One moore thought about the Holy Spirit

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. - 1 John 4:1a

Not all advice is worth taking. Sometimes people advise you as a way of stroking their egos. Other times they are looking at things from their point of view without taking into account who you are and what you are about. Sometimes they are just not qualified to give advice.

In this verse, we find an excellent piece of advice. It was good when it was originally given and it’s still good today. John is writing to Christians who are dealing with a false teachers and false teaching. He was basically saying that everyone who comes around claiming to be of God is not necessarily from God.

He starts out the verse by highlighting his relationship with those who he is addressing. First off he calls them friends. They definitely have a positive relationship with John. They aren’t blood relations, but they are family. He calls them dear friends which indicates a degree of fondness, or love.

What do we learn from that? We need to consider the source. What do the people that are trying to give us advice care about? Is it us? Maybe they are just trying to manipulate the situation. Sometimes we are all too quick to listen to folks who mean us no good.

Once we determine that the source is credible, we can move on to the crux of the matter. What is being said? In this case John is giving a strong warning. Do not believe every spirit. It is very popular for people today to say that they are spiritual as opposed to being religious. With all of the different religions in the world today, religious people are a dime a dozen, and many of them aren’t even worth ten cents. That being said, just because a person claims to be, or even is, spiritual, that doesn’t mean that they have anything to do with God. There are a number or evil and wicked spirits in the world today.

How do we determine which spirits can be trusted? John says that we are to test the spirits to see if they are from God. That means we have to take action. We need to see if the spirit lines up with God. How do we do that? One of the tests that the children of God should use ought to be the Holy Spirit that indwells us. Some things should cause uneasiness in our souls because they are not in accord with the Spirit of God within us.

Another test that the child of God should use is the Word of God. If a spirit (a church, a preacher or a person) is bringing you something that is contrary to the Word, it is a message and a spirit that you should reject. You should not allow anything that is in opposition to God’s Word to have a place in your life.

The last test that I’ll mention is the counsel of other Christians. Sometimes God will send us something that seems to be right and from what we are able to discern it is in agreement with the Word of God. But for some reason we are struggling with it. In those cases we need to seek out the counsel of a dear friend who is a brother or sister in the Lord. We are responsible for ourselves, but we are also to help one another. Sometimes we are the helpers and other times we are the ones being helped.

John wrote this because many false prophets had gone out into the world and consequently there was a risk of them having a negative impact on the believers. He wanted them to be forewarned and equipped to discern and dismiss those things and people that were not of God.

John also wrote in his gospel, that God was Spirit, and they that worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth. To be a child of God the Spirit that is of God must reside in us.

So I’ll ask what kind of spirit are you?

I am available to preach and teach. I can be reached at PastorKMoore@sbcglobal.net or call (metro) 214-957-2621 or write to me at: POB 152631, Arlington, Texas 76015