Now there are diversities (various kinds) of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations (ministries), but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations (activities), but it is the same God which worketh all in all – 1st Corinthians 12:4-7.

All Christians have faith, but some, however, have the spiritual gift of faith which is an unusual measure of trust in the Holy Spirit’s power. God works in believers to benefit the entire body, not just the individual Christian. Various gifts are distributed to bring diversity among the unified body, even as a human body has many parts and functions.The spiritual gifts we have spoken on thus far is the gifts of wisdom, and knowledge. Now we’re going to teach about the gift of discerning of spirits. The gifts of wisdom, knowledge and discerning of spirits are gifts of revelation, gifts that reveals something. The discerning of spirit gives insight into the spirit world. It’s not the discerning of devils; to say that the discerning of spirits has to do only with devils is misleading. It has to do with spirits, both good and bad, it’s a supernatural insight into the spirit realm.

In the spirit world there are divine spirits and there are evil spirits. The discerning of spirits actually has a more limited range than the other two revelation gifts, the Word of Wisdom and the Word of Knowledge because its revelation is limited to a single class of objects, that is spirits. Discerning of spirits also reveals the kind of spirit behind a supernatural manifestation. There are three kinds of spirits we have to deal with, divine, satanic and human.

The discerning of spirits is not a spiritual gift to uncover human failures. As Christians, we should walk in love, no matter what we may see in an individual, we should love them as God loves them. God reveals information supernaturally to a man or woman that comes from outside the bounds of that person’s natural processes; information that his or her mind did not conceive, ears did not hear, and eyes did not see.

An example of the gift of discerning of spirits is when Paul and his companions were in the city of Thyatira, they met a girl that had a spirit of divination, although she was speaking the truth, the spirit that was speaking was an evil spirit (And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour – Acts 16:16-18).

The discerning of spirits will allow one to see what spirit that has someone possessed in their behavior. Sometimes, the gift of discerning of spirit will reveal a spirit that brings sickness. We’re spiritual beings, and as we submit ourselves to the Word of God, the gifts He has given us in our conversion to Christianity will be cultivated and manifested in our lives to be a blessing to the body of Christ. Every gift belongs to God, the glory, praise and honor belongs to Him. We’re just the vessels He uses to manifest them through.