TEST WHAT I HEAR

1 John 4:1-6 

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,  and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.  Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 

I am instructed to test the spirits to determine who they are from and what they confess.  The spirits that I am testing are the human spirits that exist in each of us.  For some of us, the Holy Spirit has also entered into us when we confessed Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  If we are living for Jesus, the Holy Spirit reigns and confesses Jesus Christ. 

For those who have not confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit has not entered them.  Their spirit will not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, so their spirit is not from God. 

It is by this distinction that I know the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit): He shall confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. 

THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS 

John refers to the receivers of his letter as “little children,” and rightly so, for that is the same humility I should have in my heart when reading it.  However, John makes two important distinctions:  “you are from God” and “you have overcome them”; “them” being the spirits of those who do not accept Jesus as their Savior, noting that they are against Jesus. 

I can discern what God wants to communicate to me by discerning when His Holy Spirit is present in the person speaking to me, and if it meets the test that God has set forth in His Word. 

Lord, thank You for allowing me to understand how to discern which messages are from You, and which messages are against You.  May You guide me in showing me in discerning!   

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.