Hearing the voice of God!

I wanted to get straight to the point, but I also wanted to lay out a few foundations and explanations. If at all you cannot read through it, please ensure that at minimum you read the final paragraph.

As Christians we believe that we have access to God through Jesus Christ.

His purpose (as the son of God)
- was to show us the way (to God)
  - by revealing the truth (about God, about the enemy, about others, and about ourselves)
  - and by being our light (our salvation)

By this, we have become followers (disciples) of Christ.

It is not hard to accept this truth and believe it. The challenges come into play whenever we are in between his presence. Adam and Eve experienced their challenges in between God’s visits to the Garden of Eden. Jesus left us with the Holy Spirit (his spiritual presence) to lead and to guide us into all truth. But realistically we are not in-tune with his Holy Spirit at all times (even though he is always there and accessible), and that is where the challenges come into play.

Here are some key things to note:

The Holy Spirit testifies
The enemy tempts (he does not sin for us)
We are human (a mix of good and evil, and out of our hearts flows the issues of life)

In Mark 7:20-23 NIV, Jesus said “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

This scripture proves that our heart feeds our thoughts. So the devil is not to blame for the things that already exist within us, but he uses those things to tempt us to act on them and therefore we commit sin.

When a seed is planted in the soil, it receives nutrients from the soil and sends out it’s roots outward and it also shoots upward into the light as it grows. But no matter how much sun and water it gets, if it is not planted in good soil, it will not produce good fruit [because what is already in the seed and what is outside of the seed will join together to create what the plant will become]. That plant has to be replanted elsewhere to reach its full potential. That is why many leaders and people that God appointed in the bible had to be uprooted and leave where they were and move. It is because our environment (the soil) continues to shape us by amplifying our natural tendencies within. And, if God cannot perform any work in you there, he has to move you to someplace else. But if you are too stubborn or unwilling to move, he unfortunately cannot do anything in you and through you.

When listening for God’s voice there are some key things to remember:

You have to be quiet and allow God to speak. If you’re talking to him, questioning him, commenting, complaining, and basically laying it all out, you have to make room for his voice to be heard. Find quiet time, or just be silent while you sit, walk, run, drive, or work. While you’re being quiet, also minimize the things you are putting into your eye gates that keep your thoughts firing subconsciously. Put the game down, stop scrolling, stop watching tv, turn away from arguments, conversations, or anything that you can’t consciously tune out. You have to tune out in order to tune in!
When you are silent you may hear three streams of messages:
1. Your heart fires thoughts to your mind that cause you to ponder
2. You will hear the Holy spirit speaking
3. You will also hear what the enemy is saying as he speaks into your ear-gates. Remember that is outside of you and not inside. So he is not privy to your thoughts, nor the mind of the Holy Spirit. But the enemy is hyper aware of what you are struggling with. Just as people knows something is bothering you, so does he, but he has a better understanding of what it may be because he is following you everywhere you go. He doesn’t miss a beat or an opportunity to instigate. Before you even make a connection of what is happening, he has already assessed how to disrupt your ability to construct an effective solution by distorting your thoughts with the entrance of his words.
Before you determine if it’s the Holy Spirit that is speaking, consider the following:
- Is your faith tank full or empty? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God. If you are easily triggered, feeling overwhelmed, aggravated, and so on, it can be viewed as you are closer to empty. Attempting to hear or differentiate the voice of God at such time, may be frustrating and ineffective. First take some time to fill up. Listen to a few sermons, messages, inspiring songs, podcasts, etc. This reduces your emotions, quenches your anxiety, and helps you to see things in a new light.
Your own thoughts will always be validating to your point and your needs (whether emotional or physical). You are humanly wired to stand in agreement (at any point) with yourself! In Luke 11:17 NIV says “Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.”” That is the reality. You would not be able to stand, move forward, do anything, or get anything done, if you were constantly against yourself. There is no peace in war; only death and destruction.
The voice of the enemy will always be the loudest when your faith tank is at it’s lowest. But his call-to-action (in others towards you) will always be most visible when your faith tank is at it’s highest (because your awareness to pinpoint him will be most keen and sharpened).
The voice of the enemy aims to override critical thinking and always seeks to tempt you to:
- move impulsively based on your triggers, your emotions, matching the energy of others, and conforming to the majority
- harmonize and echo the sentiments (thoughts opinions, attitudes, feelings, etc.) of peer pressure or peer influence. If you are not voting on some type of group based decision, there is no reason to silence your own creative thoughts or intentionally withhold your feelings if it differs from everyone else due to fear of back-lash or social pressure [unless through discernment from the Lord, he requests that you keep silent (neither agree nor disagree, nor approve nor deny) due to the lack of understanding or the deaf ears of others or simply just foolish talk].
Increasing in the knowledge of who God is (his character and his ways), allows us to more quickly identify if the voice we are hearing is consistent with who God is.
The Holy Spirit (the voice of God) bears witness to the Truth (Jesus Christ) and testifies (according to 1 John 5:6-8) of his identity and his ways. His identity includes, truth, wisdom, understanding, discernment, faithfulness, grace and mercy, his omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence and so much more.
God’s character will never leave you hanging. So when he speaks to you, it isn’t just direction, it also encompasses the support of his characteristics that is required to fulfill your need. So he doesn’t just speak to you, he confirms it and then he sets up the scene for it to come to pass. The different aspects of his character comes into play as a team effort (not just to give you an answer, but to establish the result). These are some of the things you may notice, that will always come along with his word:
- wisdom for application,
- discernment for timing,
- truth for His perspective,
- faithfulness for support,
- mercy to not allow any wrong move you’ve made to be held against you in a way that hinders the effective outcome of the end result,
- grace that goes before you to create the environment that is favorable towards you,
- His omnipotence that has the power to orchestrate what you didn’t think was possible
- His omniscience that gives you reassurance in trusting him that you will never be lead astray because (unlike our earthly parents, mentors, and leaders) he actually knows all things,
- His omnipresence that lets you know that you are covered on all sides and that he is with you as you carry out your tasks and that you are never alone
- and after it is all said and done, many times it is after the fact that you receive the understanding and the ah-ha moment, because you trusted and obeyed.

Release the idea that you need an understanding in advance to know how to handle a situation. Rather present the issue to the Lord, pause and be silent, fill-up on your faith tank and identify your own thoughts by being mindful of what validates your feelings and emotions. The voice of the enemy will usually seem to connect with your own heightened state of emotions by justifying your stance, harmonizing with and echoing such sentiments, attempting to instigate the situation and temp you into acting on it. Listen for the voice that opposes the tag-team of your emotions and temptation. Be aware of your surroundings, because confirmations (the instant acknowledgement in the moment that brings your thoughts directly back to what He said or serves as a response shortly after his word) will come. Remember that His word will never leave you hanging. His confirmations will pair with His word to give you direction in accordance with His character guiding you with the necessary application, timing, perspective, support, allowance, and favor. It will reveal the unexpected and always provides adequate coverage. I must add, that you should also pray that he opens up your understanding, because if you don’t grasp it (when it’s all said and done), it will be difficult for you to encourage yourself or others when similar situations arise if you didn’t adequately receive proper understanding.

Be blessed,

G.M.