Desktop Revelations

Ever walk into a room and the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife? That is a Discerning of Spirits. Ever had a boss that makes your heart jump every time they walk into your office? That is a Discerning of Spirits. Ever had a friend who always felt like ‘a breath of fresh air?’ That is a Discerning of Spirits.

Often we overlook or dismiss this sense as “just us,” when in reality we are simply perceiving the spirit world around us. Everyone (and everyplace) carries some level of ‘spirit’ on it. That is why people can literally carry an ‘air of authority,’ transmit a compelling ‘charisma’ or why someone’s words will have ‘weight.’ All those phrases refer to our ability to sense and interpret the spiritual backing on a person.

Growing in this gift will help us determine exactly how to attack the enemy. Are we facing a spirit we need to cast out or just looking at a trail of destruction left in that spirit’s wake which we must now help to rebuild? Operating in this gift will clearly show us how to act, speak and pray in any given situation.

Looking back I can see Discerning of Spirits operating in my life regularly. But because I was clueless, it was actually being used by the enemy against me, and I never knew it.

God has only recently opened my eyes to this phenomenon. I was that guy who thought all the crazy spiritual pressure I felt was just ‘little old insecure’ me. I didn’t realize it was stuff being passed on to me from others; or stuff currently in the atmosphere I was walking into.

Unfortunately, I’ve never really run across any type of comprehensive, in-depth teaching on this subject. I did find a great chapter in Jonathan Welton’s book, The School for Seers, on the subject. Feel free to check that out. I’ve only really picked up on it in my own life within the last couple years. So I’m no expert by any means.

That being said, I’m just gonna relate some of my experiences where the gift of Discerning of Spirits has played a key role in shaping my life and the world around me. Hopefully it will help open your eyes to clearly see this gift operating in your life as well.

I first began to pick up on this gift in Wal-Mart. Yea, Wal-Mart :) For whatever reason (Holy Spirit), I started to notice a recurring ‘shift’ in the thoughts that would ‘pop’ into my head as we would do our weekly grocery shopping there. They were prideful, lustful, accusing, self-hating type thoughts. Thoughts that I didn’t think anywhere else. Thoughts that didn’t bother me anywhere else. But here they didn’t stop and I would get grumpy and annoyed. It was a war zone.

It was like that for years. A 20-30 minute trip wasn’t a big deal, but by 60 or 90 minutes in that atmosphere I was so ready to go. I started to see the direct Wal-Mart/mental attack correlation, but I still didn’t get it.

Then it was Christmas time. That means Christmas music. We were in the store, doing some holiday shopping. We were probably there about 30 to 40 minutes when suddenly God nudged me and I realized, “Wait a minute. It just feels normal in here today. Just fun and light and normal. No oppression, no pestering thoughts. Hmmm.”

I paused to ponder this conundrum as Silent Night wafted over the air waves. Suddenly, it hit me! The music! The only thing different this trip was the music. It was Christmas – old-school, Jesus love’n - music. The atmosphere was different, it was clean.

That was the first time my eyes were clearly opened and I saw it wasn’t me. I was simply picking up on what was going on in the atmosphere around me. All the chatter of the enemy. That’s why the thoughts were always random yet persistent. They weren’t mine. They weren’t coming from me, but they were around me.

Shortly after my ‘Wal-Mart revelation,’ God again activated this gift in me to protect my family. We had just gotten new insurance and our dental provider changed as well. Kristy made back-to-back appointments for us, mine was first.

I got the x-rays and all that prep work done. Finally the dentist came in and examined my teeth. Suddenly I felt like he was gonna lie to me. I’ve never had a cavity to date and suddenly it felt like he was gonna lie and tell me I had one.

I felt it so strong that I answered back (in my mind). I said, “No, you will tell the truth.” After a short pause, he looked at me and said, “Son, you’ve got the best teeth I’ve seen all day. Let’s just schedule a cleaning.”

Ok, no biggie. He seemed nice enough, maybe that was all just some weird head-game.

The nurse came in to schedule my cleaning appointment. We discussed the dates or whatever. Then she asked me an odd, out-of-the-blue (red-flag) question. It was about a turquoise/blue bracelet I was wearing on my wrist. She asked if I also worked for their dental company (it was a big chain company). When I replied, “No” she proceeded to tell me that all the employees of this chain have to wear bracelets which are exactly that color!

Ok whatever, kinda random conversation. Now they know I don’t work for them.

Then it was Kristy’s turn. She has great oral hygiene too. Yet strangely, it was a different story for her. The dentist found three cavities in her teeth that needed to be filled. It just didn’t sit right. I told her about my experience and about what I felt in the spirit while I was in the room alone with them. We decided to get a second opinion.

Fortunately her Dad is also a dentist. We talked the situation over with him, let him see the x-rays and he recommended we go somewhere else. We ended up switching back to our old insurance and going to the dentist Kristy grew up with. He did a 360 scan, plus digital x-rays and found nothing. Nada.

Looking back, it all finally made sense. I did accurately perceive what was going on in that room. That doctor was being tempted to lie to me (apparently a common practice for that dental chain), and I picked up on it. God protected me through their mistaken judgment of my turquoise bracelet. However, once that truth was disclosed to them, they had no problem lying to my wife. All this so they could make a few extra insurance dollars.

Wow. God played that story out perfectly. He was training me in how to better discern spirits. Now I was catching on. I was learning to trust my senses and not just pass off thoughts or feelings as ‘random,’ ‘off-the-wall’ or even necessarily as ‘my own’ anymore.

Wait, there’s more :)