There are teachings, mostly from the early desert fathers, which talk about discernment of spirits - growing in the knowledge and understanding of when certain feelings, thoughts and urges are from the devil, when they are from God, and when they are from our own thoughts.
This comes through experience, mostly the experience of prayer.
Sometimes the devil disguises himself, and gives us warm thoughts which comfort us greatly, but they are short lived.
Other times he shrieks and howls and puts all kinds of foul thoughts into our heads to distract us. During these times God might hide himself, allowing the devil to throw darts at us, so that we realize that we need God and seek him all the more.
Above all, I believe, the absence of anger in our lives and the presence of great peace, are the signs that we are close to God.
If people insult us, steal from us, tempt us, try to trick us, and assert their rights and power over us, and if we are able to love them and immediately pray for them, knowing that it is not their fault and that we would be the same way if God weren’t working in our lives, and we are able to do that without anger, then we are not far from God.
If these primitive feelings and disgusting thoughts happen occasionally, and if we are able to dismiss them as nuisances and recognize them as feeble attempts by the impish devil to distract us and upset our peace, and if we are able to move past them and remain in a state of peace, then we are not far from God.
Lack of anger and a state of perpetual peace comes from prayer, lots and lots of prayer, nourished by the sacraments. But mostly prayer. Prayer is the battleground. The early desert fathers, many of them saw prayer not only as loving communication with our Father, but as battle with evil spirits. That’s why Paul tells us to persever in prayer. That’s why we pray the St. Micheal prayer.
Prayer is the battleground, where we begin to recognize these attacks and God teaches us to defend ourselves against them. The adoration Chapel is not only the inner chamber where we make intimate contact with the bridgroom of the Church, but the battleground where we battle satan and his evil spirits.
***Discernment therefore involves the art of identifying the true causes of interior movements: divine, diabolical, or human. Such movements include consolations, desolations, images, and dreams, and part of the task of their discernment is knowledge of self: of one’s tendencies and aspirations, present state of soul, psychological state, and so forth.
For Diadochus, discernment of spirits is where theology and praxis meet. It requires learning to refine the “taste” of God’s presence and discovering that true theology is not information about God but an experience of him. Therefore, real discernment has to be done in prayer; otherwise the warrior loses the taste for God and his relationship grows cold. Prayer without discernment has its own dangers, as it exposes the warrior to the deceits of the enemy. Learning infallibly to discern the “footprints of the Invisible One" means that one has reached the heights of the spiritual life as a “theologian.”**
More…*
-Tim-
