Distinguishing Spirits

Bible Study

1 Corinthians 12:10c

I’ve known for most of my life that my strongest gift is not Discerning Spirits, but with awareness I have learned how to cope with it by signs I see in others.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the new church in Corinth he told them about many gifts from the Spirit and one of those gifts was discerning of Spirits,

In 1 Corinthians 12:10c he wrote God gives, “to another the ability to distinguish between spirits.”

It wasn’t until Seminary that I finally understood why I struggle to distinguish between Spirits.

One of the tasks we had to complete in Seminary was psychological testing. We didn’t take just one test…we took several. The most comprehensive was the The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Following receiving the results of the test we met with three psychologists so they could help us understand our results.

The tests were taken about 3/4 of the way through the Seminary program but we were told if we failed certain parts of the test we would not graduate. They were serious about only graduating sound students. I agree that is an acceptable decision.

Every test I took showed that I was naive.

That did not render me unacceptable for graduation but the team of psychologists warned me I need to be aware that I am so trusting I am considered to be naive. I found the results interesting because my children are not naive. Knowing that I have relied on their good counsel.

More than that, I found through the years that I’ve always relied on my trusty pups when it came to determining if someone could be trusted.

I grew up with a poodle. Not only was he extremely smart, he was extremely careful to check people who were standing close to me. If he stood between my body and the other person I knew he did not trust that person.

Then as a young adult I had a schnauzer. He was keen also on determining by scent if he deemed someone as being trustworthy. Experts agree that schnauzers can also determine if someone can be trusted by sense of smell.

I trusted my Mini Schnauzer.

My current dog is a schnoodle (poodle, schnauzer) who intentionally tests strangers and will back away toward me if he determines someone cannot be trusted. He also gravitates toward people who can be trusted.

I have learned that I can trust my grown children’s assessment and also my dog. If he smells someone who is not to be trusted he comes back to me and positions himself between myself and the other dog.

It may seem strange but through the years I have found that because I am so trusting, God gave me another way of being protected.

As I was studying this text I sought out AI and discovered several animals have trust instincts. Those include: dogs, rats, deer, wolves and coyotes, and ferrets/otters.

They do it through chemical signals, body language, and inconsistency. Particularly dogs can tell when human body language and words don’t match the scent.

Honestly I can say that even though I knew my dog was extremely smart, I didn’t know he really is a genius at watching body language and inconsistency.

According to petmd.com my dog can determine my mood, if a woman is pregnant, if someone is afraid, if someone is negative, if someone is ill, if someone is about to have a seizure, if someone has cancer or diabetes, and if weather changes are coming. That explains why my dog always comes to me when a storm if brewing. He is protecting me.

Scientists have determined several things dogs can determine by smell: emotions, disease, health conditions, electronics, environmental threats, ignitable liquids, poaching contraband (used by conservation agents), people (dogs are used for search and rescue), drugs, explosives, pests (even bed bugs).

I don’t know about you, but I learned a few things from this research about my dog that I didn’t know before.

I knew I could trust him to determine human traits, but I had no idea that in many many ways God made dogs smarter than humans.

To answer my question…yes my dog can determine my emotional state and know if I am not aware of danger.

My dog IS my constant companion and protector.

God knew exactly what I needed and provided my constant protector and genius snoop.

Deborah

WHAT acrazyjourney.com this world is!