Every believer who has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in them received at salvation has the ability to discern. My cry, plea and prayer for all of us at the brook Christian Church in 2013 is that this ability be stirred up in all of us. I call it an-ability cautiously so that we do not confuse this with the “gift” of discernment. To clarify a bit, just like we all can sing by virtue of having a vocal cord, not all of us have the gift or are gifted at singing

Discernment is not about discerning things but the discernment of spirits. This is important to me that you know what you are dealing with. I’m always surprised at our brethren and I can never stop to be amazed by this. The brethren have made discernment due to incorrect reading or teachings believe that the primary aim for discernment is to be able to tell who has done what, when and with whom. While it is true that God may in His wisdom and will reveal that to us, it is not the primary reason why God has given discernment to the church

This is what discernment is:

• It is the ability to divinely comprehend and understand a human spirit
• It is the knowledge of the kind of spirit a person possesses
• It gives one the divine ability to see the presence and activity of a spirit that motivates a human being whether good or bad
• It enables one insight into a realm that neither of one’s senses can enter into

Discernment of spirits is a tool (we need to activate in the church) that God has given the church to purge and clean out His temple. I believe in my heart that we can be that holy and blameless church that Ephesians 5:27 speaks about. God has given us the discernment of spirits to

•       Enable us to penetrate to the dividing of the soul and spirit within a person (other people call this the opening of one’s spiritual eyes but that’s a topic for another day)
•       To enable the church to choose and appoint proper stewards both male and female to fulfill their ministries within the church while exposing false doctrines and all manner and sorts of lies and malice that the devil has against the church. I need not stress the importance of entrusting correct people to serve in the service of His Majesty (that’s a very contentious topic for another day).

While it is our firm belief and stand at the Brook that we will not recruit people to come join us (we fervently pray that God draws and calls them to Himself and use the Brook as an instrument for their nourishment and growth), it is my firm belief that as the people enter the doors of the church, we should be able to discern their spirit, motives (otherwise how will we know what and how to minister to them) etc.

For too long the church especially we at The Brook have left this role to the pastoral team, but we need to realize that when people with evil and funny motives and spirits enter our fold, we will all get affected and caught up in the confusion. When confusion strikes, it’s not time to ask what the pastor was thinking but it is time to ask what was I thinking, what did I do about this and how did I aid the situation. The pastor is there to get fresh and correct nourishment for you so that you are able to then go exercise, activate and grow what you have been fed. The Apostle Paul was so insightful regarding this matter. He says people will “preach” the gospel for many different reasons, they will join a particular church for many different reasons, they will “claim they are called to serve in the church in a particular ministry for many different reasons. It is incumbent on us as the corporate body of Christ to ensure that Vultures do not come and make merchandise of our brethren. Sadly for too long, we have allowed this to go on. Even more sad is the fact that many of our so called brethren are not even aware that they are allowing themselves to be used by evil for evil purposes.

This is not something to be taken lightly. One pastor told of a story he once heard many years ago and it went something like this: a particular church decided to have a weeklong crusade/outreach and pitched a tent for evening revival services. On one services just after their intercession slot, people started going to the podium to share what they felt God say to them to exhort the church while they were praying (that is why in other churches there is always someone to listen to whatever you want to share with the church first before you are allowed to share it, again that’s a topic for another day). A particular woman who was unknown to any of the congregants stood up and started talking funny as if speaking in tongues and told the gathering that she is an evangelist and has come from another town by Gods instruction to preach at the crusade. There was dead silence and not even the pastor knew what to do and he did not in any way want to stand in the way of a woman sent by God from so far away to come win souls. After a while, a woman from the congregation s[poke to the spirit behind the so called evangelists outburst and rebuked her. It turned out the woman was not an Evangelist at all, she and a few friends (prostitutes) left their home town to go do some work in this particular town but business was dry. This lady had made a bet with her prostitute friends that she was going to successfully pull a stunt on the pastor and his congregation and pretend to be an evangelist and preach for the remaining days and collect all the offering for herself. She said, Christians are so gullible they would not be able to tell the difference. Imagine what would have happened if this discerning woman was not at that meeting on that particular day?

Indeed we have been so gullible many times and fallen for pranksters that have left the church in chaos. God has given us a special tool to safeguard against such.

I’m tired of the same things, issues, challenges year after year, decade after decade; we need to get to a point where we see things and spirits for what they really are and genuinely press on to reach the mark of the high calling. It is my firm belief that the devil has deliberately robbed and deployed demons to continue robbing the church of discernment because only then can his agents be deployed and accepted in our churches masquerading as whatever they deem fit.