Thursday: The Holy Spirit and the Gift of Discernment
Read 1 Corinthians 12:10, 1 Corinthains 14:29 and 1 John 4:1-3. Why is the gift of discernment important?
While there are genuine spiritual gifts present in the church, the Bible also warns us not to believe every spirit but rather to test the spirits by their conformity to Scripture, their consistency, and whether they exalt Jesus as the Lord.
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It is necessary to “distinguish between spirits” (1 Cor. 12:10, ESV) because not everything that pretends to come from God is really from God. We are warned that there are demonic powers seeking to mislead the church, and that there are devilish reproductions of the genuine gifts of the Spirit, such as false teachings, false prophecy, lying visions, counterfeit tongue-speaking, occult healing powers, misleading signs and wonders, et cetera.
Some who accept the validity of the spiritual gifts even today, however, have placed a special emphasis on some spiritual gifts and have given unwarranted prominence to the presence of special signs and wonders. It is interesting that Paul lists the gift of discernment immediately after he mentioned the gift of “effecting of miracles” and the gift of “prophecy” and before he mentions the gift of tongues (1 Cor. 12:10, NASB).
In order to preserve the church in truth and unity and to safeguard the members from following false prophets and being deluded by false signs and miracles, God gives the church the gift of discernment. Biblical maturity, knowledge, and faithfulness to God’s Word in faith and practice are needed to make proper evaluations. The basis for all discernment, however, has to be the Word of God. Only through testing everything by the Word can we know for sure whether what we are hearing or seeing is truly from the Lord or, instead, from somewhere else.
“The man who makes the working of miracles the test of his faith will find that Satan can, through a species of deceptions, perform wonders that will appear to be genuine miracles. . . . Let not the days pass by and precious opportunities be lost of seeking the Lord with all the heart and mind and soul. If we accept not the truth in the love of it, we may be among the number who will see the miracles wrought by Satan in these last days, and believe them. Many strange things will appear as wonderful miracles, which should be regarded as deceptions manufactured by the father of lies. . . . Men under the influence of evil spirits will work miracles.” – Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, pp. 52, 53.
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Let us be very much keen, the devil is really working agree or not agree. sorry to say this I was not born on sda I remember the church I was attending some 6yrs back the leaders were fighting over the position in the church. I remember everybody who was standing speaking was use words of God my dear brothers and sisters not everything that pretends to come from God is really from God.
The Spirit of discernment is the only safeguard we have to fight deception, no wonder Ephesians 6:17 say ''..and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:'' And if the Spirit is the Sword, then surely we are not fighting flesh, and if the sword is the Word, then it means discernment is using what God said (he never lies Numbers 23:19) against what someone says 'God says', and if there is a difference his written word inspired by the Spirit himself shall prevail. Gods word its the weapon of massive destruction, for it exposes Satan, his plans and deception, his weaknesses and craftiness, and above all it proclaims God victories and promises and these gives us assurance of victory over the Devil. May we be readers, listeners and doers of his discerning word.
I can only speak for myself as I practice reading and studying with the Holy Spirit .the word of God takes on a life called New Birth. In this light we are blessed with the gifts of the fruit of the spirit of God. Hopefully I'm on track. With this understanding I don't believe that the gifts or something that you can just purchase I believe that only God can give according to his will and his purpose for your life that no longer belongs to ourselves.
We are no competition with Satan. We have but six thousand years experience of trying to know the difference between falseness and truth. Lord knows how long he has known the difference. Our greater problem is Jer. 17:9. We are the most deceived person we know. If you don't believe it then that proves it. I am the most deceptive person I know, that is why I need a Saviour who will guard me and will guide me daily in the truth. thank God for the spirit of truth, our only safeguard.
Is it scriptural to absolutely forbid speaking in tongues, and miracles of healing?
Paul says it isn't. (1 Cor 14:39) But you already knew that. So I'm wondering what else you had on your mind. I'm also thinking that it is important to understand what "speaking in tongues" meant when Paul said not to forbid it. I don't think he meant the type of ecstatic utterances by the Delphic oracles or those that can be experienced at occult fairs ... or even some Christian churches. So what do you think?
The short answer is "no", but obviously that requires some explaining.
I think the Corinthian Christians had the same problem. 1 Cor 12 provides a long discussion about gifts of the Spirit, including tongues and healing. The emphasis is on diversity of gifts and working together in unity. Then in 1 Cor 12: 31, Paul points to the "great connector" - more excellent way; and that leads into 1 Cor 13.
In short, spiritual gifts are not there for personal or institutional gain but to serve in the growth and maintenance of the community of believers, the body of Christ. When we practise unselfish love then those spiritual gifts have the potential to serve a useful purpose.
All too often I see tongues and healings being used as leverage to say, I, or we, in the institutional sense are right and therefore you should follow me (or us). The Gospel is Christ-centered and spiritual gifts must point to Jesus and not us.
Amen to that. It is true that today many people use spiritual gifts as their purchased possession and don't give the credit that is to be given to God. We should be careful about these people always.
be sober and vigillant because the devil is working hard and tirelessly to prevent us from understanding the importance of the holy spirit..
Christ counsels us to buy eye salve and put it put on our eyes so we might see(Discernment) We have already bought His Gold(love and faith), and bought and put on His white cloths(His righteousness), if we have heeded His counsel. Revelation 3:18.