The ATMOSPHERE, A TOOL FOR DISCERNMENT (1).
“While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And as he reclined at table with them, he took the bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. And they said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?‘” Luke 24:15-16, 30-32
The perception of things coming from God or Satan is felt by man through the atmospheres that invade his heart. When God is present, the atmosphere of His presence is perceived by feelings of peace. However, the presence of Satan or demons is perceived by feelings of fear and uncertainty. After the death of the Lord Jesus, many people were awaiting His resurrection, including the apostles and His disciples. Therefore, anyone could present themselves to them and claim to be the Messiah.
In light of what is written in our passage from Luke, we see that the disciples who encountered the risen Lord Jesus were facing a man they did not know or did not recognize. But the only thing that allowed them to confirm that it was truly Jesus who had appeared to them and spoke with them along the way was the internal atmosphere they felt because their hearts burned as they listened to the Lord speak to them.
What the Lord Jesus represents for us, no demon can take away from us. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and when He comes to us, it is His essence that expresses itself and that we perceive. While Satan may disguise himself as an angel of light, he cannot transform into the Prince of Peace. It is crucial to be vigilant about the atmosphere that emanates when we face a spiritual manifestation because the perceived atmosphere can help us discern the origin of the manifestation we are facing.
Not all individuals possessed by evil spirits in the service of Satan sow in us what the Spirit of God communicates through His atmosphere. As we will see later, the spirit accompanying the evil servants of God is a spirit with a negative atmosphere. We are capable of discerning different atmospheres according to their origins because God has endowed us with this perceptible ability to perceive the atmospheres emitted by human beings or even the spirits we encounter.
Discerning the atmosphere of God’s presence is the key to avoiding being deceived by the enemy, who carries an atmosphere of Satan’s presence. Since the atmosphere is a manifestation felt by man, the key to discerning the origin of the atmosphere lies in the person who is the source of that atmosphere. Each atmosphere is an atmosphere of the presence of a person.
One who recognizes the person will understand their atmosphere. We emit only what we are. A nervous man entering your home will always emit an atmosphere of problems. Some of us, when in the presence of a problematic person, feel so much of what they emanate that we prefer to distance ourselves from them to avoid ruining our day.
In reality, a wicked man carries the wicked atmosphere of Satan with him, and a benevolent man carries the atmosphere of God with him. The peace we feel in seeing a person is linked to the peace of the one accompanying them, namely Christ. The insecurity we feel in the presence of an armed and wicked man is linked to the wickedness of the destroyer and murderer Satan accompanying him.
How do we discern the atmosphere of God’s presence from that of Satan’s presence?
The best way to discern the atmosphere of God’s presence from that of Satan’s presence is to focus on knowing God and His nature. It is not useful for us to know all the depths of Satan, but some characteristics of the devil are clearly presented in the Scriptures such as: evil, seducer, deceiver, wicked, etc.
As in our previous books (How to Unleash the Power of the Holy Spirit and The Holy Spirit, My Intimate), we remind that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is truly the character that accompanies His power, His person, and the atmosphere of His presence. Where there is the atmosphere of the presence of the Holy Spirit, there is the person of the Holy Spirit, and His character influences the atmosphere felt by us. According to Galatians 5:22, here is what we are supposed to discern when the atmosphere of God’s presence comes to us:
The atmosphere of love: it makes us feel God’s love for us, and our hearts are aware of this love to the point of leading us to fall in love with Him.
The atmosphere of joy: we realize that joy overflows, and His presence makes us want to rejoice.
The atmosphere of peace: in this atmosphere, we realize that we are safe and that nothing bad can happen to us. All the turmoil we perceive within us calms to the point where tranquility fills our being.
The atmosphere of patience: here we measure God’s patience because we see and feel within us that He still gives us time to repent or persevere. It is in this atmosphere that we grasp the second chance that God offers us.
The atmosphere of kindness: we perceive God’s kindness to the point that we realize He is ready to do good to us.
The atmosphere of goodness: in this atmosphere, we are bathed in the realization that rises within us in the midst of His presence to the point of leading us to admire how good He is.
The atmosphere of faithfulness: we discover how He remains true to His promises, and we realize that what He did with our fathers, He will do for us.
The atmosphere of gentleness: there is no brutality, we are in a tranquility that covers us, and without brutality, we feel His presence that caresses us and makes us feel total well-being.
The atmosphere of self-control: there is no vengeance in the air, but rather the assurance of a second grace. We discover that He is not vindictive or violent because in the midst of this atmosphere, we bend and acknowledge our faults because His self-control has shown us our wickedness to the point of causing our emotionally charged words to flow before Him.
In the case of Satan, when his atmosphere accompanies his servants or a worship service, it may appear to come from God, but a crucial element will remain: it is the encouragement or non-condemnation of our own nature. One who is in a false atmosphere directed by Satan will notice that this perceived atmosphere does not push them towards transformation, but they will remain in excitement without leading them to the unveiling of their heart or even God’s heart.
The atmosphere of Satan’s presence leads men according to Galatians 5:19-21 to the activity of their own nature, eventually leading us to: immorality, impurity and vice, the worship of idols and magic, hatred of one another, quarrels and jealousy, anger and rivalries, divisions, envy, drunkenness and orgies, and other similar actions. Let us seek intimacy with the Holy Spirit to better know His person in order to discern the atmosphere of His presence…
This text is an excerpt from the book “The Atmosphere of His Presence” written by Pastor Kongolo Kazadi Lukuna.
We invite you to read the following article “We Are More Invisible Than Visible“.
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