Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
//Maybe you can help me with today’s topic. We’re instructed to try the spirits to see if they mesh with God. If they don’t, discard ‘em. But what is God’s spirit like? Here are a couple examples from the Bible:
Galatians 5:22-23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Judges 15:14-15, and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him … And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
The latter verse is Samson, of course, a fellow who solved his problems with brawn, and the first verse comes from Paul, whose writings sometimes seem so saturated with brotherly love that it fills me with hope. With these two extremes in mind, what can we conclude about the Spirit of God? Perhaps only this: everybody finds in God whatever spirit they are looking for.