Thursday 8 December 2011

The Discerning of Spirits

Points we gleaned from a chapter on the gift of the discerning of Spirits, in a book by Kenneth E. Hagin (if I understood it correctly):

The gift of the discerning of spirits is a vision of either the Spirit of God, or a human spirit, or an angelic spirit, or a demonic spirit. It enables us to see which spirit is behind a potential manifestation.

Not all visions are a manifestation of the gift of the discerning of spirits, but most manifestations of the gift of the discerning of spirits are visions.

The gift of the discerning of spirits is distinct from general visions, distinct from natural discernment, distinct from the inner witness of the Spirit, distinct from discernment learned by the Scriptures, and distinct from the gift of the word of knowledge.

The simple gift of prophecy contains no revelation: it is simply speaking with divine inspiration for the purpose of edification, exhortation and comfort.

The word of knowledge is revelation about facts past or present. The word of wisdom is revelation about future purposes in the mind of God. Therefore the word of wisdom is a stronger function than the word of knowledge, prophecy and the discerning of spirits.

All of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are supernatural manifestations of the Spirit.

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