How do we separate our thoughts from God’s…How do we make decisions and walk in the center of His will and not constantly second guess our motives and intentions…Did God really say…or is our mind just making things up…
Often times, the barrage of these types of questions badger our mind until we give up and cower to the popular opinion “no one can ever really know.”
But we can know God’s voice. In John chapter ten Jesus promises, His sheep will recognize His voice…will follow His voice…and will not follow a stranger’s voice. He assures us He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. That’s good news! According to this passage of Scripture we will sense God’s voice and be able to distinguish it from our own. We don’t need to live fearful of messing up. So, what’s the key to discerning God’s voice from our own?—A living, intimate, relationship with Him.
All throughout Scripture, God speaks to His people. The more intimate our relationship with God, the easier we discern His voice from our own.
We can’t formulate a method to hear God’s voice. We either share a relationship with Him or we don’t. The more time we spend with God, the easier we recognize His voice.
At first it may be difficult to tell His voice apart from our own, but the closer our relationship with God grows the easier it gets.
As we live in an intimate relationship with God, we can accurately discern God’s voice and distinguish it from our own, by judging what we hear with His character, the tone of the message, and its overall balance with Scripture.
1 John 4:1-3 says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God…”
So step one for recognizing God’s voice from others is to “TEST THE SPIRITS”. We test “the spirits” by acknowledging Jesus. If our thoughts, words, or messages don’t acknowledge Jesus then they are not from God. If they can’t clearly point back to reflect Who He is and what He did for us on the cross, then they fail the test. Christ’s character is flawless. Jesus came in the flesh, in bodily form. He came as the exact representation of God’s glory. (Hebrews 1:3) In Him all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. (Colossians 2:9) He is our mirror to God the Father; so, when we try to discern our voice from God’s, we need to ask: Could we imagine Jesus saying this? Would Jesus’ nature promote such a thought? Does this impression line up with Who Jesus is and what He taught?
Tomorrow, we'll continue our quest to discern God's voice from our own. Hope today's post gave you a few thoughts to help! :) Would love to hear your thoughts and questions. Feel free to post them below or email me at: julie@juliegorman.com
Much needed lesson here. It is hard when we have two or three good options to really know which one is the best one, the one God has placed there for us.
ReplyDeleteKnowing God's voice from our own is important - but like you say, it comes from knowing God and His Word. As far as this term of being in 'God's will' I think that when we are born again we ARE in His will. God will convict us if we are straying, and I think we are quite free to make our own decisions in everything as long as we are not sinning, or putting ourselves in situations of strong temptations for us. For instance, I have heard people concerned about not taking a straight upright job (that is right in their face) for fear it wasn't God's will. God's Word says that if you don't work you don't eat. 'We are in the world and not of it' ... God will often put us in jobs with unbelievers to be a witness to them. No one may be converted, but they will be without excuse. Just my thoughts. :o)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I have ever seen in God's Word a teaching that we are held responsible to find God's perfect will for each and every decision. Thankfully, our righteousness before God doesn't depend upon us and our correct choosing of that one right job or spouse or type of ministry, but is a righteousness that comes from our faith in Christ's righteousness.
ReplyDeleteGalatians 5:6 "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." We may want to re-frame the question; instead of asking, what is the perfect will of God, we might want to instead ask, is this a wise decision within the will of God?
There is an interesting documentary just out on this exact subject.
ReplyDeleteIt's called: The Voice
https://vimeo.com/38387694
What do you guys think of this guy?
Is he for real?