What about spiritual warfare?
2 Corinthians 10
Last week we laid some ground work as we addressed a few of things:
*Satan is an ancient and treacherous foe
*We need wisdom
*There are no shortcuts in spiritual warfare
*We gave the short definition of spiritual warfare as: Spiritual warfare is the unseen part of our walk with God that has consequences and ramifications both in the spiritual realm of our lives around us, as well as, in the physical natural realm. It is a three way conflict between the human spirit and mind of the individual, the forces of evil, and God’s will. It is prayer, but it is much more than just words, it is action, attitude, discipline, obedience, authority, wisdom, and knowledge. It is our responsibility as followers of Christ to know and be engaged in the daily struggle.
*And finally we looked at what spiritual warfare is not and at some of the scheme’s of the enemy.
Tonight we are going to take the next step int his journey of study as we look at the discernment vs false discernment.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6
The last part of Verse 5 from the Message paraphrase: “fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.” Discernment.
Miriam Webster: Discernment
1 : the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure
a power to see what is not evident to the average mind.
stresses accuracy. (as in reading character or motives or appreciating art).
the power to distinguish and select what is true or appropriate or excellent.
implies a searching mind that goes beyond what is obvious or superficial.
In short, discernment is knowing what God knows, having the mind of God.
As we move in spiritual warfare, we must not onloy have the wisdom of God, but divine discernment of people and situations and the spirits at work.
In every situation we find ourselves in, there are always at least two spirits in play.
1. Human spirit of the individuals involved
2. God’s Spirit or Holy Spirit
3. Evil Spirit
Discernment will tell us which we are dealing with.
Many times, well meaning, unwise, undiscerning individuals have attributed a circumstance or manifestation or even message to the wrong spirit.
We have discussed several times that the word of God and the moving of the Holy Spirit must come through the filter of the human personality being used. It goes beyond just who we are to what we perceive.
When the Spirit of God moves or speaks, whether in dreams, visions, prophetic words, the written Word of God, or soem other form, much of whast is revealed will actually coem through our ability to perceive it correctly.
It is absolute fact that each one of us perceives things differently. Herein lies the challenge of discernment.
I have literally walked away from a situation feeling like it was a very positive thing with a positive outcome, only to find out later that soemone else perceived it entirely differently and is upset, offended, or otherwise outraged over something.
I have been in services where someone steps out and gives a word of prophecy or knowledge and some feel like it is absolutely of God and others feel it is absolutely not.
The difference - discernment.
The Bible tells us that Jesus perceived the thoughts of men “in His Spirit.”
If we will move in the divine discernment available to us, our view of life must be purged as much as possible of human thoughts and reactions.
This begins with a choice to crucify our instinct to judge. This takes a long time, but is an absolute must if we are going to realize our full potential in Christ.
We all have thought-systems and propensities of opinion that are not rooted in faith and love for people.
In order to have the mind of God, we must first have the heart of Christ which He summed up in His own words in John 12:47 “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”
It is a gift of the Holy Spirit to perceive correctly what is in the Spirit.
It is the grace to see into the unseen.
But the first layer of blindness for us is the layer which is over our own hearts.
If we do not fully see and understand our need for mercy then we will not be able to see the need for mercy and grace for those around us.
The gift of discernment is not a faculty of our own minds. We must thoroughly and fully realize this or we will be blinded further by ourselves and a spiritual pride will prevail within us.
Spiritual warfare is not about fighting satan or attacking demons, it is about drawing closer to God and removing everything that opposes His will in us and helping others do the same.
1 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,”
Pretension is a claim or right to attention or honor because of merit (Vanity)
Allow me to be harshly blunt for a moment. Much of what qualifies as arguments and pretensions here that we deal with a day to day basis are straight from the us, the spirit of man, not from satan or any demon.
Again, do not hear me diminish the role of evil spirits, they are real and we will deal with them in this series, but we are talking about discernment which starts in our lives first.
If we would truly help those around us, we must remember we follow a Lamb. Meaning grace and mercy.
If we don’t get this right we will find ourselves reacting instead of discerning.
To perceive reality in the spiritual realm, we must become blind to what seems apparent. The things we normally judge by.
It is natural to react to people and situations, but we must get to the point where we do not react, but rather to discern the truth and reality of what is at hand and deal with that.
This requires we remain forgiving in nature. Jesus was prepared to forgive men before they sinned against Him.
As we just read, He came not to judge, but to save. He knew His mission.
John 17:18 Jesus prays, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”
Our mission is the same as His.
We are called to die that others may live. Die to self. Die to ambition. Die to presumption. Die to pretension.
Before we can correctly discern and perceive the reality of the spirit, our love must develop until forgiveness is our normal attitude.
As the hearts of men our revealed to us, we cannot react to what they say or even to what they think, or we will be of no help to them at all. We must act with grace and mercy as Christ does with us.
Without divine forgiveness, we will presume to have discernment, but in reality are deceived by our own critical spirit.
Without knowing our weaknesses we are blind to ourselves and will begin to see a reflection of us in others and perceive that as discernment.
Without love and an attitude of forgiveness, we become a menace to the body of Christ.
Matthew 7:1-5
There are a myriad of sermons in this passage alone, but I am doing my best to stay on track here.
When we repent, turn away from sin, we are removing logs from our own eyes.
This is not a one time thing. Sin keeps coming back. Our carnal nature, our human spirit will rise up, and we have to maintain our holiness by removing those things that set themselves up against the knowledge of God.
Pride, pretension, judgmentalism, cold heartedness, unforgiveness, self righteousness are all things that blind us to God and what He is doing in us and around us.
As we remove the logs from our eyes we begin to see clearly.
Many assume they are receiving the Lord’s discernment, but in reality are just judging others.
We were quite clearly commanded in this passage to not judge.
When we do judge, we are outside the arena of mercy and grace. We were called to love.
I stated a moment ago that the one who judges, often is just seeing their own reflection in others and perceiving it as discernment.
Jesus very boldly calls this person a “hypocrite!” Strong words from the King of all kings.
This is not to say we stop thinking about others, on the contrary, look at the end of this we read in verse 5, “THEN you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
The way we help is to see clearly and we can only see clearly after we have been through deep and thorough repentance and the instinct to judge is erradicated from us.
The eye is one of, if not the most tender and sensitive part of the human body. How do you remove a speck from it? Very carefully.
You must win that person’s trust.
We only earn trust by being a person of grace with and attitude of forgiveness and a heart like His.
It takes time and it takes a consistent life of holy and right living with God walking in His love.
