The Charisms: 7 - The Gift of Discernment

It would be easy to recognize Satan if he appeared like his hackneyed stereotype: with horns, tail and pitchfork. On the contrary, he "disguises himself as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14), sometimes masquerading as God’s own chosen ones. Jesus warned of this. "False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect," he said (Mark 13:22). To ensure that we are not led astray, we need the gift of discernment, which is the ability that God gives us to distinguish whether a certain behavior, teaching, prophecy, ailment or action is from God, an evil spirit, or our own human spirit.

We see an interesting episode in Mark 8:31-33, when Jesus told his apostles that he "must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again". Peter took Jesus aside and began to scold him, telling him that such should not be. But Jesus, in turn, rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." Jesus discerned the spirit behind the words of Peter as not being from God.

Paul was blessed with the gift of discernment. On his second missionary journey, he travelled to Macedonia, along with Silas. While there, Paul came across a servant girl who kept following them, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God; they will make known to you a way of salvation." Paul discerned that the spirit was an evil spirit and commanded it to come out of her (Acts 16:16-18). It did, much to the chagrin of the girl’s employers, who used to use her "gift" to make money.

The gift of discernment does not help us to expel demons, as Paul did, but it is useful in the ministry of deliverance, where we need to discern whether a person is possessed or simply ill. It is also needed in instances where witchcraft, Satanism and occultism may be involved, in identifying demonic influence, if any, behind lying, infirmity, and unclean behavior.

The gift of discernment, in its more powerful forms, can reveal the name of a demon troubling somebody, the number of demons infesting a person, as well as which one of them is the strongest and has the greatest authority. We see Jesus demonstrating this when he delivers the possessed man in the country of the Gerasenes (see Mark 5:1-20).