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Shifting Atmospheres

by Honey Stone
05/22/17
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One of my unofficial roles at any church is to set the atmosphere. There are others who do this as well and they do it in their own signature style. One way to explain this is I am an empath, and this means that I can easily detect the emotions of others. This doesn’t usually feel like a blessing...being an empath.

I also have the anointing of discerning of spirits and so I can feel spirits. I can see them as well but mostly my spiritual sensitivies are tactile. The tactile side of things in the church is rarely discussed. Possibly the only emotional sensitivity that is acknowledged in the church is when someone has the anointing of healing, or a word of knowledge for healing, and feels pain in a part of their body.

When I go anywhere where there is a crowd of over twenty people, than the room tends to attract some kind of tone to it. It can be an emotional tone or a spiritual tone. If you were a painter, you could call this the under-painting. At church, some people come in with their luggage, garbage and stinking thinking. They don’t realize it, but some are polluting the atmosphere.

I come in a space, and since I am a super-sensitive, I am the one of the ones who notices the off-kilter mood. If I am in a church than I usually sweep the parts of the room that I know to sweep. But if it is someplace else, than I have to figure out if I need to be the one to shift things.

Because I am aware when there is tacticle static, I have had to learn to only focus on those things that I need to focus on. Some discernment clues are just warnings and others are assignments.

Sometimes I can feel spirits. For example, if the contacts in my eyes feel like they are dirty than the spirit of lust is around. If I get a headache, than it is the spirit of confusion. If it feels like someone has thrown glass in my eyes than that is the spirit porn. I have had many years of training in this and it has come through dreams and trials.

Years ago, I was at a worship service and a spirit hijacked me. I felt its heaviness immediately but did not know what to do and so I sat down. While walking across a crosswalk, I noticed all of these men were turning their heads to look at me. This just wasn’t the norm and I really didn’t want THAT kind of attention. At the same time, I felt like I was walking off-balance because I couldn’t stand up straight though I was physically standing up straight. So, I called my intercessory friend to ask her to help me to discern what the spirit was. She prayed, discerned and then agreed with me to boot the seducing spirit off of me. That's my training. How about you? 

Sometimes, at church, I walk in and out of the sanctuary a couple of times during a service. This is when I am trying to discern if something has attached itself to me. If I sense that something isn’t on me, than I have to figure out what I am picking up on, and how to get rid of it. This can be trial and error. Sometimes I pray in tongues. Sometimes I recognize what spirit it is and cast it out or pray it out.

Sometimes I have to do some kind of prophetic act such as stomping my feet which symbolizes trampling on snakes and scorpions (evil spirits). If it is addiction, I do a motion where I am break invisible chains over my knee. There are various hand gesture symbols that I have been taught to do.

Once the atmosphere is clear, that’s when the flags may come out...sometimes.  I happen to really like what my flags represent. These counter-balance what the Lord has undone through me. My flags are light green (new creation or healing), gold and orange-yellow (glory and joy) and the heart burst (passion). But I am really looking forward to buying the ‘dwelling in high places’ scarf some day.

I can detect spirits and emotions easier when I have spent time in worship and/or tongues. What I mean is, I am quicker to realize that an emotion is not mine but rather it is someone elses’ when I have spent quality time with the Lord. This double-antenna of mine pretty much dictates the amount of time I should spend with God if I want a good life.

I get a lot of complaints that I don’t show up for things but I consider that sometimes to be for the benefit of others. I just don’t like going into to an environment and having to do the double-cleanse of casting off from myself and then from others. It’s just feels like a dreadful chore. I dont' always pace my life and my introversion well. 

There are some newer Christians with super-sensitivities that don’t know what I know. I learned some of this from my pastor (and twin brother in the Lord) Brian. Brian is the Love Pastor but I am called to be the Fun Prophet. I’m not there yet folks, but what that really means is that I have more of a desire for celebrational worship or the victory dance. Others carry the intimacy anointing. I just have more of a need to express passion rather than tenderness or softness.

My former pastor, Brian, shared that he thought he was a train wreck emotionally until he learned that he was picking up the spiritual atmosphere of each city he passed through. Just as Brian had to learn how to be the love prophet, more training is needed for me to become the fun prophet. I recommend that you see if you can detect a shift in atmosphere while you are driving through towns.

I think the kids’ ministry will teach me some of what it means to have fun because I do have the fun-aunt anointing. My niece has called me the crazy aunt but that’s not entirely true. I’m definitely not the strict disciplinarian though I have been known to kick some kids out of Sunday school. This is not meant to downgrade those who are on drill sergeant the end of the spectrum. I have found that younglings open up to me because I am not conventional and just a little bit more casual.

If you have a need for more training on spiritual atmospheres, you can go to Youtube and the Google “Shifting Atmospheres.” You will find that Dawn DeSilva from BethelChurch in Redding, California has a practical teaching on this. Also, go ahead and check out Don Paul's "Diserning Atmopheres" radio podcast.

So, next time you have a headache why not ask the Lord what that is about instead of taking that aspirin. And the next time you are feeling a little crazy, why not stop and ask God: Is this me or do I need to pray for someone with these emotions? Just maybe God is trying to tell you something...