Spiritual discernment goes hand in hand with prophetic ministry. Prophets, similar to apostles, deal with spiritual order, patterns, and structure. They are foundational and minister into belief systems (Ephesians 2:20).
Prophetic ministry confronts evil spirits.As prophets are sent into the world there remains a constant effort by the prince of darkness to introduce prophetic defilement into prophetic ministry.Every move of God, time of refreshing, and relevant truth for a particular generation has battled demonic resistance.
The Holy Spirit expects His prophets to stand in the gap and make up the hedge. New Testament prophets are part of the five-fold ministry ascension gifts. “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12). All these ministry gifts are needed to advance the kingdom of God by making Disciples of Christ.
There is a rise of rebellious and false prophets. In fact, false prophets will try and spiritually mug you in the name of Jesus. More on this in a minute. After the ascension of Christ, he gave five gifts to equip saints for the work of ministry. We call these the five-fold ascension gifts. These gifts are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Ephesians 4:10).
Spirit of divination in prophetic ministry is one of the top ten pitfalls. Not every prophet makes it. Sexual sin, divination, witchcraft, seduction of power, fame, and fortune, and every evil thing will test the prophet's life and ministry. All prophets must keep their motives right before God.
Spiritualism is a counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. Some things look like the Holy Spirit but are not. A spiritualist operates inside the spirit realm unlawfully with help from familiar spirits and divination. For example fortune telling. For almost every move of the Holy Spirit, there is a demonic counterfeit.
Witchcraft spirits are encountered and stopped by God's prophets. You are in a spiritual war for dominion. Apostle Paul said, “We are not wrestling against flesh and blood.” That doesn’t mean we're not wrestling. It just means we know where the battle originates. Spiritual warfare is something we cannot escape as Christians. Christ said he would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail. However, they are still trying.
Prophets know how to flow with the Holy Spirit in the house of God. Our society is filled with those that come into our churches who have formerly opened themselves up to New Age mysticism, witchcraft, the occult, and spiritualism.To protect the flock from false anointing and familiar spirits, there is a proper order in which the Holy Spirit likes to flow. When you understand this order you will compass biblical prophetic operations.
Familiar spirits attack prophetic ministry. Prophetic ministry training includes discerning demonic powers and evil spirits. In prophetic ministry, prophets carry a great blessing for the body of Christ. They also have a significant responsibility guarding their ministries against demonic encroachment while avoiding familiar spirits.
