Wanting What the Lord Wants, an Interview with Paul King

Secondly, what the Holy Spirit does looks weird to outsiders. If someone is shouting while jumping up and down, but you do not see they are watching a football game, you might think they are a lunatic. To the outsiders at Pentecost, the people looked drunk.

Third, the flesh enters in revival and makes a mess.

Fourth, the devil tries to muck everything up and discredit revival with excess and counterfeits.

I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in revivals through the years. I believe in and encourage the real, and caution about excess and error. We can quench the Spirit through fear and doubt on one hand, and by allowing too much excess and flesh on the other hand.

 

PneumaReview.com: When it comes to spiritual discernment, manifestations such as shaking and falling under the power are probably the most difficult to determine the source. Why is that?

Paul King: As with all gifts and manifestations of the Spirit, such manifestations can genuinely be of God, but they can also be of emotion and the flesh, and some are demonic. Paul also says some things can start in the Spirit and end up in the flesh (Gal. 3:1-5). I have seen all of these through the years. And they have been present in all of these forms in most revivals through the centuries. Jonathan Edwards gave wise discerning counsel in saying that such manifestations are neither proof in themselves that something is of God or is not of God. The long-term fruit is key.

 

PneumaReview.com: How can believers grow in spiritual discernment?

Paul King: Prayer, the Word, mentoring, getting sound counsel, staying humble and teachable—and practice, practice, practice (Hebrews 5:14)! I began researching and writing Is It Of God? about 10 years ago, having experienced the gift of discerning spirits. But the more I researched and wrote, the less discerning I felt I was. I put the book on the shelf because I did not think I was discerning enough to write it. That is what God was looking for in me, and put the urge in me to continue to research and write. I came across a quote from early church father John Cassian who said that the essential quality for discernment is humility. If we think we have it all figured out, we don’t have discernment. If we are judging others, we are not judging ourselves, and we don’t have discernment.

 

Tags: interview, king, lord, paul, wanting

Category: Living the Faith, Summer 2019