Stirrings of the Holy Spirit vs. evil spirits

The Lord God is good. Before Jesus left the earth, He promised to send the Holy Spirit to dwell in all who believe in Jesus and obey Him, so that we are never alone or ever need to feel abandoned. The Holy Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are His children. He will move us to obey God’s will through a number of ways. One way is to stir up our spirits into action. How can we recognise and be alert to the stirring of the Holy Spirit?

(简体中文 > 圣灵的感动与邪灵的对抗 | 繁體中文 > 聖靈的感動與邪靈的對抗)

John 14:18,22-23 NKJV  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 

Romans 8:16-18 NLT  For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.

The Bible describes anyone who has been reborn of the Holy Spirit as being moved as the ‘wind’. Wind can be as gentle as a slight breeze or as impressive as a tornado. We see an example of this when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus’ disciples as a “rushing mighty wind” on the day of Pentecost, as they were praying in one accord in the upper room. Just imagine the commotion and the noise!

John 3:8 NKJV  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Acts 2:1-4 NKJV  When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Holy Spirit stirs our hearts

The Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts. When He communicates with us, we can sometimes literally feel a subtle stirring inside or around our chest area.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NKJV  Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Exodus 35:21 NKJV  Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.

When we are moved by the ‘wind’ of the Holy Spirit, it will feel as if we are being carried along by an invisible force. We don’t decide and we don’t resist – there is very little striving or effort. This is important to note because the Lord may stir us to do or say things we would normally not think of doing or saying. The Holy Spirit’s stirring in our hearts is spiritually discerned. When we try to use our human intellect to make sense of any of it, we may resist the Holy Spirit Himself because we deem His nudging as just our foolish imaginations.

1 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV  But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 

Here are some ways we experience the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The word ‘heart’ in the Bible often refers to the Hebrew word, lebab, which refers to the inner person. The Lord moves our inner man.

1. Internal witness/knowing

We have a strong sense of knowing something even though it cannot be verified or has not been confirmed. For example, “I just know I have to be at that location by 3pm today, but I can’t explain why.”

Romans 8:16 NKJV  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

2. Spontaneous understanding or revelation

A sudden revelation of understanding drops into our heart, without us actively seeking for an answer. For example, “God knows all endings before all beginnings.”

1 Corinthians 2:12-13 NKJV  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

3. Conviction, our conscience is pricked

A sudden conviction overcomes our hearts about the things that we should not or should be doing. For example, “I should not have spoken to him like that,“ or “I need to stand by him in the midst of the great persecution he is facing.“ 

John 16:8 NKJV  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Romans 9:1 NKJV  I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

4. A burning in our heart 

We sense our hearts get lit on ‘fire’. This can happen when we interact with Jesus through a vision He gives us, as our entire being recognises our Creator.

Luke 24:32 NKJV  And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

5. A groaning in the spirit 

We feel the heaviness of the Holy Spirit’s groaning over His people, a situation, or over His creation, that gives us an understanding of God’s perspective on something that He wants to show us.

John 11:33 NKJV  Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

6. Spontaneous remembering

We are suddenly reminded of an event, a teaching, a spoken word, or a person that gives us insight into a current situation that is beyond our own human ability to comprehend.

John 14:26 NKJV  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

7. Forbidding/foreboding

We have a bad feeling about something that we cannot logically explain.

Acts 16:6-7 NKJV  Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.

8. Burst of joy, laughter 

An outflow of joy bubbles up inside our hearts and comes out through our mouths as laughter, which is unrelated to what we may be experiencing at the time. This joy is purely from the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22 NKJV  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

9. Sorrow bubbles up, there are tears

The Holy Spirit can also stir our hearts to a point that we begin to tear up and cry, as He shows us His sorrow over someone or something.

Ephesians 4:30 NKJV  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Evil spirits will also try to stir us up too — but to sin

Just as the Holy Spirit will stir us into thinking, feeling, and acting like Jesus Christ, evil spirits will counteract that with thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations that will attempt to stir us into sinning instead. A spirit of anger can stir us into taking rash actions that we later regret. A spirit of fear can stir us into taking flight when we should have stayed on. A spirit of lust can stir us into sexual  sin. 

2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

When the Holy Spirit stirs us, it can feel similar to anger or fear rising up inside us but will be more subtle. Hence, we need to be alert and self-aware enough to differentiate between what the Lord is doing in our spirit and what evil spirits are provoking our soul (i.e. our mind and emotion) to do. 

Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection to life thoroughly stripped Satan and his forces of power and authority over believers. Hence, all they can do now is to seduce, deceive, and manipulate those who are ignorant of their schemes. We won’t resist the Holy Spirit, but we must resist temptations from the evil one. We do this by testing every thought and stirring, and bringing it into captivity to obey Jesus. 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV   For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

Unfortunately, many people have become so accustomed to the thoughts the enemy has programmed into their minds that they have become ‘part of who they are’. They don’t notice that their thought patterns are driven by hell and not by heaven!

With constant practice, we will find that the stirrings by evil evil spirits are relatively easy to spot, because the thought patterns they use to manipulate their victims are the same. Here are just four examples. They are in the first person and sound like this:

• “If only…” — that stirs bitterness and resentment 
• “What if …” — that stirs anxiety 

• “Why can’t …” — that stirs judgment 
• “Look at …. (comparisons)” — that stirs envy and pride

Another consistent pattern of evil spirits use is that they will stir up opposition to the preaching of the gospel.

Hebrews 5:14 NKJV  But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Acts 13:50-52 NKJV  But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Distinctions of the Holy Spirit vs. evil spirits

The Holy Spirit’s stirring is purposeful and leads to good fruit. He will gently nudge us and then leave it to us to choose who we want to follow. God is never abusive and will not oppress us. 

Evil spirit stirrings, on the other hand, will be persistent in their provocations until we fall down and submit to them. This is why the Bible tells us to put on our armour of God, pick up our sword of the Holy Spirit, which is the Word of God, and stand, stand, and stand, three times (Ephesians 6:11,13,14).

Ephesians 6:10-11,13-14 NKJV  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 

Unbelievers who are oppressed by evil spirits will notice that they:

• Are drowned in obsessive sinful thoughts and lusts 
• Feel compulsively driven towards sinful actions, haughtiness, hypercriticism, division, fear, back-biting, manipulation, self-centredness etc.
• Hear a lot of internal arrogant or self-condemning self-talk
• Experience an internal heaviness or tightness, a constant unease, torment, restlessness and/or insomnia etc.
• Become stuck in dark thoughts, addictions, or cycles of destruction

Christians do not need to put up with such harassment when we have the Holy Spirit living in us. What we do need is to ask Him to reveal the areas of our hearts that need His healing and restoration, repent of all of our sins, and submit all things to Jesus so that our enemies no longer have any legitimate foothold to use against us. Then we can cast them out in Jesus’ name. Peace will quickly return. Thank God that Jesus has given us His authority over all our enemies so that His children can always walk in victory.

James 4:7-10 NKJV  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

May this sharing be a blessing to you as you seek to love the Lord with all your heart and obey the Holy Spirit’s stirrings.