“Extra Special Perception”

June 5, 2014

Should a gift ever be scary? After all, God gives good gifts to His children and all His gifts are from above, from the Father of Lights (James 1:17, Matthew 7:11).

A gift can be scary, even a good one. Discerning of spirits fits into this category. It’s a good gift, given by God to allow us to see into the spiritual realm and discern (perceive or recognize) not only when a spirit is present but whether it’s of God or not.

Let’s talk about perception for a minute. According to scripture, it seems that our spirits and souls have senses similar to the ones we have in our bodies: sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste. (For example, the eyes of your heart {soul} being enlightened: Ephesians 1:18.) So, when we perceive a spirit, it can be through the physical senses, the spiritual ones, or the soul, according to how God allows.

The perception itself can be a bit bothersome simply because it’s supernatural. Perceiving an evil spirit can be very scary – and remember how those angels in the Bible always said, “be not afraid” when they showed up? Why would they say that if fear wasn’t a common response?

So, the answer to our original question is “Yes.” This gift should be a little scary. It comes with a lot of responsibility. Realizing that the God of the universe is trusting you with a view into the spirit world should give you pause. You should be filled with awe. I don’t want to lessen the impact, but it’s kind of like a massive version of stage fright. If you don’t feel any twinge of fear, you are probably going to be in trouble.

Does this gift have to be scary? Not necessarily. Not beyond the awe and wonder you feel when you realize God trusts you with the gift. It’s like any tool of warfare. The more you know about it, the more you understand its use and the more you practice, the less frightening it is. And the more you are filled with awe because you are developing a closer relationship to Father God.

Several years ago, I had an angelic encounter. My friend was dying of cancer, and he just knew God was really mad at him, even hated him. He couldn’t accept the truth of His love. He also refused to have visitors, so ministering to him was out. One evening, I suddenly perceived a supernatural being in front of me. This was not a physical perception – my eyes were closed. But I knew it was an angel. Then I realized it was a messenger angel and that it was waiting for an order. I told it to go to my friend and tell him the words of Jesus. I repeated myself, and then felt it take off in the direction of my friend’s house. At the funeral several weeks later, God reassured me that my friend was with Him.

This has only happened once (that I know of), and it was life-changing. Imagine flawed little ol’ me, being privileged with an angelic visit and allowed to participate in a miracle. Wow!

We’ll talk about the dark spirits next time.

This is part 10 of a series on warfare

Part 1| This Means War!