The Spirit\u2019s Ministries<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Spirit is Jesus\u2019 promise to the world. The one He said would \u201cguide us into all truth\u201d. But most churches teach that (with few exceptions) the SCRIPTURES are the source of all our truth. Now, I recognize that\u00a0the Spirit USES the scriptures, but I don\u2019t think we allow Him the impetus He desires. We don\u2019t WAIT for the Spirit to bring us to scripture, we GO to scripture and expect the Spirit to \u201cshow up\u201d and teach us. But I don\u2019t believe that\u2019s the way it was meant to be. God told us that He would write His word \u201con our HEARTS\u201d. That\u2019s the work of the Spirit. He speaks DIRECTLY into us, reminding us of and guiding us to scripture as HE sees fit. I believe that\u2019s the way it should be, and, except in the case of angelic or physical manifestations of God, that\u2019s the way it was in biblical times as well. When scriptures tell us the Spirit \u201ccame upon\u201d them, or that they were \u201cinspired by God\u201d, it\u2019s talking about the exact same INDWELLING that we experience. It was not some special \u201csuper anointing\u201d that only happened to biblical authors. I don\u2019t see anything in scripture to support that.<\/p>\n
Spirit Of God Or \u201cSatan\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nBut in the OT His Spirit was only indwelling for a short while and was not the only thing influencing men. When His Spirit was NOT there, they were vulnerable to \u201cother spirits\u201d, whether ACTUAL spirits (fallen angels) or the spirit of \u201cthe world\u201d (human empire) doesn\u2019t matter. This \u201cother spirit\u201d could sound just as genuine as THE Spirit, and give them false information about God. Thankfully, WE do not suffer this deception to the same degree because His Spirit never LEAVES us, therefore keeping us safe from \u201cother spirits\u201d UNLESS we actively INVITE the influence of things OTHER than Him.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s Spirit Are You Of?<\/strong><\/p>\nHowever, the idea of \u201ctesting the spirits\u201d goes beyond discerning who is speaking INTO your life, but also under who\u2019s (what\u2019s) influence you are acting OUT of. When the disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven and burn up the Samaritans who wouldn\u2019t receive Jesus, He told them, \u201cYou do not know who\u2019s spirit you are of.\u201d Obviously He wasn\u2019t talking about spirits (demons), but what \u201cworldview\u201d they were operating under. He told them that He came to SAVE men, not destroy them. It is SATAN\u2019S \u201cspirit\u201d\/worldview\/\u2019modus operandi\u2019 to threaten, hurt and destroy men. We need to be careful that we are not \u201cthinking like the enemy\u201d. We should periodically step back and discern which \u201cspirit\u201d(worldview) we are operating under. Are we truly thinking\/believing\/acting as Christ would (in love), or are we operating under the spirit of \u201cempire\u201d (Satan\/worldly systems), which seeks to control men out of guilt and fear?<\/p>\n
Discerning the Spirits<\/strong><\/p>\nSo, how about that verse? I John 4:1-2 says,<\/p>\n
\u201cDear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,\u201d<\/p>\n
First of all, I don\u2019t believe he\u2019s talking about actual\u00a0\u201cspirits\u201d (as in the Holy Spirit vs \u2018other\u2019 spirits) at all, but the same idea of worldview or ways of thinking that Jesus was referencing. He says those that do not acknowledge Jesus as being from God are of \u201cantichrist\u201d. He\u2019s specifically talking about false teachers of His time who were teaching false ideas about Jesus, but you could apply this to ANY false idea from ANY source that differs from Jesus\u2019 living revelation of who God is and therefore should be suspect. Notice the standard is JESUS and what He revealed (represented in the flesh), ie. God\u2019s LOVE for us. I would like to point out that there is no mention of scriptures as any form of standard here.<\/p>\n
In the previous chapter (which we know is not REALLY a division) John is teaching that when you operate out of LOVE, you can know you are a Christian. This idea then is still fresh in his mind as he writes\u00a0THIS part of the text. So, I believe operating out of the \u201ccorrect\u201d spirit is to operate out of LOVE, rather than out of fear or shame which these false teachers were using against the people. John calls this spirit \u201cthe world\u201d. I like to call it \u201cempire\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s how the world does things. It\u00a0controls people through government AND religious institutions, using fear, coercion, guilt and loyalty to state\/dogma\/creed\/text rather than loyalty to the Spirit and the person and Kingdom of Christ. I believe THIS is what John and Jesus meant by \u201cdiscerning the spirits\u201d.<\/p>\n
Spirit Of Fear Or Love<\/strong><\/p>\nBut the interpretation of this passage has been subtly twisted to cause people to mistrust the Spirit\u2019s internal voice for fear that it might be \u201canother spirit\u201d, when that is so, SO rarely the case. We need to remember that God\u2019s Spirit is greater than \u201che that is in the world\u201d. We have been told for years by \u201cthe church\u201d (religion) to FEAR the world and to MISTRUST (stifle) our inner voice, preferring the certitude of our \u201cone true interpretation\u201d of scriptures. But God is a God of relationship who speaks DIRECTLY into our hearts and PROTECTS us from the world.<\/p>\n
As Paul says in II Timothy, we should not operate out of a \u201cspirit of fear\u201d, but rather out of \u201cpower and love\u201d. We need to have CONFIDENCE that, while we MAY stumble and make mistakes, His Spirit will ultimately not let us down or lead us into gross error. He will protect us from the corruption of \u201cthe world\u201d.<\/p>\n
~Ken<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the complaints I have leveled at me for my Spirit-led progressive faith is that I do not \u201cdiscern the spirits\u201d as John wrote about in I John 4:1. The method for doing this is generally described as comparing everything you \u201chear\u201d from the Spirit to the Bible, and if it\u2019s not in there, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2700,"featured_media":205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[38,42,77],"class_list":["post-195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theology","tag-discernment","tag-false-teachers","tag-spirit"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>One of the complaints I have leveled at me for my Spirit-led progressive faith is that I do not \u201cdiscern the spirits\u201d as John wrote about in I John 4:1. The method for doing this is generally described as comparing everything you \u201chear\u201d from the Spirit to the Bible, and if it\u2019s not in there, it\u2019s not of God.\u00a0I wanted to share a few words about how I believe the Spirit works in our lives and what I believe the idea of \u201cdiscern the spirits\u201d truly means.<\/p>\n