In the School of the Holy Spirit by Philippe Jacques

Author:Philippe, Jacques [Philippe, Jacques]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Religion, Spritual
ISBN: 9781594170959
Publisher: Scepter Publishers
Published: 2010-07-08T04:00:00+00:00

Discernment of spirits

The experience of the Church and the saints4 demonstrates a general law: what comes from the Spirit of God brings with it joy, peace, tranquility of spirit, gentleness, simplicity, and light. On the other hand, what comes from the spirit of evil brings sadness, trouble, agitation, worry, confusion, and darkness. These marks of the good and the evil spirit are unmistakable signs in themselves. Peace, joy, and the like are certain fruits of the Holy Spirit; the devil is incapable of producing them in a lasting way. And since, by contrast, trouble and sadness are the sure marks of the evil spirit, the Holy Spirit cannot be the source of them.

There is, of course, the “sadness that leads to repentance,” which is caused by the Holy Spirit. But if it really does lead us to repent, it quickly turns into joy. Moreover, that sadness does not itself actually come from the Holy Spirit, only insofar as the Holy Spirit has brought to light something within us that is wrong and needs to be made right. Out of all the marks of the good and evil spirit, the most characteristic of all is peace. The Spirit of God unfailingly produces peace in our souls, and the devil unfailingly produces agitation.

In practice, however, things are more complex. An inspiration may come from God and still cause a lot of turbulence in us. But this turbulence does not come from the inspiration, which in itself (like everything that comes from the Spirit of God) is gentle and peaceable. The turbulence comes from our resistance to that inspiration. Once we accept the inspiration and cease to put up resistance to it, then our heart finds itself settled in deep peace.

This situation happens frequently. Certain inspirations of grace, when they reach us, meet with resistance from us, whether or not we are aware of it, and they arouse fear on the human plane, come up against our attachments to our own habits and the like. The idea of putting what the Holy Spirit is suggesting into practice worries us, and we start thinking: “How can I? What are other people going to think about me? Do I have the strength to do it?” and so on.

To describe this situation, we can use the image of a great river flowing tranquilly which produces eddies and whirlpools when it meets obstacles.

If an inspiration truly comes from God, and we silence our fears and consent to it wholeheartedly, in the end we shall be filled with irresistible peace; for the Holy Spirit will not fail to produce such peace in those who allow themselves to be led by him. This peace sometimes dwells only in the very deepest part of the soul, while questions and worries remain at the human and psychological level, but it is there and it is recognizable.

By contrast, if an inspiration comes from the devil or from our own ambitious, selfishness, exaggerated need for being recognized by others, and so forth, and we consent to it, it can never leave our heart in total, deep peace.

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