Distinguishing Spirits

Learning to Identify the Spiritual Challenges

Defining What We Know About Spiritual Warfare – Part 4

One of the basic purposes of this content on “Next Level Prayer” is not to discredit what we know, but to take what we do know to the next-level. Why do we stop at the ground floor when there is so much more available to us on the other floors that we have access to? Allow me to give you an example regarding spiritual things. Please note that I have not studied every passage on spiritual things, but I have studied enough to draw this conclusion. We don’t know enough.

Now for the example. I came across these words, “do not believe every spirit.” ^[1] This statement implies a lot. 1 – There are a number of spirits, more than one kind. 2 – We have the tendency to believe spirits that we shouldn’t. 3 – Not all evil or godly spirits are easily recognizable. In fact, as I kept reading in the Book of First John, it gives guidelines in determining whether or not a spirit is of God or a spirit that is against God or anti-Christ. I could say a lot there, but the point I’d rather make is, where is this teaching when it comes to engaging in spiritual warfare? How can we engage in spiritual warfare if we don’t know how to first recognize the spirits that one, we’re fighting with, and two, those we are battling against?

Identifying the Source of Spiritual Challenges
How we present things is very important. Our words have power. Not only do they have power, they have power to mess things up. In the Bible, there’s a story about a Gentile woman whose daughter was found possessed by an “evil spirit.” Notice the language used. A little girl was “possessed by an evil spirit.” This mother begged Jesus for His help in this situation. In a dialogue and negotiation of sorts with Jesus, He in response to the mother’s favorable response instructs her to go home “for the demon has left your daughter.” ^[2]

What’s interesting here is that Jesus gave us the term to use for this evil spirit. Let’s call it what it is: a demon. Our language is important if we’re going to go to the next level in prayer, specifically spiritual warfare. We must be able to identify what we’re dealing with.

Allow me to clarify this demon thing a little further based on what we already know. Demons are like their leader the devil. Therefore most of what we know about the devil tells us about his followers, demons. A demon, just like their father the devil, has three objectives to carry out:

1) They steal. Anytime something is taken from you; it’s a result of a demon.
2) They kill. More importantly and besides physical death, mental and emotional death is the offspring of the demonic. Anytime someone kills your dreams and hopes, you can place the blame on a demon.
3) They destroy. Anytime your life is devastated, you can attribute it to a demon. Demons are out to destroy your home, your finances, your marriage, your relations, and your life.

In order to do battle spiritually we must be able to identify the impacts of spiritual challenges. We can’t allow our spiritual deepness to make us ignorant when it comes to spiritual things. There’s a saying that goes a little like this. “You are so spiritual that you’re no earthly good.” The exact quote by Oliver Wendell Homes is “some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.” Have you become so spiritually deep that you’re no earthly good at fighting the demons that we don’t know to be truly demons? Jesus called the evil spirit a demon that can be dealt with. He identified the source of this spiritual challenge.

Knowing What to Look For
Knowing that you are dealing with a demon, an evil spirit, or an ungodly spirit might be more difficult than we’ve been taught to look for. In fact, there are often times that we encounter a demon, but call it by another name so that it’s more tolerable. Author, pastor, and televangelist, Joel Osteen says “you will never change what you tolerate.” In the same way, we create ways to tolerate what shouldn’t be tolerated, then we live what we shouldn’t live with, demons.

Here is an example of two common demons that get tolerated, jealousy and selfishness. James, the brother of Jesus, identified these unseen emotions as earthly, unspiritual [not God’s spirit], and demonic. ^[3] Here’s another example. Depression and fear are called “tormenting spirits” in the Old Testament of the Bible. When God’s spirit left King Saul, a tormenting spirit filled him with depression and fear. ^[4] My point is this, there is much we don’t know, therefore, we must be committed in our search of knowing what to look for when it comes to spiritual things.

As we continue to learn and grow in the area of prayer, specifically in spiritual things, this topic isn’t meant to bring anxiety, but rather free you from what might have been holding you back. We’re learning how to identify spiritual things so that we know what spiritual things we need to battle.

Question: Have we become too tolerant of the demonic that we face everyday?

[1] 1 John 4:1 NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed January 6, 2023, https://www.bible.com/bible/111/1JN.4.1.NIV
[2] Mark 7:24-30 NLT, Bible.com, accessed January 6, 2023, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/MRK.7.24-30.NLT
[3] James 3:14-16 NLT, Bible.com, accessed January 6, 2023, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/JAS.3.14-16.NLT
[4] 1 Samuel 16:14 NLT, Bible.com, accessed January 6, 2023, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/1SA.16.14.NLT
All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.