Today I had an “aha!” moment. For years I have wondered why I am so susceptible to getting “slimed” by evil, dark forces. For instance, I am having a normal, happy day. I encounter someone who is frazzled and stressed out. Without realizing it, I “pick up” their anxiety and discontent. I walk away feeling terrible.

I thought after years of following Jesus that I would be somewhat immune to this stuff. Not only am I picking up the anxiety the other person feels, but I am also burdened by the spirit of fear that is provoking their anxiety. Or sometimes it might be the spirit of control and manipulation that is pushing their anxiety buttons. Either way, I was innocently going about my day and suddenly I am weighed down by this darkness. It is a very vulnerable way to live.

Except now I understand! 🙂

When I get “slimed” or attacked mentally and emotionally by dark “energies”, my gift of discernment kicks in. Because I’m personally feeling the effects of this particular evil spirit’s assignment, I can identify it pretty quickly. And because it’s affecting ME, I have the authority to dispel its power – at least its power over me and my immediate vicinity. I also tend to release the opposite of whatever it was trying to bring – so if it was fear, I release peace. If it was bringing control and manipulation, I release freedom and liberty.

I just realized that my gift of discernment operates as an Early Warning Signal – kind of like a smoke alarm. When a smoke alarm goes off, it warns you that there’s a problem. It motivates you to take action immediately and put out the fire so that everyone will be safe.

In the same way, when I get “slimed” or affected by someone else’s negative assignment, my discernment kicks into high gear. “There’s something very wrong here!” it shouts. So I go to battle and take out whatever the enemy has engineered to hurt someone. If I was immune to attack, I wouldn’t know when there was trouble. Everyone else might be coughing from the “smoke”, but without an alarm it would take me a much longer to figure out what was wrong.

Wow, thank you Spirit of Truth for revealing this to me. It makes so much sense!

I have often walked into situations where the air felt “heavy”. If it is minor, I don’t respond. But when it is dense and bothering me, I take action. Evil “energies” – some people call them demons, entities, energies, vibes, spirits – it doesn’t matter to me. I just look at the results – is it positive or negative energy? The evil ones take away the joy and peace that should be ours. Life should not be full of stress and fear. So if they are bothering me, I remove them. That restores peace to a room, a home, an area.

I don’t remove them if they are not bothering me and I don’t take on things that are beyond my realm of authority. For instance, if I visit your home and you are anxious, I’m going to feel it. The air will feel “tense”. I will prevent it from bothering me by taking authority over it while I am visiting you, but it is your house. If you want to keep it, it will stay there with you. If you ask for my help, I will teach you how to remove it. But that is your choice. Some people are used to feeling anxious. It’s familiar. They wouldn’t know how to live without it. I’m not saying that is true of all anxious people – just some that I have encountered.

Now I will try being more thankful for this gift – instead of annoyed that everywhere I go, I get hit with stuff. It’s not easy being me. 🙂

How about you? Do you notice how much other people’s vibes affect your mood? Is it possible you are meant to “shift the atmosphere” where you are? Please comment below – I’d be very interested to hear your thought on this subject!