A speaker warns that we often mistake personal discomfort for spiritual discernment. When someone's message convicts us, we may dismiss them as having a bad spirit instead of recognizing the Holy Spirit at work. Before judging others, examine whether your reaction comes from genuine discernment or from criticism, bitterness, or jealousy.
We judge people without even realizing it based upon their appearance, based upon how they talk, their ministry methodology. Maybe someone is very passionate, very fiery. They preach with great emphasis. Well, instead of saying they're passionate, we say, well, they're rude or they're mean, or I don't really like the way they're coming across. Or maybe someone says something that actually convicts us and it confronts something in us, and we don't like that they're disagreeing. We don't like that it's confronting us. So we say, well, you know, something doesn't sit right in my spirit, or they have a bad spirit. Now, sometimes this is true, but you have to examine Examine yourself. You have to ask yourself, is this really coming from the Holy Spirit, or is this just my own personal criticism? Is this discernment, or is this bitterness? Is this discernment, or is this jealousy? And we have to be honest about that.
