Oct

Combat Readiness 3…What Spirit Is This?

Posted by: Sonny in Discernment, Fruit of the Spirit, Holy Spirit, Miracles, Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Warfare, Strategy and Tactics, Supernatural

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A few years ago, if anyone had told me that I would speak in tongues, dance around in church in front of all, weep when reading the bible or a story of someone overcoming hardship with grace, or hurting for others, or rejoicing when someone came into the Kingdom, or just having the peace that I have now in spite of some tough personal situations, I would have told them they were crazy.

But they would not have been, since all of these things and others have and do happen to me now. They just do not happen as often as they seem to do to others. I know that the Holy Spirit has come to live in me, guide me, comfort me, teach me, and love me. I know that the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ is real and for this ‘day’ and that Jesus has baptized me in Him.

But what spirit is this we see all around us today?

If you read any of these theological blogs or forums much at all you will find this topic being discussed. This Holy Spirit baptism is misunderstood and much maligned. Most Christians on the internet seem to vociferously denounce the workings and gifting that we, the Pentecostals, know as certainty. And forget about the non believers ever accepting or attempting to understand what is going on.

You might wonder why all this is so.

I believe a lot of things lend themselves to this mind set. But I believe it is mostly our own fault. We sometimes in our zeal add to the unbelief. We do this by presenting what I have termed false manifestations and manipulations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There is just no way that everything that is happening and being displayed is really from God. Instead, I believe it to be another enemy tactic. He just loves to take the things of God and pervert them, so we can be deceived and ultimately killed.

I know this is harsh and it is not easy for me to write. I have both friends and family that will probably get a little mad at what I am saying here. But the truth has to be put forth if the enemy is to be defeated.

Why do I think this is happening? No, why do I know this is happening?

It is because I am inherently a skeptic. I spent most of my life doubting or in unbelief, so one of the main things I have asked God for is to experience everything He is, does, and has for us to experience. I also continuously ask for the wisdom and gift of discernment. And He has given me these things.

When I see a person that I know is not living for the Kingdom but at just the right moment manifests a gift, I know it is not the Holy Spirit. Some are just deceived and some are probably fully aware of what they are doing. Why would someone fake the gifts of the Spirit?

There are probably many reasons but, I believe at the top of the list is the need to be accepted, loved, part of something. If someone is not saved then they are naturally not filled with the Spirit of God. Still, there are a lot that, although not willing to submit to our Lords leadership, want desperately to belong.

Then there are the deceived. They have just never spent enough time with God or the Word to fully comprehend what is sent from Him and what is not. They jump from one revival or movement to another; seeking a personal emotional experience that the enemy has them convinced is not only good, but good for them.

Those that are deliberately faking the things of God are the most detestable and will probably suffer the most someday for their alliance with the enemy. If you do not believe they can easily deceive, then look up Marjoe Gortners younger days as a “healing evangelist’. Then look up some of the modern movements and see if there was any fruit. I am going to stop there and be nice, for now.

So what are we to do?

Counter attack strategies against false manifestations and manipulations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The first step towards defeating this enemy tactic is something called discernment. Paul told us to test everything and keep only the good. (1Th 5:21) Good is from God and bad is from our enemy. A really simple test is therefore, the aroma and the flavor of the fruit coming from all spiritual manifestations. If God is involved in any experience, some good should come from it.

Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…

Are any of these coming from those observed?

For the second step we must go way back. All the way to Mt Sinai. We have been given a commandment to never covet what anyone else has. (Exo 20:17) This goes for spiritual gifts also. Stop faking tongues because someone else has that gift. Stop falling down because everyone else is. Stop pretending to talk for God just because the prophet is getting all the attention. God already has something special in mind just fro you, if you submit.

My third suggestion would be to never, ever exalt a man for doing the work that only God does. No man heals. No man prophesies. No man imparts gifts. God alone does these things. Sometimes through a man. But He doesn’t have to. He can and will do it for you. You do not have to chase a prophet, or an evangelist, or sell the car to get to a certain revival, to have God work the supernatural. If He is going to do it for you, He will do it where you are.

I believe that there are probably many leaders today displaying bad fruit now but they didn’t always. They started out with Christ like motives and pure Godly hearts, but we lifted them up on pedestals with our adoration so high that they couldn’t help but lose sight of the narrow way.

Mat 7:22-23 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Deceivers, deceived, and the improperly motivated are treading on dangerous ground. Let’s do our part by not fueling ‘strange fire.’

Love you all

Tags: Discernment, Fruit of the Spirit, Holy Spirit, Miracles, Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Warfare, Strategy and Tactics, Supernatural

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 12th, 2008 at 12:50 am and is filed under Discernment, Fruit of the Spirit, Holy Spirit, Miracles, Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Warfare, Strategy and Tactics, Supernatural. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 comments so far

Sabrina

I had a wonderful spiritual mother in Dee P. When I was first saved and starting to believe in tongues and experience that myself I asked her all these questions. She told me I need to have faith in God to show me the difference.

When I start to pray I ask God to use me anyway He needs to and not to let the devil interfere. To let the Holy Ghost talk for me because my prayers come out truer to what I want and need than me saying them by myself.

I used to worry that I did not cry like everyone else when they were having a “powerful spiritual moment” but God showed me that I am different. Sometimes I cry, sometimes I laugh, sometimes I shout, sometimes I hum a song of praise, or I can do all of the above. I have learned not to be ashamed of God when he does call me (sometimes it is still hard around people I do not know) and I have learned that sometimes I just need to listen to the pastor without shouting every 2 minutes. I have learned all of this my observing, listening to others to know what they think (only those I trust), and most importantly by listening to God.

I have found out the easiest time for me to hear what God has to say to me is when I ask him to help me during prayer. When I ever have doubt I go to my Bible and look up what I need to about prayer and I have been praying for the last five years but every now and then God shows me something new.

God has blessed me with different gifts and I am thankful for them all. I have noticed that the closer I come to God and stay to God the more I feel at peace when using my gifts God has given me. I try not to worry about what others may think when I do use my gifts because they do not understand my relationship with God. I do not mean to say that in a mean way. I ask people I trust, my elders, in the church in what I can improve on and to make sure I am not “stepping out” of bounds.

One of the reason I do this is because the first time I thought I was hearing “tongues” was in a movie, where a crazy man said it, when I was around 10 years old and that stayed with me. When I first heard the people in Dee’s church (Alabaster) talk about certain things, like the Holy Ghost and tongues, I thought they were nuts and asked Kirk to leave! I was scared of everyone. Little did I know that part of that was the sinner in me saying leave before it sticks! I am glad I stayed.

My grandmother is a faithful Southern Baptist but I hardly ever hear her talk about the Holy Ghost. She is uncomfortable when I ask to pray for her and lay hands on her. I know she believes in the Holy Ghost because she admits that the only thing that saved my Aunt Diana in child birth was when people from a Church of God came and laid hands upon her and prayed to God for Him to heal her.

I used to be a non-believer. I am not now. Do I know when people are “faking” or not “true” to God even though they claim to know God by going to church? Most of the time. I know by two ways thanks to God. The first is when I know that the person claiming to feel the Holy Ghost is not “true” to God in their life by my observations. But, just in case I am wrong about them “faking” because my observations are wrong, I ask God to show me. That is usally by me standing next to them. My spirit will rise up in “protest”. My spirit also lets me know when I am standing next to someone “true” to God and then it stands up and sings. I do not claim to know this just by myself. Some of it is using good deductions and logic on how someone lives their life but whenever in doubt I turn to God for answers. I am also learning to listen to God better when he answers.

To me, God sent us Jesus to die for us and Jesus sent the Holy Ghost to be our comforter. We should never doubt God nor abuse our gifts. If we ever have any doubts, whether by someone close to me pointing it out in private something I did or said that they disagree with, or when I experenice my gift and it does not feel “right”, then we should turn to the Bible for the answers. Whenever I question what someone has told me about what the Bible said about a subject I look it up and again pray to God for anwsers.

Maybe I do all or some of these things is because I have experencied some of them. I have had the devil try to trick me and trick me before about things. When he did trick me was because I let him in my life someway by not following God like I should. You could say that my sense of discernment was off about some people and when ever I felt something wrong about them I made excusses. When he not trick me was because I was close to God. It is harder for him to get to me when I read the word and have the word in me and when I have the peace in me that I need. I try really hard not worry about tomorrow (like Matt 6: 34 says). I am very glad God has given me the gift of peace.

I think the closer you get to God the more you understand about your gifts that God has given you. I pray that I continue to grow even closer to God and he continues to bless me. I pray that He keeps me humble and not to full of myself concerning my gifts. (Yes, I am ashamed to admit, I have experienced that to).

May God bless you all.

P.S. Remember Sonny you wanted us to respond. LOL.

October 12th, 2008 at 9:22 pm

Sonny

Sabrina,

I am thrilled with your comments. Dialogue is where we can all work out the differences of opinion, interpretation, and understanding of these things that are as important as life itself. As a matter of fact, they are life itself. There is nothing more important to me than to “get God right”.

As I tried to say, I believe in the reality of the Holy Spirits gifting to the body. Some of us, like me and you (I think) might feel pressured to succumb to things because we want to be ‘included’. I don’t think you did and I know I did not. But so many do.

As far as personal discernment, or answering the question of whether what I am experiencing is really from God, the answer is simple. Do these gifts and experiences that I have in church, or around the right people, happen to me in private? Do I speak in tongues, do I experience that wonderful peace when I am alone, do I sometimes shout, sing, dance, and praise while no one is watching? Or do all these things only happen when someone can see or when some particular person (evangelist, televangelist, charismania superstar) lays hands on me?

Why did the recent Lakeland fiasco attract so many and then be basically proved to be false? I believe it is because people are truly seeking but have not been taught or do not use discernment. They really want these things but because they are not saved, or serving, or even filled, they chase it down.

Act 8:18-23 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.”

Here we see that you can’t have the true power of God when your heart is not right, because of the bonds of iniquity. And I see that the acceptance on our part of anything and everything that is going on is not serving our King. And that is why we are where we are.

Keep commenting. These are excellent additions to the dialogue. And don’t take offense when I don’t respond. I read them all but sometimes time is lacking.

Love you

October 12th, 2008 at 10:25 pm

Sabrina

When I am in private I do all those things. I have danced, shouted, prayed, sang, fallen down all alone (except for God), and many other things. I have praised God for a few minutes and sometimes for hours. Some of my best praising and prayer time is at night when everyone is down and out and I have no interuptions.

If fact the reason I try to be so “open” in church is because I thought to myself one day, “If I can do this at home why not at church? I am not ashamed of God and should not be afraid of what others think of how I feel I need to worship God!”. God put that into my heart because I had been dealing with at my new church here in LA. At Alabaster I was near others who were not afraid to worship with me by being “vocal” sometimes and letting the Holy Ghost take over. But, at this new church they are more reserved and quiet in there worship. So, I became more and more quiet also. I did feel shame then. Like I should be letting the Holy Ghost out and instead I was holding him in. That was not one of my finer moments. I had to ask God to forgive me and help me overcome that fear of others judging me by how I worship, praise God, and pray.

One of the first things I asked for when I became a Christian was the gift of the Holy Ghost. I thought that meant tongues. I was so wrong and naive. I am so glad I was. The Holy Ghost is my comforter in time of everything, from prayer to praise. I relay on him to help me through things, from the way I want to speak to the way I write out my thoughts here. I praise and thank God everyday for things in my life others my not even think of, like my microwave.

God gave us a wonderful gift in Jesus and Jesus not only died for us but he left us with a wonderful gift in the Holy Ghost to guide us. How can we not praise God?

October 13th, 2008 at 12:04 am

Dee Prince

Whew!! girl let the Holy Ghost have his say!!
You can come home anytime and shout, dance,praise. We have done it many times in my dining and living room.
I am thankful you are listening to God and my son has a spirit filled, tongue talking, dancing , praising wife to be a mother to his children!

I love you and I am so proud that God is has equipped you to be a part of his army.

Hugs,

Mom Prince

October 15th, 2008 at 9:19 am

Shannon Mimbs

Sonny

Your call to discernment is timely, especially amidst the collapse of many securities which we all hold dear. And your “counter attack strategies” are right on target…

I think it is vital that we always remember that the gifts of the Spirit are just that – the gifts which belong to and are utilized by the Spirit for the edification of Christ’s body. And for too long the church has thought we have to choose between gifts and fruit, when all the while, both are necessary and readily available in a selfless, other-affirming, Spirit-empowered walk with God.

Peace

October 16th, 2008 at 6:48 am

Sonny

I am always a little concerned that some will see my views about the need for more Godly discernment as an attack. This is not the case.

I do believe that we are to be a ‘peculiar’ people. But there is a fine line between ‘peculiar’ and outright ‘weird’. people that obseve us can have there curiousity piqued by the peculiar, giving us the opportunity to present the gospel.

But weird just causes them to shun, to run, or just to ridicule. I do not believe the Holy Spirit is involved in anything that hinders the Gospel

Love you

October 16th, 2008 at 10:31 am

Connie Davis

Sonny,
Like you, 20 years ago no one could have ever convinced me that I would be a Pentecostal, tounge talking, dancing in the
Spirit, Christ loving person.

I know that nauseating gut feeling when I observe a person (preachers included) laying hands on someone, and praying in tounges when I know (because God tells me) that that person is not annointed by the Holy Spirit.

There are many times when I speak in tounges in praise when the Holy Spirit just wells up in me and it just overflows out of my mouth. There are other times when I pray for the Holy Spirit to overflow in me and it just doesn’t happen. I don’t understand how some people can fake that :?:

I have given out messages to the church in tounges. I can hardly believe that myself. As a matter of fact, the first time I gave out a message, I didn’t even know it. After the message my insides shook like an earthquake and I almost passed out. Pastor had to tell me.

I believe that some gifts are permanent and some are temporary. For instance the gift of healing I believe to be temporary. I believe God calls on certain believers at different times depending on the person being healed and the situation at hand. I know that I have layed hands on people or prayed for people and God healed them, and sometimes He used another believer. The only One I believe can posses the gift of healing all the time is God.

He has used me to give a message in tounges to the church at times, and other times He uses others. I believe He sees our hearts at that moment and chooses us when we are sincere and ready.

I have many family members (cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.) that absoutely think I am from the devil when I try to explain about the Holy Ghost, but….oh well, they thought that before I got saved too.

I believe God gives us all gifts. My prayer is that we listen to His voice when He calls on us and we use them boldly and without fear.

I really enjoy your blog. It’s like getting a Sunday School lesson for grown ups. I haven’t had one of those in 13 years. May God keep His anointing on you that you may continue touching lives through this blog.

Connie

October 21st, 2008 at 2:30 pm