Have you ever been verbally assaulted or attacked by someone, and you still don’t know why? Have they tried to destroy your labor in the church? Tried to destroy your reputation? Have they kicked against or resisted every good work behind your back simply because your name is attached to it? Yet they smile in your face and treat you with kindness otherwise? Do they leave you scratching your head trying to figure out what’s going on?
Peter walked with Jesus daily but denied him when Jesus needed a friend the most. Judas betrayed him despite working with him side-by-side in ministry every day. However, unlike you and I, Jesus was not caught off guard or surprised by their actions. Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times before the rooster crowed (John 13: 31-38), and Jesus predicted that Judas would betray him in John 13:18-30. How did he do it? Jesus was operating in the gift of spiritual discernment.
When believers get caught off guard spiritually, it is because they fail to discern the motive or the intent behind a person’s actions. One of the most overlooked but a necessary gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of “Spiritual Discernment.” Lester Sumrall, in his book, The Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit, defines spiritual discernment as “the divine ability to see the presence and activity of a spirit that motivates a human being, whether good or bad.” In other words, it is the gift that the believer uses to STAY ALERT. Remember, spiritual discernment is the gift given to believers in Christ by the Holy Spirit to help them guard their hearts, mind, souls, and sometimes even their bodies against principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness.” However, many do not operate in this gift because they fail to ask for it. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11 ESV) It is the will of the Lord that all of his children know how to walk not just in the natural realm, but also in the spiritual realm to see the things that surround us. Why? “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. So what’s so important about spiritual discernment? If we STAY ALERT, the promises of Psalms 91:10 ESV will be fulfilled in our daily lives, “no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.” Therefore, STAY ALERT!
Written By,
Pastor Walter Robertson, III
