Bible Snack #64

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1).
 
One of the hardest things I had to learn was that I lived in two worlds at the same time: the spiritual world and the physical world. I knew intellectually that the spiritual world is so much more powerful than the physical world, in fact, the spiritual world creates the physical world. But, when I learned that lesson emotionally, and I began using my words to create what I wanted in the physical world, attacks against me diminished greatly.
 
Spirits, no matter which world they come from, have no permanent home on the earth. They must be able to occupy a physical body in order to say earth is their home. If they are good spirits, angels, they operate directly and completely at God’s command and are not envious of our earthly home. If they are bad spirits, demons, they are desperate to get away from the control of satan, and taking over a human body is the best escape they can find. Animals aren’t that much fun for them because animals don’t reason, or think abstract thoughts. That’s one of the reasons demons work so hard to get inside of us. One Scripture says they seek wet places. Inside a human body is about as wet as anyone can find.

We test the spirits to know whether a spirit is an angel sent by God, or a terrorizing agent sent by Satan. Angels give us mobilizing hope. Demons cause us to “give up.” God sends us hope for our future, while Satan wants our faith to falter. When we give up the good fight of faith, Satan wins and we lose. So we test the spirits to see where they came from. I don’t want demons speaking to me. All they do is lie, cheat, deceive, mock, ridicule and wound in whatever way possible. Angels speak the truth. Whatever they have heard from the throne, they come and give us the word God has for us. The only way I have learned to test the spirits is to grab each one that I want to entertain and demand, “Where do you come from? If I can see a path of light, or feel one, or know it instinctively, coming from my spirit to my head, I know the spirit is good. If that trajectory comes from outside of myself, somewhere around my head and entering through my ears, I know it is of the devil and I cast it down!