You don’t know what Spirit you are of!

by Ed Elliott

Wow, imagine Jesus saying that to you? But He did say it to His disciples.

And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.Luke 9:51–56

Anytime we don’t know the heart of God, we can operate or be influenced by the wrong spirit. We see this is exactly what happened with Jesus’s disciples who wanted to call fire down on the Samaritans who rejected Jesus. Jesus rebuked them and told them that they were not operating in the same Spirit He was. It was another spirit that had influenced the disciples to want to see the Samaritans destroyed.

One of the last things Jesus said to the disciples before His accession was to take the gospel to Samaria. They didn’t, Phillip did…