Coon Hunting and the Holy Spirit

          I was thinking recently of how after receiving the baptism of the Spirit, I would sit around with a few friends (ten to twenty-five years older than myself) and talk about various things.  We would talk about such matters as what the preacher said and the anointing that was there or not. We would talk about how the Holy Spirit would reveal the accuracy of various parts of the word preached – the Holy Spirit always referencing numerous scripture to reveal the accuracy or lack. We’d talk about how the praise and worship went – if the leaders followed what the Holy Spirit desired to do. We’d discuss a word of knowledge given, tongues and interpretations, or various other ways the church may have moved in the Spirit – was it of God or flesh, did they wait for the proper time or interrupt, ect?

          When I was sixteen I started coon hunting. When you coon hunt (for raccoons) you go at night in the woods with dogs. So here I was sixteen and never hunted with dogs – how do you know what they’re doing? We were going into the woods at night – how did we know to go here and not over there? The fact I had hunted rabbits during the day without dogs didn’t help me to understand.

          As I continued going hunting, I started to pick up on a few things. When you first get to the woods you let the dogs go. Every dog is a little different from the next. As they go out one dog will smell something. The dog will bark. It always amazed me when I first started hunting how one guy would say, “she’s on a opossum” or “she’s messing with a fox.” How did he know that? All the dog did was bark. A little later a dog would bark. Another guy would say, “he’s found a cold track” or “he’s hot on that one.” How did he know that? Then the other dogs out there would soon join in. They would all be barking in the distance in the darkness of the night. Then all of a sudden one man would say, “Sis has treed.” How did he know that Sis had found the coon up in a tree? We were 50 or 150 yards away in the dark. Soon the men would say how one by one each dog was treeing. How did they know that? Sure enough, we would get to the dogs – look up and see a raccoon.

          So you ask, what does coon hunting have to do with discerning what is taking place in a service or other “spiritual” setting? I learned how to do both the same way – by listening to those who where experienced in what they were talking about. It took a while but I learned to understand what the dogs were doing. How – by understanding the dog and its mannerisms and learning to trust what I thought was going on. It was the same way in understanding and trusting my discernment of spiritual matters. I learned to understand the Holy Spirit and His personality. How do you do either one? – spend time with the one you want to understand. You also have to want to know. Too many people don’t care to know why a dog barks or why the Holy Spirit moves when and how He does. Sad!

          A man can find no better companion (other than a wife) than a good dog – the loyalty, kindness, friendship, love, willingness to be discomforted so we can be happy. So it is with the Holy Spirit. He desires that we are happy, healthy (physically and spiritually), knowledgeable, and capable. He desires that we know Jesus and not be ignorant of His ways. He desires that we are equipped with everything we need to succeed. The Holy Spirit is our helper.

          But a dog is loyal to his master and the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. Neither will do what we don’t want. A dog may take his nose and prod you gently to get your attention and the Holy Spirit will prod (convict) your heart to get your attention, but neither will over ride your will.

          It is time in the body of Christ we start talking about what the Holy Spirit is up to. One – so we will know. Two – so others can hear and learn! Discernment of spiritual matters has all but left the church – we rationalize. We use knowledge to say what God wants. Knowledge of the bible will not tell you where God is hunting today and why! – only by discernment through the Holy Spirit can we know. We can’t even discern the demonic influences that are around us – or maybe we don’t care because they may have something to do with us or what we care about.

          God is calling the church back to holiness and righteousness.  But without the understanding of spiritual matters the church is not going to get very far. The word says “my people parish for lack of knowledge”. We have plenty of knowledge in the body of Christ in the USA – so why are we dying? – Because we don’t understand that knowledge from God’s perspective. Only through knowing the voice and the ways of the Spirit can we have the wisdom of God to understand the application of the knowledge. It is time we ask God for His wisdom and the ability to discern spiritual matters. It is time to do as the word says “be not deceived”. Discernment of spiritual matters and what God desires is how we will not be deceived. It is time we put on the mind of Christ so we can understand His Spirit.    

Jude 1: 24-25

 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy -- to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.  Jude 1: 24,25



          This verse was sent to me recently by a friend via e-mail. He sent it to me because it was timely for him and what we had talked about. It was also very timely for me.

          The enemy is our accuser. The enemy wants to destroy any and all possibility that we would do the second half of this verse, lift up God in all His awesomeness and glory. The devil doesn’t want others to see Jesus lifted up in our lives. He doesn’t want others to be able to see that Jesus is our High Tower, our Rock, our Way Maker, and the One Who Washes Away Our Sins. He doesn’t want the world to be able to see God the Father as one we can go to in time of trouble. He doesn’t want them to know we can go to the Father, crawl up in His lap, feel His arms holding us, protecting us, loving us, to be able to feel the peace and security we have in the presence of the Father. He doesn’t want the world to know that the Holy Spirit is our teacher, our counselor, the One who speaks to us moment by moment, the One who gives us the gifts of the Spirit, the One who gives us the fruits of the Spirit, the One who empowers us to live our daily lives and do the work of Jesus in the world!

          The devil can’t hurt God directly so he tries to hurt God through us. If the enemy can tear us down, belittle us, make us feel useless to others and to God, if he can make us feel a little higher than a worm then he has won. We are now ineffective for God in the world. Why? Because if we feel so down about ourselves that we don’t feel worthy of God. If we don’t feel worthy to fellowship with God we won’t feel like and can’t be a good witness for Jesus in the world.

          That is why the first part of the verse is so awesome. God, Himself, will keep us from falling! He will present you with great joy and without fault before His presence!

          God wants a relationship with us. He knows we are not able to keep ourselves. Only by the Blood of Jesus can we be worthy. God’s love has provided the way for us to continually walk in His presence despite our faults.

          Praise God for His goodness and unending love! The next time the enemy is trying to make you feel worthless remember this verse and know that God wraps you in His righteousness and brings you into His presence with Great Joy!  

Jesus said, “Follow ME.”

          I believe that we make things too complicated, whether we are sinners needing Jesus or believers trying to “walk the straight and narrow.” Jesus made it simple. He said, “Follow Me.”

          When we are in the world, unbeliever or believer, we start presenting a list of do’s and don’ts. “I need to stop doing this, this and this. I need to do this and that.” The reality is “we are in the world.” We are not walking with Jesus at the time. So the problem lies in the fact that we are trying to do and not do these things in our own strength. IT WON’T WORK! Sure we can accomplish some things on our own. But how many times do we then falter and regress back to where we were… or worse.

          When one decides to follow Jesus everything goes into place. First and most important, you develop a relationship with Him. You learn to walk with Him. You learn to hear His voice. You learn to talk to Him and communicate with Him. Then it starts to get from your brain to your heart that “He is The Lamb that was slain for my salvation. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is my friend!”

          As you follow Him, He leads you down the road you should go, the path of righteousness. While you walk down this road with Jesus, He tells you what you need to do or not do. He gives you the ability to accomplish the task. He does expect you to be willing to put forth an effort. The Good News is Jesus will never ask something of you and not give you the ability to accomplish it.

          It is important that you understand it is not by your ability or deeds that you are able to have a relationship with Jesus. It is only by His Grace. You can try to clean yourself up, but you can never get all of the filth out of yourself. Only the Blood of Jesus can cleanse you completely.

          So, do yourself a favor. Give up trying to fix yourself. When you hear Jesus calling you into a relationship, just do it. Follow Jesus and He will lead you in the way you should go.

In Christ's Love,

David Lee Vaughn