How to Decern the Spirits by Smith Wigglesworth

The Discerning of Spirits To another [is given] discerning of spirits. —1 Corinthians 12:10

Discernment is a very necessary gift to understand, and I want you to keep your mind clearly balanced about this. I want you to rightly divide this truth (2 Tim. 2:15), to keep clear in your mind what it is.

Discernment versus Judging

In 1 Corinthians 12:10, it clearly says that there is a gift of “discerning of spirits,” but most people seem to think it is a discerning of human persons. It is amazing to find that all the people I come across—or most of them—seem to have a tremendous bent toward “discerning” others. If you carefully put this discerning of one another into real practice upon yourself for twelve months, you will never presume to try it upon another. You will see so many faults, so many crooked things about yourself, that you will say, “O God, make me right!”

There is a vast difference between natural discernment and spiritual discernment. This statement of Jesus is remarkable: How can you say to your brother, “Let me remove the speck from your eye”; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.(Matt. 7:4–5)

Remember that if you begin judging, it will lead you to judgment (vv. 1–2). If you begin using your discernment to weigh people by your standards, it will lead you to judgment. Ever since God showed me a certain passage in Romans 2, I have been very careful to examine myself before I begin judging:

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?(Rom. 2:1–3)

Balance that in your heart. It will save you from judging. I have found that there are many notable people in the world, whom I have known personally, who have gotten to running another person down and finding fault. They are always faultfinding and judging people outright. I find that those people always fall in the mire. If I were to mention these people by name, you would know that what I am saying is true.

God save us from criticism! When we are pure in heart, we only think about pure things. When we are impure in heart, we speak and act and think as we are in our hearts. The pure in heart see purity. May God give us that inward desire for purity so that He can take away judging. In the sixth chapter of Isaiah, we read of the prophet being in the presence of God. He found that even his lips were unclean, that everything was unclean (Isa. 6:5). But praise God, there is the same live coal for us today (vv. 6– 7), the baptism of fire, the perfecting of the heart, the purifying of the mind, the regeneration of the spirit. How important it is that the fire of God touches our tongues!

Discerning Spirits

But it is the discerning of spirits that I want to talk about, as well as what to do when you have no discernment.

In 1 John 4:1 we are told, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God.” We are further told:

And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.(1 John 4:3)

From time to time, as I have seen a person under a power of evil or having a fit, I have said to the power of evil or satanic force that is within the possessed person, “Did Jesus Christ come in the flesh?” and right away they have answered no. They either say no or hold their tongues, refusing altogether to acknowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ came in the flesh. It is at a time like this when, remembering that further statement of John’s, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4), you can, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, deal with the evil powers and command them to come out. We, as Pentecostal people, must know the tactics of the Evil One, and we must be able to displace and dislodge him from his position.

To discern spirits, we must dwell with Him who is holy, and He will give the revelation and unveil the mask of satanic power, whatever it is. In Australia, I went to one place where there were disrupted and broken homes. The people were so deluded by the evil power of Satan that men had left their wives and wives had left their husbands and they had gotten into spiritual affinity with one another. That is the Devil! May God deliver us from such evils in these days. There is no one better than the companion God has given you. I have seen so many broken hearts and so many homes that have been wrecked. We need a real revelation of these evil seducing spirits who come in and fascinate through the eyes, and who destroy lives, bringing the work of God into disrepute. But there is always flesh behind it. It is never clean; it is unholy, impure, satanic, devilish; and hell is behind it. If the Enemy comes in to tempt you in any way like this, I implore you to look instantly to the Lord Jesus. He can deliver you from any such satanic power. You must be separated in every way if you are going to have faith. The Holy Spirit will give us this gift of the discerning of spirits if we desire it so that we may perceive by revelation this evil power that comes in to destroy. We can reach out and get this unction of the Spirit that will reveal these things to us.

People will come to your meetings who are Spiritualists. You must be able to deal with spiritualistic conditions. You can deal with them in such a way that they will not have any power in the meetings. If you ever have mystics or Christian Scientists in your meetings, you must be able to discern them and deal with them. Never play with them; always clear them out. They are always better with their own company, unless they are willing to be delivered from the delusion they are in. Remember the warning of the Lord Jesus: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10).

Seek the Lord, and He will sanctify every thought, every action, until your whole being is ablaze with holy purity and your one desire is for Him who has created you in holiness. Oh, this holiness! Can we be made pure? We can. Every inbred sin must go. God can cleanse away every evil thought. Can we have a hatred for sin and a love for righteousness? Yes, God will create within you a pure heart. He will take away your stony heart and give you a heart of flesh. He will sprinkle you with clean water, and you will be cleansed from all your filthiness (Ezek. 36:25–26). When will He do it? When you seek Him for such inward purity.

Deliverance

Let me tell you what may seem to be a horrible story for you to hear; nevertheless, it is a situation in which discernment is necessary. This is happening all the time, and I do thank God for it because it is teaching me how to minister to people in the Lord.

Messages came to me again and again by telegraph, letters, and other things, asking that I come to London. I wired back and wrote, but so many calls came and no hint was given in any way as to the reason I was to go there. The only thing they said was that they were in great distress.

When I got there, the dear father and mother of the needy one both took me by the hand and broke down and wept.

“Surely this is deep sorrow of heart,” I said.

They led me up onto the balcony. Then they pointed to a door that was open a little, and both of them left me. I went in that door and I have never seen a sight like it in all my life. I saw a young woman who was beautiful to look at, but she had four big men holding her down to the floor, and her clothing was torn from the struggle.

When I got into the room and looked into her eyes, her eyes rolled but she could not speak. She was exactly like the man in the Bible who came out of the tombs and ran to Jesus when he saw Him. As soon as he got to Jesus, he couldn’t speak, but the demon powers spoke. (See Mark 5:1–13.) And the demon powers in this young girl spoke and said: “I know you. You can’t cast us out; we are many.”

“Yes,” I said, “I know you are many, but my Lord Jesus will cast you all out.”

It was a wonderful moment; it was a moment when it was only He alone who could do it.

The power of Satan was so great upon this beautiful girl that she whirled and broke away from these four strong men.

The Spirit of the Lord was wonderful in me, and I went right up to her and looked into her face. I saw the evil powers there; her very eyes flashed with demon power. “In the name of Jesus,” I said, “I command you to leave. Though you are many, I command you to leave this moment, in the name of Jesus.”

She instantly became sick and began vomiting. She vomited out thirty-seven evil spirits and gave their names as they came out. That day she was made as perfect as anybody.

The next morning at ten o’clock, we all shared a meal together. Praise the Lord!

With the gift of discernment, you are in pursuit of divine thought; you are in pursuit of divine character; you are in pursuit of the deep, holy, inward intuition so that you might know what to do. The Lord of Hosts is in you, and the Lord of Hosts is with you; His desire is that you should know how you will be able to do it.

One time I was preaching in Doncaster, England, on the topic of faith, and a number of people were delivered. There was a man named Jack present who was greatly interested and moved by what he saw. He himself was suffering with a stiff knee and had yards and yards of flannel wound around it. After he got home, he said to his wife, “I have taken in Wigglesworth’s message, and now I am going to act on it and get deliverance. Wife, I want you to be the audience.” He took hold of his knee and said, “Come out, you devil, in the name of Jesus.” Then he said, “It is all right, wife.” He took the yards and yards of flannel off and found he was all right without the bandage. The next night he went to the little Primitive Methodist church where he worshipped. There were a lot of young people there who were in bad situations, and Jack had a tremendous ministry delivering his friends through the name of Jesus. He had been given to see that a great many ills to which flesh is heir are nothing else but the operation of the Enemy; but his faith had risen also, and he saw that in the name of Jesus there was a power that was more than a match for the Enemy.

I arrived one night at Gottenberg in Sweden and was asked to hold a meeting there. In the midst of the meeting, a man fell full length in the doorway. The evil spirit threw him down, manifesting itself and disturbing the whole meeting. I rushed to the door and laid hold of this man and cried out to the evil spirit within him, “Come out, you devil! In the name of Jesus, we cast you out as an evil spirit.” I lifted him up and said, “Stand on your feet and walk in the name of Jesus.” I don’t know whether anybody in the meeting understood me except the interpreter, but the devils knew what I said. I spoke in English, but these demons in Sweden cleared out. A similar thing happened in Oslo, Norway.

The Devil will endeavor to fascinate people through the eyes and through the mind. One time a beautiful young woman was brought to me who had been fascinated with some preacher; just because he had not given her satisfaction on the lines of courtship and marriage, the Devil had taken advantage of the situation and had made her delirious and insane. They had brought her 250 miles in that condition. She had previously received the baptism in the Spirit.

You ask, “Is there any place for the Enemy in one who has been baptized in the Holy Spirit?” Our only safety is in going on with God and in constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit. You must not forget Demas. He must have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, for he appears to have been one of Paul’s right-hand workers, but the Enemy got him to the place where he loved this present world, and he fell away (2 Tim. 4:10).

When they brought this young woman to me, I discerned the evil power right away and immediately cast the thing out in the name of Jesus. It was a great joy to present her before all the people in her right mind again. There is a life of perfect deliverance, and this is where God wants you to be. If I find that my peace is disturbed in any way, I know it is the Enemy who is trying to work. How do I know this? Because the Lord has promised to keep your mind in perfect peace when it is focused on Him (Isaiah 26:3). Paul told us to present our bodies as “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is [our] reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). The Holy Spirit also spoke this word through Paul: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (v. 2). Paul further told us in Philippians 4:8: Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy; meditate on these things. (Phil. 4:8)

As we think about what is pure, we become pure. As we think about what is holy, we become holy. And as we think about our Lord Jesus Christ, we become like Him. We are changed into the likeness of the object on which our gaze is fixed.

How to Know the Mind of God

Now we come to the place of how to know the nature of the spirit we are dealing with. That is a very important thing. You are always in a dangerous place if you trust in your own knowledge. Let me say to you that whatever the Holy Spirit does in these days, He does in order to give you a new mind. Our new mind is to have the thoughts of Christ, the mind of Christ.

To have the thoughts and mind of Christ means that you will never seek to assert yourself for your own glory; now Another who is greater than you has to take your place and lead you to where you are in the place of Jesus. And in that way, the Lord will give you power to discern evil spirits.

We have struck one of the most holy chords that could be struck. I have clear confidence that we are in the will of God in this meeting, and I know the Lord is helping me to speak to you.

Hindrances to Discernment

I want you to see clearly that you will never be able to discern or deal with evil powers as long as there is anything in you that the Devil can touch. You are only able to do what God desires for you to do as you have come into the depths of death to self, so that the supernatural life of Christ is abounding in you to destroy the powers of evil.

Before Satan can bring his evil spirits, there has to be an open door. Hear what the Scriptures say: “The wicked one does not touch him” (1 John 5:18), and “The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul” (Ps. 121:7). How does Satan get an opening? When the believer ceases to seek holiness, purity, righteousness, truth; when he ceases to pray, stops reading the Word, and gives way to carnal appetites. Then it is that Satan comes. So often sickness comes as a result of disobedience. David said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray” (Ps. 119:67).

You will never be able to reach out your hand to destroy the power of Satan as long as there is the vestige of human desire or attainment in you. It is in the death of the death that you are in the life of the life. Don’t fool yourself; don’t mislead yourself. Never think that God overlooks sins. Sins have to be dealt with, and the only way God ever deals with sin is to absolutely destroy its power. You can be made so clean that the Devil comes and finds nothing in you. (See John 14:30.) And then you have power by the power of God over the powers of Satan.

Discernment is not mind or eye. Discernment is an intuition. Your heart knows exactly what you are dealing with, and you are dealing with it because of your heart purity against evil and uncleanness.

God is purifying me in every meeting. I can safely say that unless the power of the Spirit purges me through and through, I cannot help you. First of all, before I can give any life to you, the life must be in me. And remember that the Scriptures are very clear: death works in us so that life may work in you. (See 2 Corinthians 4:12.) Now, the death that is working is all carnal, evil, sensual. Don’t forget the remarkable thing in the Scriptures that leads us to this; there are sixtysix evil things listed in the Bible, such as murder, covetousness, evil propensities. But I am here to say by the power of God that one fruit will destroy every evil thing. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).