Knowing whether we are on the side of God’s Spirit is a matter of testing. It necessitates a great amount of prayer and the Spirit’s guidance to make sure that we are leaning on God’s truth. This truth will help us not to fall on the deep ravines of errors and blunders.
The Apostle John talks about discerning and testing every spirit in 1 John 4:1-6, he expressed that believers should not believe every spirit but test them daily. He said, “Dear 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, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.”[1]Verse 1 sets the pace here for the argument of the stark contrast between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.[2] Truth comes from God while error is propagated by the pseudo prophets whose aim is to sway and influence those who are of the truth into the lies and errors of the evil one. This contrast will be a time consuming task but it is important in order to separate what is of God and what is not from him. And whatever is not from him should be considered as trash and of this world.
Elizabeth Liebert explains that, “the Holy Spirit is manifested in the inner experience by which we can recognize God,” while adding that “This inner recognition grounds our belief that God can be discovered through our powerful sifting and weighing.”[4] This then, is how every believer should test the spirit. We ought to weigh things and see if they are coming from God. This practice of testing denotes a prayerful attitude and a strong clinging to the Holy Spirit who is the truth.
The Holy Spirit will equip God’s people into distinguishing between right and wrong. However, it takes an intimate relationship with the third Person of the Godhead in order to do this. Still and all, it will always be the most fulfilling in the life of the believer. This gift to discern the truth from error is given to those who fall in love with the Spirit of God.[5] It should be intentional on the part of the believers and they should savor their relationship with the Holy Spirit all the time. Falling in love with the Spirit is not a one-time act but a continuous reflection of his truth, his work and his power.
However, not everyone will acknowledge the Spirit of God. Only those who believe and recognize his Personhood will do so. 1 Corinthians 2:12 states, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”[6] Hence, the Spirit of God is received by those who believe that he is from God himself.
This is what differentiates the believers who rely on the Spirit of God from those who are skeptics and unbelieving. The Spirit gives understanding and wisdom and sheds light to what the Spirit-less people cannot comprehend because they are spiritually discerned. This, Paul articulates in 2 Corinthians 2:14, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”[7] Since God’s wisdom is thought to be foolishness in the world, not everyone will accept it. Yet, it will not change the reality that the Holy Spirit is undeniably significant to understand the truth.
[1] 1 John 4:1-3a (NIV).
[2] Stephen S. Smalley, Word Biblical Commentary: 1,2,3 John (Dallas: Word Books, Inc., 2002), 217.
[3] Timothy M. Gallagher, The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Evreryday Living (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 2005), 17.
[4] Elizabeth Liebert, The Way of Discernment: Spiritual Practices for Decision Making (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 14.
[5] Joan Mueller, Faithful Listening: Discernment in Everyday Life (Lanham: Sheed and Ward, 1976), 14.
[6] 1 Corinthians 2:12 (NIV).
[7] 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV).
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