideas of the devil and it'll cause you to go to stray so we should never become a go-between for others pray for others pray that the lord meets their needs always be ready to pray for others if and when the gifts of the spirit operate praise god they should be there as a confirmation to the prayers and the needs of others now accept the word of wisdom that is future if you get a word that is to be shared speak it out speak out the word of wisdom speak out whatever god gives you and uh and make sure that you give it as he directs you to give it uh to that person the way that you are directed because information from the gifts can be very personal so don't speak it in front of other people instead whisper it or take them to another room or wait for a private time an appropriate time unless you're in a five-fold ministry where you're ministering to a whole crowd and the lord giving you word of knowledge for healings you know things like that of course that's for public use but many times you and i are lame ministers we're going to be ministering how one-on-one we're going to be ministering maybe with a whole team and so we want to be used in in the gifts of the holy spirit and the holy spirit wants to use us in the gifts to minister to others but he does not want you to cause them to become embarrassed by what you say um you know the holy spirit is a gentleman so let love guide you don't repeat the matter afterwards don't be a gossip don't be uh you know backstabber be honorable treat other people with honor and respect now be very careful to not tell people what to do outside of the boundary of the word of god the gifts always line up with the word the gifts always point to jesus paul tells the whole church the whole body of christ to covet the gifts of the spirit but it is still as the spirit wills not as uh our will and it's they come at his direction not because we've said holy spirit this person needs this no we don't do that we don't talk to him that way that's dishonoring you don't talk to your parents that way or you shouldn't and so we need to honor the holy spirit he will lead you into the best gift to meet the need on hand so just trust him usually the gift is over with by the time you even realize that that a gift had manifested because it's very natural it's they're coming out of your heart so it's not like red alert red alert you know red alert a gift of the spirit is coming it doesn't happen that way there's no red flags no trumpets you know here it is no that's not the way it goes they just flow they flow as you yield to the holy spirit and you're just yielding you don't realize because you're not taking there's not you know time where you're gathering your thoughts before every sentence that you speak you know we we can speak in paragraphs and in books you know and so we just begin to speak but it begins to flow out of our heart our our spirit man and so that's where the holy spirit lives and that's where he just ministers those words to you and then all of a sudden wow at the end you're saying i i've never thought i would use that scripture i would i've never thought about that before but that was revelation that was coming at the moment to be a blessing to that person and then when the gifts flow it's almost the exact same thing you know they just happen at the moment you know to be to bless to heal to deliver to um to meet the needs all right i've actually been in teams where we've prayed many many times and there have been specific people who come up and ask me you know seeking an answer you know can you operate in the gifts of the spirit well yes i can all believers can no do you operate in the gifts of the spirit you know when somebody starts talking like that and making you know demands you know upon the holy spirit that's that's not a good place we need to mature and and the bible says that the gifts operated operate according to his will there's different administ administrations there's diversity of gifts but they still operate according to his will we can't dictate to him nor should we even think about dictating to him how they should happen so anyway i draw away from things you know like this i do not you know participate because you put yourself in a vulnerable position you know to do something outside of the word of god and you're responsible for yourself and for them whatever you you share with them so that's a wrong place to be and this is not god's will for their life they need to mature and so i encourage people to make sure that they're walking in obedience to the last thing that the lord that they know that the lord told them and then make sure that they're doing it and if they are then they just need to be a doer of the word hey join this is the way the world you know our christian life works we stand in faith we walk by faith we believe by faith and we have to believe that we receive the answer when we pray and so yeah it would be great if we had a gift manifested every time we had a need but that's not the way it goes and so the gifts are not a quick fix to our problems but they are supernatural insight from the mind and the plan of god to help us we are to live by faith to walk by faith and faith pleases god the gifts of the holy spirit are for edifying the building up exhorting and comforting of the church god visits and loves hungry hearts everywhere so he's wants to manifest himself through you so you can pray lord i'm open to your gifts i desire your gifts and i'm i'm willing lord whatever you say i will do and then he will he'll just follow through thirdly the discerning of spirits the third revelatory gift is the discerning of spirits and is listed in first corinthians 12 10. the greek words for discerning of spirits actually describes the supernatural ability to perceive the true nature of a spiritual situation or to discern what spiritual forces are really at work in the life of an individual or in a specific circumstance this revelatory gift is a supernatural revealing or discerning of spiritual forces that otherwise cannot be naturally discerned the manifestation of this gift occurs in an instant you're able to see or perceive the genuine spiritual condition that is otherwise hidden to the natural eyes the discerning of spirits gives supernatural insight into the spiritual realm it has no relationship to anything natural the discerning of spirits is not is not the ability to see faults in others that would simply just be part of your reasoning process and that's out of our fallen nature and not of the holy spirit number two it has nothing to do with your mind such as mind reading or from any other psychic power it has nothing to do with psychiatry in any form not learn from books of the study of man's behavior oh yeah that might be able to help you you know but we have learned behavior patterns and then we have some that are influenced by you know different kind of spirits but that is not the gift that is not the gift number four it is not tricks of magic palm readers fortune tellers horoscopes or divination it is not any type lastly it is not any type of natural or learned insight the holy spirit does not need our natural help god is not impressed with or talking about the devil is doing and neither should we god is not always talking about what the devil is doing we seem to get in a rut like that we're to exalt jesus in all that we do and say especially when we pray so the book of job is believed to be the first written revelation that god made to man that identified the devil as man's number one enemy as believers it is important to know that we have an enemy god shows us as we submit to him we resist the devil the devil flees and a story don't let the devil convince you that he is greater than god nothing you are going through is bigger than what god can handle evil is not attractive and appealing as some may think truly it is the road to eternal destruction again to discern means to perceive by seeing or hearing this is not the gift of discernment but the discerning of spirits again it is also not a personal a person's natural discernment you don't possess the gifts of the holy spirit you have the holy spirit who is the giver of the gifts amen to know things by the holy spirit is not necessarily a discernment but it can actually be a word of knowledge in operation or several gifts working together again this is not about spiritual mind reading psychological insight or the ability to discern faults of others which is really judgment and is contrary to the word of god matthew 7 1 says judge not that you are not judged judging is really just criticism and fault-finding in disguise which is a work of the flesh it is subtle in its work the discerning of spirits is not a spiritual gift to uncover human failures or personality faults it deals with spirits that exist in the spiritual realm this means seeing good or evil spirits and you may also be shown the effect that these spirits are having upon the person that you're praying for or someone else remember we we took time to talk about a right and a wrong spirit there are motivational forces behind what people do these forces can be righteous or unrighteous in nature the work of an unrighteous i'm sorry the work of unrighteousness against god is called an anti-spirit it is against god first john 4 1-3 we also know that the devil can manifest as an angel of life but the gifts of god always come to expose and destroy the works of darkness not a person the works of darkness spirits second corinthians 11 14 through 15 and no wonder for even satan disguises himself as an angel of light so it is it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness their end will correspond to their deeds what they do corresponds to their deeds so we can see that evil tries to disguise itself as righteousness so that we will be taken off track but thank god the discerning of spirits is the divine ability to see the presence or the activity of a spirit that is motivating or hindering a human being whether good or bad this gift gives insight into the spirit world which is different from the realm of the natural which that's where our feelings hearing sight smell taste there is a division between the soul and the spirit and the this uh discerning of spirits help you to get bypass the natural to see beyond into the spirit realm god doesn't want us to be ignorant of the spirits that we face he helps us he wants to help us it is more it is important not to become more devil conscious than god conscious sometimes people are just constantly talking about the devil so much and they don't realize that they're giving honor they're giving place to the devil and the more that you concentrate or talk about devils the more devils will show up and accommodate you so to start with there are more good angels than evil only one third of the angels fell with lucifer and they were cast out of heaven so there's two thirds left from god with god that we can rejoice with and we can see their work amen all right the discerning of spirits deals with four types of spirits angels demons or evil spirits the human spirit or the spirit of god angels demons human spirit the spirit of god angels have a special ministry to the believer hebrews 1 14 are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who will be heirs of salvation hallelujah i've got angels working on my behalf they are working for us on our behalf psalm 34 7 the angel of the lord encamps around those that fear him and delivers them praise god they're here to deliver us matthew 18 10 take heed that you don't despise these little ones jesus said for their angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven that's so precious angels were sent by god to protect the tree of life genesis 3 24. angels have spoken to men they continue to speak to men at these times angels might take on a physical form of a person to so in order that they are able to receive this type of spiritual perception the bible tells us by example that when they show up it was always in connection with some important events surrounding the unfolding of a divine plan of god although their identity was not always recognized as angels but as men of god as it was with lot when the angels came to get them out of sodom this seems to indicate that angels resemble human beings or are able to take the form of a man for example angels appeared to elijah elisha abraham lot moses joshua gideon manoa who was samson's father daniel zacharias mary the mother of jesus the band of shepherds out in the field the apostles cornelius paul peter james john there were many it was important to see how many times angels the spirits from heaven are seen in the bible they have a viable ministry to us now so it is by the discerning of spirits that many men and women in the old testament in the new testament and even today were able to perceive these beings of the unseen world and receive strength encouragement and guidance to accomplish the tasks that god had called them to do remember all the gifts exalt the lord they are not to exalt man it's important for us never to take any credit for any gift it should never the attention should never go to ourselves at any time even when you're just ministering the word it should always go to glorify jesus the discerning of spirits is about identifying the nature the character of spirits seen and unseen this is not about your spirit being grieved or you feeling goosebumps or your hair standing up on the back of your neck now that all might happen but it's not about that it's not about us it's not about how we feel it's about the gift and what the holy spirit is trying to say to you so that you can minister it to someone else so they can be helped there is always a godly reason and a result with the discerning of spirits none of the gifts are for entertainment let's look at the bible examples of discerning of spirits matthew 9 4 jesus was speaking with a group of scribes and it seemed that they were listening with open hearts but suddenly jesus supernaturally knew what he otherwise would not naturally know he literally saw or discerned what was occurring inside these scribes spiritually and he confronted them verse 4 reads of matthew 9 and jesus knowing their thoughts knowing their thoughts said wherefore thinking evil in your heart although the scribes tried to conceal their true thoughts the discerning of spirits enabled jesus to supernaturally perceive or see the actual spiritual forces that he was dealing with so that he would not be duped so that you know they didn't pull of the wool over his eyes notice there was not a red flag waving when jesus received this information he received the information from the holy spirit and he moved with it he spoke it and so we see how how uh present the holy spirit is in acts 8 18-23 a man named simon looked on peter and john as they laid hands on people to receive the gift of the holy spirit so simon must have been watching them as they had uh gone about and were laying hands on people and this man was a soothsayer and said give me also this ability or power so that everyone on whom i lay my hands may receive the holy spirit well peter answered may your money perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift of god with money you have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right with god repent of this wickedness and pray to the lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart for i see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin for i see he saw into his heart simon was not interested in the holy spirit he wanted the gift so that he could make money peter received that divine insight into the spirit working behind this man that information came supernaturally peter saw that he was full of bitterness people don't don't let people pay you for praying you don't bring the answer you're not the the source of that answer answers answer only answers only come by the holy spirit through the word of god now in acts 13 verses 6 through 12 we see paul receiving insight supernaturally now they had traveled through the whole island until they came to pat pathas where they met a jewish sorcerer and false prophet named bar jesus who was an attendant of the pro-consul sergius paulus the proconsul an intelligent man sent for barnabas and saul because he wanted to hear the word of god but enemas the sorcerer for that is what his name means opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith then saul who was also called paul filled with the holy spirit oh we have to continually be filled looked straight at elamas and said you are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery will you never stop perverting the right ways of the lord now the hand of the lord is against you you are going to be blind for a time not even able to see the light of the sun and immediately mist and darkness came over him and he groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand when the proconsul saw what had happened he believed for he was amazed at the teaching about the lord paul filled with the holy spirit spoke to the spirit in the man he spoke to the spirit and brought judgment normal procedure would be just to cast the devil out but you see we have to follow the holy spirit he will lead you but not this time paul had to follow the holy spirit and so was so must we then once again we see a gift opening up someone's heart and the pro-consul believed then in acts chapter 5 1-1 11 ananias and sapphira peter saw or knew peter saw or knew that satan had filled the heart of ananias later when sapphira came in it was three hours later peter asked her about the money and she agreed to the same lie and they both died that day they lied to god they lied to the holy ghost and so peter by the discerning of spirits knew the spirit that they were being motivated by causing them to lie and to hide this what would have seemed like a great kindness on their part was actually a lie they were schemed alive and deception in disguise to the holy spirit now in the old testament we see this same gift exodus 33 20-23 the lord said to moses you cannot see my face no man can see me and live now moses was seen was allowed to see into the realm of the holy spirit i'm sorry into the realm of the spirit world the manifestation of the discerning of spirits allowed him to see into the spirit realm into the glory of god isaiah 6 1 the prophet isaiah saw the lord sitting on the throne high and lifted up when people have a vision of jesus that would be a manifestation of the discerning of spirits for someone to be able to see him in that vision i have a personal example i'd like to share with you i once had what i um i once had a dream i didn't think it i know i had a dream and it was about a family member it was it came through the dream the discerning of spirits and the word of knowledge remember we don't always know how to put a definition of the workings because they are often linked together they they hook up and they just move together all i know is that i was shown a situation that i wasn't aware of and i i saw this demon and what it was doing to the person and so all god dreams are very real it's it was like you're awake but you were still sleeping and some people say that the reason why god gives us dreams is because we're too busy during the day for him to get that kind of information to you that valuable kind of information to you and so he's got to wait until you're totally arrested and and you receive a dream i don't know if that's true or not but it does sound like pretty good like it could be so anyway i saw that person bound up with white clothes and they were up in the loft part of my bedroom so down here is my bed and then there's a little stairwell and there's a lot where it was my study and i would speak the word for them to be loosed when i saw them bound i i s you know i spoke to them to be loosed and the claws would they they fell off immediately but then right after as quickly as they had fallen they he was wrapped up again and and they would be bound once again and so this happened several times which really annoyed me because that demon wasn't being obedient to the word and i continued to speak to that demon which it looked like a little monkey and it jumped up here and would laugh and until finally the demon ran off and it was very uh reluctant to obey and i could see the form of this demon and he was just you know laughing the whole time and i woke myself up speaking to that demon spirit i spoke um to that person and they afterwards and they confirmed that this dream was exactly what they had been going through i had no natural clue that that person was struggling the lord let me see into the spirit realm by the help of the holy spirit with the discerning of spirits and showed me what was going on that was unknown to me in a word of knowledge when i went to bed that night i never thought that i would have a dream i didn't know before that night's dream that that family member was even struggling it was all by the holy spirit it didn't happen at church no one knew about it but the holy spirit did and he wants to meet the needs of believers and at that time of my life i was just spending a little extra time in prayer every day i never prayed to have a dream i have had several sins but i can tell you when you get a god dream you remember every detail you never forget it there's something that you you're not able to think it up on your own they are totally from the mind of god by the holy spirit and i and i don't share this in a boastful way or to you know say look at me but just to let you know that they are in operation in believers today brother hagin had so many i don't even know that he's able to count them um but yet he's already gone but see i'm still here i can i can vouch i can tell you that i experienced this so you don't you never stop and in the middle of a dream or in the middle of an operation of the gift and go wow that was a gift of the spirit because you're not even thinking that way you're not even analyzing anything you're just taking it one step at a time you know just ministering as the lord would have you to do spirit supernatural manifestations can come from different sources not everything that is supernatural is from god yes revealed information can also come from the devil so how do you judge it how do you know by the word of god and by the holy spirit and often you can judge it by the outcome but because that is in the natural normally you don't want to do that first you want to always judge it by the word of god that's your primary way but also by the witness of the holy spirit and then oftentimes by its outcome and i was able to confirm with that person that this was in fact true they were free after um after this point and that person was a strong christian it wasn't and he didn't even realize that it was the devil had you know had sent a demon to hinder him and i didn't know that they had felt that way i didn't pray for them specifically you know in the natural that way but i was just spending more time and and the lord helped me help me to be able to help that person get free so we praise god for the help of the holy spirit and all the glory goes to jesus acts 16 verse 17 paul dealt with an evil spirit behind an operation when the maiden who had the spirit of divination followed paul and said these men are the servants of the most high god which show us the way of salvation you could be deceived here her words sounded okay but paul finally turned to her and spoke directly to the spirit he didn't do it immediately he didn't deal with the woman at all you can act too quickly and deal with what you see just because you're annoyed and uncomfortable but that is following the flesh the holy spirit had to reveal this situation to paul for him to know what was he was dealing with it could have just been the person wanting attention for themselves but even that if you yield to your flesh long enough you'll end up you know having a uh serving the devil and having a demon harass you we've all been at a place where we know that our tongue uh has gotten the better end of us because the tongue is an unruly member the bible says but also in psalm 50 verse 23 it says and to him that orders his conversation a right will i show the salvation of god we need to order our conversation we need to order it make sure that what we're saying lines up with the word of god we can do that and the bible says that the lord will show us the salvation of god the salvation the healing the deliverance the the freedom the liberty all the things that are in part of our salvation that is what he's going to show us and we have to order our conversation it doesn't matter what a man says does or acts that's not a sign necessarily the unbeliever will act like their father the devil and not much discernment is needed when it's like that but that same spirit that followed the the damsel began to torment paul through her she was possessed with a spirit of divination and without the discerning of spirits we can be deceived you have to allow the holy spirit to show you so that you can understand that there are motives you you actually will your spirit will be grieved but the holy spirit will show you what to do paul broke the power of that spirit and the bible says that the spirit left her in that same hour when you see into the spirit realm you will know the answer had that family member come to me for prayer with that problem i would not have known to speak to that demon influence it was only because the lord showed me in a dream i saw the evil spirit and what it was doing thank god for the gifts of the holy spirit giving supernatural information from the mind and the plan of god he really does want us to have victory in our lives we need the leading of the lord before we ever try to cast out a devil wait on him not every time will or should you just wait for a word if a person is acting out and disruptive by all means take authority over that situation but just be led by the spirit because that's the key we can have an inward witness that someone is walking in the spirit or operating by a wrong spirit no special gift is necessary because the holy spirit lives in us he's the revealer he will let us know with a warning if we're sensitive we won't have to wait for a thus saith the lord i don't know about you but i want to live in that place that the lord doesn't have to manifest a gift necessarily because i already know by my inward witness but either way he said to covet the gifts and i want to be open to the gifts i want to be open to being able to bless a person and and see them free and delivered or healed or whatever it is that they need and we need to get to that place that we trust the holy spirit he will even tell us when not to trust or believe someone who is being used in something that looks like the gifts of the spirit but they could be operating by the familiar spirits they could look right sound right and smell right but you know something is not right familiar spirits aren't just that they are familiar with the ways of people and they can pass on information about one person to another but remember the holy spirit is a revealer he will either speak to you or let you know by the inward witness to stay away he will protect you if you stay sensitive or he may lead you to help them you may not always be alerted to cast out a devil you just have to listen and be obedient the realm of the spirit is very real thank god we have helped to perceive it with our helper from heaven god has provided the gift of discerning of spirits to give the church supernatural insight into the spirit realm as he wills the bible confirms that there are two distinct worlds one natural and the other supernatural we perceive the natural world with our natural mind and our senses the discerning of spirits does not mean you need this gift to cast out a devil however this gift allows you to see to perceive the spiritual realm so that you'll know what type of spirit is working our natural senses don't give us contact into the spiritual world we need the help of the holy spirit to win the battles of life and to stay on course with the plan of god for our lives the holy spirit is our counselor he's our helper he's our intercessor our advocate our teacher our strengthener what a partner he lives in us thank you father for the holy ghost thank god for the revelation gifts the word of wisdom the word of knowledge and the discerning of spirits god bless you today amen