Test the Spirits

Test the Spirits

The Lord will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the heart. 1 Cor. 4:5.

He does not judge according to what the human eye sees or what the ear hears; His judgment is righteous. He looks into the depths of the heart and examines the motives. If He finds them to be pure, then everything is pure in His sight, even if other people can find much of which they disapprove. Sweet words and flattering speech can deceive the simple, but if you take the time to test the spirit, you will quite often find that behind these words, there is a false heart.

We are exhorted to test the spirits, to see if they are of God. This does not refer to the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places, but rather to the spirit that is active in people. Test the motive behind a person’s words. Is there guile in his spirit? The body cannot be tested, because the body without the spirit is dead.

The external ear can hear, but it is incapable of testing the spirits. For that purpose, we need to make use of the inner ear—the ear of the heart. It might sound strange that we are to listen with our heart, but that’s what we must do. The heart does not only need ears, it also needs eyes. “That the eyes of your heart might be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling.” Eph. 1:18 (Norw.). Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Everyone has ears, of course, but not everyone has ears of the heart, which is what this verse means.

A person who is impressed by someone’s worldly culture, riches or human beauty is incapable of testing the spirit of the person who has thus deceived him; he will himself be judged to be a fool. Therefore, it is vital that we keep a sound mind at all times, that we have the same mind that was in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we have this mind, we are not easily moved. It can truly be said of such people that they are “Christ’s honor.”