Scripture tells us to “test the spirits,” but how do we do that? The answer is as simple as we learned in Sunday school: “Jesus!”
By this you will 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.
1 John 4:2-3a
Acknowledging Jesus Christ as God come in the flesh, who died and rose is doing so on the basis of the Holy Spirit making that known to us. Denial of that Truth is not from God, but from evil spirits and the world.
But testing should not stop there. Everything we know and believe should be done on the basis of what’s in the Word of God and to make the determinations as to what is godly and what is not, we have to actually know what God’s Word says. We have to be in the Word! We have to learn the Word! We have to believe the Word! We have to live and breathe the Word!
When God’s Word becomes such a part of us and His Spirit dwells in us, it is a much simpler matter to discern right and wrong; good and evil. It becomes clear when evil spirits, the world, and sin try to lead us astray.
“We are from God.” and the Spirit who is in us “is greater than he who is in the world,” so rejoice, and revel in the tests, because we have the Answer – Jesus!
Scriptures
- 1 John 4:1-6
