A. WHAT IT IS NOT
  1. NOT SUSPICION - The gift of discerning of spirits is not simply
    being suspicious of others.  A person who has never had the Holy Spirit
    can be suspicious of everyone, and often they are.
  2. NOT GIFT OF CRITICISM - This gift is not discerning of faults, but
    of spirits.  It is the spirit of the devil which causes people to accuse
    the brethren.  The devil is called the Accuser of the Brethren in the
    book of Revelation.
  3. NOT THE GIFT OF DISCERNMENT - This gift is not simply the ability
    to discern things, it is the gift of discerning OF SPIRITS.  Most anyone can
    discern different colors, shapes, and sizes of things, but it takes a supernatural
    gift from God to discern spirits.
  4. NOT SPIRITISM - This gift is not to be confused with spiritism, which is
    condemned in the Scriptures.  The spirits of our dead relatives are not floating
    around in our houses or in the air outside.  They are either with Jesus, or else
    they have gone to hell.  As spiritism and demon-possessed people increase
    in number we need the gift of discerning of spirits more and more.

 B. WHAT IT IS
  1. DEFINITION - Discerning of spirits is God's Spirit informing a spirit filled
    Christian, which type of spirit is being manifested. It is a supernatural look
    into the spiritual world.
  2. APPLICATIONS - This gift can show the kinds of spirits which are working
    in people today; such as unclean spirits, deaf and dumb spirits, demonic spirits,
    oppressing spirits, or even the Holy Spirit. This gift is a requirement for all who
    are used of God in a deliverance ministry. Without it, those who seek to minister
    deliverance are simply left guessing at whether or not a demonic spirit is actually
    present and if so, what type of demonic spirit.  This gift is also a requirement of
    all those who operate in a prophetic ministry, for without it they would not be
    able to sit by and judge the prophesies of others as they are called to do in
    1Cor 14:29 which says, "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other
    judge."
  3. PURPOSE - This gift is given to keep the church safe from demonic presence
    and practices.

 C. BIBLE EXAMPLES
  1. PAUL AND THE DAMSEL - A certain damsel, possessed with a spirit of
    divination, followed Paul and Silas saying that they were servants of the most
    High God. Instead of making her one of the charter members of the church,
    Paul cast the demon out of her.  Please notice that Paul didn't take her into a
    special deliverance service and ask her all about her history, he just had a gift
    of discerning of spirits from the Holy Spirit to know that she had a demon and
    he cast it out of her that same moment.
  2. PAUL AND BAR-JESUS - Bar-jesus sought to turn away Sergius Paulus
    from the faith (Acts 13:6-10).  "Then Paul, FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST,
    set his eyes on him and said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the
    devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways
    of the Lord?" But, Paul first discerned that this evil spirit was there before he spoke.
  3. PETER AND SIMON THE SORCERER -  Philip let one man be baptized
    without discerning the evil spirit that was still in the man.  But when Peter started
    to pray for him he discerned it and said, "For I perceive that thou art in the gall of
    bitterness and the bond of iniquity," (Acts 8:23).  Simon had believed with his mind,
    was baptized and converted by Philip, but his heart was not right with God.
    If more of us had the gift of discerning of spirits in our churches, there would be a
    lot less churches which have people with perverse spirits and hearts full of
    wickedness.  They would have to change their hearts as well as their minds if they
    wanted to hang around the church.