Seeing the Supernatural

by Jennifer Eivaz

  Others have discerned the Lord’s presence as the scent of roses (i.e., the rose of Sharon in Song of Solomon 2:1). Still others discern His presence as a sweet fragrance, like the smell of fresh-baked cookies (see 2 Corinthians 2:14–15).

  The demonic realm has often been distinguished supernaturally through the smell of death, sulfur, rotten eggs, rotting garbage and dirty laundry, just to name a few. These odors are clues to help us identify what spirit we are dealing with, so we can respond in prayer and bring deliverance to those being affected. Maria Carlson from Ohio, who formerly interned at our church, had such an experience. She and her family encountered an obnoxious smell in their home, and it seemed to jump from one family member to another. They believed it was physiological and genetic. Maria described the smell as “extreme halitosis mixed with bad body odor and burning plastic.” She added that it was an odor that filled the house even with the windows open. Finally, Maria discerned that this was not a bodily malfunction, but a demonic spirit. After a lifetime of harassment, Maria and her family commanded the spirit to leave their home “in Jesus’ name,” and the smell left.

  Other points of discernment that help identify how to minister to someone could be the smell of something familiar to you, such as your grandmother’s perfume. Is there something you recall that was notable about your grandmother? Or was there something she specifically struggled with? If you are with someone and this happens to you, ask the person a few questions and you will most likely discover why you smelled that scent. In this case, you are discerning a heart issue that the Holy Spirit wants to highlight or heal in that person through an odor already familiar to you.

  What do you feel?

  This area of the gift of discerning of spirits is actually twofold in its function. You can discern the spirit of something through physical touch and external sensations, or you can discern spiritual information through your emotions.

  There was a new family attending our church, and the father came forward for prayer and ministry. I greeted him by first shaking his hand before asking him what he needed prayer for. When my hand made contact with his, I discerned something that I have never discerned before or since. I distinctly felt the presence of money in his hand, except there was not any. To test my experience, I took my hand away and then grabbed his hand once more. There it was again! Here I blurted out, “Ooh! I can feel money in your hand!”

  Thankfully, this man was a strong intercessor and fluent enough in the gifts of the Spirit to receive my random behavior. He was also a businessman. The following week he had a business deal go through, something he had been waiting on for months. Only what took place for him in the natural realm had already taken place in the spiritual realm. That is how I could discern the presence of money in his hand before he physically had it.

  Pasqual Urrabazo, a pastor at the International Church of Las Vegas, described an encounter he had while ministering at a conference in Texas. He grabbed hands with a man in order to pray for him, and when he did, they both discerned something powerful from the Holy Spirit. The man being ministered to made this comment to Pasqual: “You see with your hands, don’t you?”

  Pasqual replied, “You do, too! I can feel it!”

  Both this man and Pasqual had the same ability to discern by what they felt in their hands. Pasqual often discerns physical and emotional pain just by laying his hands on someone. He can also feel through his hands if there is the presence of demonic spirits or not, and he has delivered many people from demons as a result.

  Scripture shows that both good and evil can be discerned by touch. Peter saw, heard and felt the presence of an angel. An angel appeared in his prison cell, striking him on the side to wake him and saying, “Quick, get up!” (Acts 12:7). Eliphaz the Temanite encountered a spirit that made the hair on his body stand up (see Job 4:15). A young boy possessed with a deaf and mute spirit manifested physically at the sight of Jesus (see Mark 9:19–26).

  Shaking, tingling, heat, cold, pressure and the like could all be connected to something spiritual. I have felt the playful poking of angels before, and I have felt the brush of their wings. I have also felt the headache and nausea that come when someone is operating in a spirit of religion or has a hidden vice. You can discern spiritually through touch and physical sensation. Pay attention to what you feel, take note of patterns, and ask the Holy Spirit for clarity.

  You can also discern the spiritual realm through your emotions. Jesus was touched with our infirmities, and we, too, will be touched with what others are feeling as an extension of His ministry on the earth (see Hebrews 4:15). This method of discernment requires patience, emotional stamina and some getting used to, because it is not the “feel good” part of the gift. It also requires much practice to sort out which emotion is yours and which is someone else’s.

  Elaina Ayala, my personal assistant and also one of our campus pastors, learned she had the gift of discerning spirits when she began to struggle on her ministry outings. She was a new Christian and was part of an internship program. On ministry days, the team would begin with powerful worship and testimonies in one city to prepare themselves. As they traveled to their target city, however, Elaina would shut down with anxiety, nervousness and foreboding thoughts. Her pastor began to notice her repeated pattern, since she only did this when they ministered in one particular city. He clarified to her that she was reacting to the spiritual atmosphere of the city inside her own emotions. He then taught her to stand in her identity in Christ, and to pray, minister and prophesy in the opposite direction of what she was discerning.

  Do your emotions and thoughts seesaw depending on where you travel and what crowd you associate with? Pay attention to your emotions, thoughts and the short movies that play inside your imagination. You might be discerning much more than you think.

  Anointed to Discern

  What God appoints you to do, He will also anoint you to do. To be anointed means to be given supernatural ability from the Holy Spirit. This is what happened to Jesus when the Holy Spirit fell upon Him like a dove after John the Baptist baptized Him in water. Here, Jesus was anointed for ministry. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38). This same anointing is available to you. Jesus said we would do greater works than even He did, and that we, too, would be given power by the Holy Spirit to do just that (see John 14:12; Luke 24:49). God will anoint you to establish His Kingdom in the places where you have influence and to heal those who are demonically oppressed. He will anoint you with the gift of discerning of spirits so you can see and discern spiritual conditions in order to be more effective.

  Mavis, a Christian and former emergency room nurse, noticed a pattern in our city in regard to patients coming in for emergency care. She noticed that on any given day, there would be one highlighted kind of injury or emergency. For example, there would be a run on head injuries one day and then a run on broken fingers the next. She discerned this as being the “demonic assignment of the day” and would take this to prayer the moment she identified it. Her prayers targeted the unseen demonic powers trying to steal, kill or destroy the city residents. Recognizing her powerful assignment, she also took much opportunity to share her faith in the emergency room, even calling in reinforcements at times from our church to help her minister to certain patients and their families.

  My friend Edwin Smith shared with me how he had experienced a flood of overwhelming concern for a young woman in the youth group of his church. “I discerned the spirit of suicide,” he told me, “even feeling her anguish and that it was something planned out.”

  Edwin went to the youth pastor, pleading and crying for him to contact this young woman. Thankfully, the youth pastor acted on Edwin’s discernment. He met with her and her mother, with the young woman tearfully admitting her plan to kill herself—a plan that was intercepted. The gift of discerning of spirits saved her life.

  At my last secu
lar job before being hired at my church, the gift of discerning of spirits operated many times to bring divine intervention to problems in my workplace. Once, I was in my personal prayer time at home when I felt a distinct jab in my right eye. It was an unusually sharp and painful jab, and through this I knew I was discerning something spiritual. I asked the Holy Spirit for clarity, and that night I had a dream. The dream showed me two people at my job who were planning to stir up trouble and involve me in it somehow. I also saw in the dream that their plans would just blow over and that there was nothing to worry about.

  That week, my direct supervisor became very agitated and was communicating excessive rules to the staff about things that you would say and implement to protect yourself from false allegations. When I saw this happening, I explained to him that I had already discerned the matter, prayed about it and then had a dream. I even told him who was behind the false allegations, which confirmed for him that I really did hear from God. (My boss was already aware of the people involved, of course, but he could not identify them to us. What I revealed was just confirmation of my discernment.) I then assured him that it would all blow over. Later, I had the privilege of leading one of those persons to Christ.

  Receiving the Gift

  Is your heart being stirred for this gift? Do you want to become anointed with the gift of discerning of spirits? Or if you already have this gift, do you want it to grow stronger in your life? Here are a few things to help:

  1. Desire the gift

  God partners with our desires. If you are one who desires the gift of discerning of spirits or a stronger form of it, the Holy Spirit is eager to anoint you with it. If, perhaps, you are concerned that you are being prideful or grandiose in desiring this gift, you are not. We are strongly encouraged to desire spiritual gifts, and God promises to give us the desires of our heart (see Psalm 37:4; 1 Corinthians 14:1).

  2. Ask for the gift

  James teaches us that we don’t have something because we have not yet asked God for it (see James 4:2). Ask God to anoint you with the gift of discerning of spirits. Ask for more of it! That is a prayer He most definitely will answer, because “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).

  3. Have someone with the gift lay hands on you to receive it

  This is often called the prayer of “impartation” and implies the divine ability of someone to give, share or bestow what he or she has to another person, typically through the laying on of hands. For example, I could “impart” this gift to you by placing my hands on you and praying for you to receive the gift, and then by faith you would receive it for the first time (or receive even more of it). Through the laying on of hands, Joshua received an anointing from Moses, and the believers received the Holy Spirit through the apostles (see Numbers 27:18–23; Acts 8:18). The apostle Paul imparted spiritual gifts to Timothy in the same way and told him, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6).

  4. Steward the gift

  Stewardship involves studying the gift, using and practicing the gift, and being accountable for the things we discern. Reading this book, for example, is a form of stewardship, and you will see this gift activate and expand as a result. It is one thing to ask for the gift and receive it through the laying on of hands. It is an entirely different thing to apply it and develop in it. Peter teaches us to “use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). Through stewardship, we fan this gift into flame and become powerful servants to others.

  The gift of discerning of spirits is amazingly multifaceted in its expression and function. We miss points of discernment most often because we don’t recognize that we are discerning anything. We think it is just us, or we dismiss spiritual information because it does not make any sense. Once we connect the dots about how this gift can operate, however, we will find new opportunities for ministry. We also will discern spiritual atmospheres, both good and bad, which is the subject of the next chapter. Discerners act as watchmen and gatekeepers to such things, opening the spiritual gates to the right things and shutting them to the wrong things.

  Kingdom Principles

  Once you realize how much spiritual information you perceive through your senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste or feeling), you begin to examine your senses more carefully for spiritual possibilities.

  Discerning through sight involves our inner eyes, also known as the eyes of our heart, as well as our two physical eyes. We might see angels, visions of Jesus or signs in nature. We might distinguish the demonic as shadowy shapes, dark mists or actual demons.

  When you discern the supernatural through hearing, you will hear either internally or outside yourself. Some hear the voice of the Lord or an angel; others hear the voice or thoughts of an enemy. Still others hear common sounds such as bells, doorbells, door knocks, etc., but the sounds are actually spiritual sounds and not natural ones.

  You can discern good or bad through your sense of taste or sense of smell. The presence of the Lord is commonly discerned as a sweet fragrance or taste. The demonic might be discerned as the smell of death or something dirty, or it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

  Many discern the presence of the Lord through sensations on their skin or within their emotions. They feel goose bumps, electricity or overwhelming joy or peace. Others discern the demonic or a negative situation through a gut feeling, foreboding thoughts or through identifiable physical discomfort.

  Thoughts for Reflection

  Have you knowingly discerned the presence of the Lord before? How did you know it was the Lord?

  Could your random thought patterns, thoughts that come into your mind seemingly from nowhere, be a point of discernment? How would you know, then, what thoughts are yours and what thoughts are not?

  When you discern the demonic realm, does it leave you fearful or with a sense of defeat? What is the Holy Spirit saying about that situation, and how, then, should you pray?

  Through which one of your senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste or feeling) do you sense the supernatural the most and with the most accuracy?

  How has the gift of discerning of spirits released ministry through you? Were you able to help someone else because of what you discerned?

  4

  Discerning Spiritual Atmospheres

  It was payday, and I rushed to the bank during my work break to deposit my check. I did not tell anyone where I was going, knowing my personal errand would only take ten to fifteen minutes. Once inside the bank, I found myself nervously looking around the interior. I thought to myself, I hope the bank doesn’t get robbed while I’m here. I would be late getting back to the office! That was a strange, irrational thought that came out of nowhere, and I dismissed it as soon as I had it. Over the next month or so, I went to the bank three more times. Each time, I had the same bizarre thought that I needed to get out of the bank as soon as possible in case it got robbed. I still did not catch on that I was discerning something in the bank’s atmosphere, until I read about it in the newspaper. The bank actually was robbed! I was still learning, through this experience and many others, that when you discern something through your emotions, you can miss what you discern because it seems as though it is your feelings and is not rational enough for you to validate.

  My friend Mary had a similar experience, but with a better outcome. One day she noticed what she described as an “odd, unsettled feeling” descending on her like a dark cloud. She knew by the Holy Spirit that she was discerning something in the atmosphere of her neighbor’s home, but she could not put her finger on it. As the day wore on, Mary became more and more preoccupied with her neighbor’s house, getting up several times to look at it through her window.

  “I had no idea what I was watching for,” Mary explained. “I began to intercede for my neighbors, while still looking through my window to try to iden
tify what was bothering me.”

  Finally, Mary saw with her physical eyes what her spiritual eyes were discerning. That evening, she saw a man walking along the street. He made a sudden turn into her neighbor’s yard and onto their porch. Within seconds a light went on in their living room, then in a bedroom, and then in the back room of the house. Mary’s husband called 9-1-1, and the man was arrested for breaking and entering as he walked out the front door of the house. It turned out this was the same man who had robbed Mary’s home a month prior.

  Have you ever noticed an intrusive feeling or thought such as what Mary and I experienced? Did you doubt it was real, or did you dismiss it as being too irrational? When you operate in the gift of discerning of spirits, you will discern spiritual atmospheres through your senses, often through the vehicle of your thoughts and emotions. It is something you have to catch on to, because it is not logical or rational at all. These thoughts and feelings just show up, rather disconnected and unattached to any reality. Once you catch on to it, however, you can ask the Holy Spirit for more clarity.

  An atmosphere can be defined as “a surrounding or pervading mood, environment, or influence.”1 A spiritual atmosphere is created by the outflow of the human spirit(s) and by the presence of spiritual beings, whether divine or demonic. Atmospheres have distinct and identifiable feelings attached to them. Those can be feelings like joy, generosity, hospitality and worship, or they can be depression, anger, greed and fear. You can sense and discern the atmospheres of homes, churches and cities, for example, and much more. Spiritual atmospheres affect your thoughts, feelings and actions, and negative atmospheres are something you have to guard yourself from yielding to.

  Whenever I travel to minister, I distinctly discern each city’s spiritual atmosphere in my thoughts and emotions, and even in my dreams. In one city I might discern an atmosphere of witchcraft, but then discern violence and murder in another. In still another city it will be homosexuality, and in another it will be a spirit of unbelief in God. In one city in particular, I discerned its spiritual diseases in a dream as if they were my own—gambling, pornography and addiction—and I woke up grateful it was just a dream and not really part of me! That can be unnerving if you don’t understand why you would have a dream quite like that.