Sid: My guest Steven Brooks moves in extraordinary miracles and he has just come out with a 3 CD set called “Experiencing Miracles in Your Everyday Life.” He says if you will listen to this in depth teaching and follow it any believer can step into the realm where miracles happen consistency. I mean even daily and of course his brand new book “How to Operate in the Gifts of the Spirit.” It is so simple, but you know Steven, Jesus said “Unless we become like a little child we won’t enter the Kingdom of heaven.” So if you make it so theological and so complex it’s not childlike and it won’t even operate.
Steven: That’s true Sid, if we use big gigantic words that nobody understands we’re going to lose a lot of people. So we need to speak in a language that people connect with. When Jesus taught he used modern day parable days of His time so that common people could connect with what He was saying and understand His teaching
Sid: Well to me one of the most… and we’re going to be talking a little bit about all of the gifts this week and I believe that many of them are going to start operating those listening to us as well as you Steven. But one of the major areas that if Christians don’t have operating in their life they’re going to get in BIG trouble because of the times and seasons that we’re living in is called discerning of spirits. What is that?
Steven: Well that’s one of my favorite gifts out of the 9 and I think one of the reasons I love this gift so much is because I used to be absolutely clueless as to what it was. I’d read it in the Bible it would say “Discerning of spirits.” And I just said “Lord, I’ll be honest I don’t have any clue what this gift is, can You explain it to me, can You unravel this gift for me.” Now many people they, call it the gift of discernment, but that’s not what the Bible calls it. It’s actually the gift of discerning of spirits. And so it is the ability to see, hear, taste, touch or smell in the spirit realm. And I think what we have done Sid in the church over the past decades we have limited this gift to only seeing in the spirit realm. People say “I have the gift of discerning of spirits operate, I see something operate in the spirit realm.” Well it does involve seeing but just as we have 5 natural senses we also have all of our spiritual senses.
Sid: And just as if we wanted to eliminate 4 of our natural senses we wouldn’t function that well the same thing happens in the spirit realm
Steven: That’s true but I have found out that through the study of the human body that one of the senses we rely on greatly is our sense of smell. And some experts say that we actually put a greater reliance upon smell than we even do on sight. And that might seem a little bit difficult to comprehend but smell can be so powerful that it can even trigger memories that we had maybe in early childhood. So we put a lot of emphasis on the things we smell and it is possible to see in the spirit realm through the discerning of spirits. Now when we discern spirits that includes the realm of evil spirits such as demons or even Satan himself. But it also includes the realms of God’s Kingdom of the Lord and it includes angels, it includes that entire perspective. It could even include the discerning of human spirits.
Sid: Now I have heard of people that have a marvelous gift of healing for cancer, and they literally can smell a cancer spirit. Have you ever heard of this?
Steven: Yes I’ve been in conferences and meetings where I’m praying for the sick and I can smell the evil spirits of sickness and disease. Depending upon the predominant type of sickness that is maybe in that meeting you can smell that, so if cancer is the big bad guy that doing the most damage in that meeting you can actually smell that demon of cancer. See these are unclean spirits.
Sid: Wait a second, you said demon of cancer. Do you believe that cancer is a demonic origin?
Steven: Absolutely, I believe these things have. Now see I grew up with my mother working in the medical industry and they would look at all of these types of things as being germs, diseases and all in that category. But from a Biblical perspective you begin to see and understand the spirit realm, you see there’s things behind this. And as we look at these diseases there are categories and legions of evil spirits that assigned to different types of sicknesses. They’ll attack a person’s body and we have to be able to resist them, and we also thank God for His healing power to drive these spirits out and for the healing to come back into the body.
Sid: Tell me about the time that you and your wife Kelley smelled a skunk.
Steven: Well that was interesting, how about that in a meeting to be smelling a skunk?
Sid: I don’t think I’d like that.
Steven: Of course this is not a real skunk, but what took place is that I’d been invited to a conference, I was one of the primary speakers. I had already spoken and I was sitting down relaxing and they had another person come up and speak but this person wasn’t on the schedule, I didn’t even know that this person was invited to the meeting I’d never met this person before, and didn’t even know who this person was. But the moment this speaker went up and began their session of speaking and ministering to the people the very moment this person opened their mouth a fragrance was released and it was that of a skunk and it smelled awful. And the Holy Spirit said “Be careful, be careful because person is going to operate in occult powers.”
Sid: Now just out of curiosity you smelled this, your wife smelled this, did anyone else?
Steven: Well the moment that skunk fragrance came out I smelled it and my wife turned to me and said “Well we’ve got a skunk up there.” And I said “I know but I can’t do anything about it, we’ll just be on our toes spiritually.” I think out of the whole group maybe 500 people you maybe had 3 or 4 people pick up on that. And the reason that the Holy Spirit does that is for your protection and it’s a protection that says “Be careful.”
Sid: I mean can you imagine in the days and times we’re living in and as I study end times and what’s going to be happening to the world to have that edge to be able to know good from evil with the spiritual senses how powerful that is.
Steven: See these gifts are for our profit. Now 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that these gifts are for our profit.” Now 1 Corinthians Chapter 12 tells us that these gifts are for our profit now for our failure. And since they’re for our profit they’ll help us succeed in the different dimensions of our life calling. And just as I knew that “Be careful something’s about to happen here.” You know as I found out later as I did a little research on that speaker that this person was known for manifesting false signs and wonders and then just moving over into some really bazaar teachings that are not Biblical. So the person had a bad track record that went back for decades but this was a new place that this person never ministered before. So you know the Holy Spirit He will help us and protect us so that we’re not misled or taken advantage of in certain areas.
Sid: Now you talked about smelling things that are evil whether it is sickness or someone with a evil spirit but on yesterday’s broadcast you talked about the encouragement that God gives us with beautiful aromas which I smelled when you were ministering in Israel.
Steven: Yes, one of the most common fragrances being roses but also right there with them will begin to swirl different fragrances that smell like beautiful perfumes…
Sid: But why do the fragrances change? I mean, is there a reason that you’re aware of?
Steven: I think that the primary reason is because the Holy Spirit is in control of the meeting and so everything is exciting. You never know what the Lord wants to do so if we yield to the Holy Spirit while there can be a consistency in the person’s style of ministry it’ll always come out a little bit different because the Holy Spirit is involved, and so different types of fragrances…
Sid: For instance if there’s creative miracles is there something that you’ve seen with the fragrance?
Steven: Well over the years every time that the Holy Spirit moves me over into the realm of creative miracles there is a certain fragrance that follows my ministry. It has a very musky type smell and it’s a beautiful smell it’s not from this world. If I could bottle it I think I could make a fortune, but I think it’s a glorious smell and it’s a thick musky smell…
Sid: Did you smell that when that person had the arches created in their foot?
Steven: Yes, it was swirling all around us it was like a wind was blowing it all through us, all around us. Like a mini little cyclone and this fragrance was just swirling and it was out of this world. You would think hundreds and hundreds of flowers were being laid all around us. But this particular fragrance comes forth when I get into that anointing to pray for miracles, even creative miracles that fragrance will come. And what happens Sid when I begin to smell it it just causes my faith to go through the roof. And others begin to smell it also they begin to come alive in their faith. And suddenly it’s not just my faith it’s a corporate faith.
Sid: Oh, I have to tell you I was looking around to see what woman had all that perfume on her and there wasn’t anyone around you. I figured “No, it’s not Steven.” I’m just teasing. (Laughing)
Steven: That’s right I don’t wear lady’s perfume but the Lord He’ll bring in thee tremendous fragrances and really if you could see into the spirit realm what you would see is angel’s pouring out vials of perfume. It would look like bowls or basins of perfume are being poured into the meeting of a spiritual substance and it just goes all through the meeting room.
Sid: Okay we’re talking about things that are normal to us but those that are listening they don’t see it in their congregations, they don’t see it in their lives. Are you telling me that every Christian that’s filled with the Holy Spirit that they can operate in some of these gifts if not all?
Steven: They can and if a person is open the Holy Spirit will take you into it. Sid I did a meeting a year and a half ago in the back of the conference room there was a lady highly educated, very brilliant lady, but this was new to her. These moves of the spirit she had never been a meeting in her life where these types of things were taking place. And there was another lady standing in the back of the room watching her and she told me later what had taken place. This highly educated lady was saying “This doesn’t logically make any sense; how is this taking place where for 10 seconds you’ll have the whole room filled with a fragrance of vanilla, and the next 10 seconds you’ll have the whole room fills with the fragrance of cinnamon,” on and on it goes. How does that happen? It’s because it’s the power of the Holy Spirit and if we’ll open up to the Lord we’ll be taken into the glory realm and the gifts of the Spirit will begin to flow.
Sid: Well you know one of the things you talk about is the more knowledge we get on these gifts the better we can operate in them. And that’s why I’m so excited “How to Operate in the gifts of the Spirit.” It’s simple, it’s practical, it’s step by step, it’s scripture, it’s testimony…
