HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT VOICE IS GOD?

How do you know it’s God’s voice you are hearing and not just your own thoughts? If you have ever tried listening to God, you have probably wondered about this.  More importantly, you need to recognize that there are more voices floating through the atmosphere around you than just you and God!  How do you know your thoughts are even your own?  Did you ever consider the that the ideas coming into your mind may have another source?

Learn first to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.  As the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:5 ^“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  Capturing these thoughts and bringing them into submission to Christ starts with noticing your thoughts and questioning their source.  The easiest way to do this is to use the John 10:10 test.

In John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”  So ask yourself, does this thought lead to abundant life or does it steal, kill and destroy life?  When you determine that, it doesn’t matter whether it is from your own thoughts or from some other source, if it leads to life abundant, you can receive it as from God (or at least in step with God’s intent) and if it steals, kills and destroys, you should reject it like you would a thief trying to rob you of everyone you hold dear.

Any thought that condemns you or someone else is not from God.  A thought that is without faith, hope and love is not from God.  If a thought leads to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control, it is from the Spirit.  That’s what the “fruit” of the Spirit is all about in Galatians 5.  You can judge a tree by the fruit it produces.  You are responsible to judge the thoughts in your mind and the voices in your head.  Send the “thief” thoughts packing.

Once you sort out all those voices, you are left with the question we started with.  How do I know this is God’s voice and not just my own?  By faith.  If these thoughts are leading to abundant life, you can receive them by faith as God speaking to you.  If you are wrong, the worst they can be is your own renewed mind speaking to you.  Either way, if it leads to life and produces the fruit of the Spirit, it is from God either directly or indirectly.  The key to confidence in God speaking is capturing and identifying every other voice first.

Let’s talk more Sunday at Mountain View Church.  If you missed last Sunday you can watch or listen HERE.