Test

There is a command in the word of God that is trickier than it seems on its surface, yet it is vital to our spiritual lives. This is the command:
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test (test, examine, prove, scrutinize (as metals), to recognize as genuine after examination) the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."  1 Jn. 4:1
Deceiving spirits are very subtle and cunning (Gen. 3:1). Since the warning and commandment above is given to believers, we can conclude that it is possible for believers to be deceived. Individuals and whole nations can be deceived, as we see around us daily. In the Book of Acts, the Bereans ("well-watered"; to pierce through/beyond the other side) searched the scriptures daily in order to discover if what they were being told, in this case by apostles Paul and Silas, was true (Acts 17:10-12). The Bereans were eager to hear from them, but didn't automatically accept nor reject what they heard, but tested it, authenticated it by searching scripture. As a result, they became strong believers. Neither the apostles, nor scripture considered the Bereans as being disrespectful to the Holy Spirit because of this careful confirmation and authentication process of theirs, but referred to them as "noble".
We are told, "do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good." (1 Thess. 5:19-21).
The LORD says of false prophets that come in His name, and I want to include false prophesying spirits here as well, "I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart." (Jer. 14:14).
Proverbs tells us, "The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps ." (14:15).
Challengingly, the scripture also says that God can send false prophets, and I again want to include false prophetic spirits, in order to test His prophets, and to test His people in general, "to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deut. 13:3, 1 Ki. 13:11-26). One old prophet paid with his life for not correctly testing what he was told was the word of the LORD by another verified prophet. Doesn't sound fair, does it? But the LORD has to test us to know if we can discern the truth from the lie, especially in those whom He has specially called.
However, the testing of spirits does not apply only to our discerning of others. It also involves testing those spirits speaking within ourselves as well. Are we testing the spirits of what we spiritually hear and see? Are we testing those spiritual words and prophecies that seem to be spoken or shown to us by what we believe to be the Holy Spirit? We are to test the spirits, and not just quickly accept and believe all that we perceive is being spiritually revealed to us. We live in perilous times, when people are deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim. 3:13). Like the Bereans, we need to search the scriptures to authenticate the spiritual word coming forth.
There is one giant roadblock to our effectively testing the spirits of others, and ourselves. This roadblock is spiritual pride. The greatest experts in the world tested Jesus to discern if He was indeed the Messiah, the Christ. Their own spiritual pride, religious agenda and self-righteousness prevented them from accepting what their tests clearly revealed: the authenticity of the Man who stood before them, the One who was sent by His Father to save them.
Because of this same spiritual pride, we often do not test what the Holy Spirit is seemingly speaking to us. Is what we are hearing really the Holy Spirit, or is it a lying spirit sent to test us, or to make us turn onto the wrong path? It is not blasphemous or evil to test every spirit. It is commanded. Stop, think, measure, weigh. God will not be angry with you.
Satan knows all about this trap of spiritual pride. He fell into it himself. He is the master of it. He is defined by it (Ezek. 28:12-15, Isa. 14:12-15). His workers, those deceitful spirits, are attracted to the spiritual pride that they see in us, knowing that we are open to deception because of it. Even Jesus was brought into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tested by the lying spirit, Satan (Lk. 4:1-13). Not only did Jesus pass the test of the moment, but He successfully tested and challenged the spirit that was speaking to Him by a true comparison with the Word of God. Jesus was not only tested in His true and complete knowledge of the Word (He IS the Word) however. He was also tested in the area of spiritual pride (v. 6-7 and 9-11). There was no spiritual pride found in Jesus by which He could be hooked and fooled. These verses of the tempting of Christ found in Luke are an important study for us, deeper than would appear on a quick reading, dealing with common flaws not only in the human character, but in the religious character as well.
We are told in 1 John that the Spirit of God will always confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, while the lying spirits will not so confess and testify (1 Jn. 4:2-3). Therefore the lying spirits should be very easy for a believer to discern, right? I don't think so, because the lying spirits are subtle. The effect on our lives of these untested spirits takes the form of separating us from our faith, from fellow believers, from the completion of our assignment and place in the Body of Christ. This is a form of denying Jesus having come in the flesh, as His having come is manifested in us. These spirits will increasingly take us out of the Holy Spirit, and into the flesh, out of the Word of God, and into our own imaginations, as they are given the opportunity by our refusal to test them.
Perhaps we think that because we have been walking in faith for so long, having had the experience of hearing from the Holy Spirit so often in our lives, that we no longer need to test the spirits, because "we know the real thing when we hear it, when we feel it." Scripture does not allow this kind of exception to its command to "test the spirits". Remember the example of the old, experienced prophet in 1 Kings 13, mentioned above. These spirits don't come wearing signs that say, "I'm a liar; don't believe me." They come with convincing lies.
Recently it was reported that two gifted leaders, one a worship psalmist and the other a church leader, left the ministry saying that they were no longer of the Christian faith! What spirit have they been listening to that would cause them to completely abandon their faith? Evidently, these two men had been listening to these lying spirits for quite some time until the point came when they ended up denying Christ, which is the identifying test for these spirits, according to 1 John. We might say of ourselves, "That could never happen to me!" That is exactly the kind of spiritual pride that opens the door to just this kind of deceiving spirit. Scripture warns of a falling away that must occur before the day of the Lord, before His return (2 Thess. 2:3). Many believers, even strong, gifted believers will abandon their belief. Even the elect will be vulnerable to these deceiving spirits (Mt. 24:24). We are seeing this already.
Accepting what we are told by spirits without testing them can be very harmful to others as well. Because of this, Jesus remarked to His disciples on one occasion, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." (Lk. 9:55). Our untested words can have a harmful effect on the hearers, as well as on ourselves.
Seven times in the Book of Revelation Jesus makes this statement, "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."  Jesus wanted us to hear from the Holy Spirit, and only the Holy Spirit.
All will be tested. All that can be shaken, will be shaken. None of us are exempt. We will be tested to see if we will test. These times in which we are living makes this of vital importance to us.

Our Father has commanded us to test the spirits to see if they are of Him.