How do I know if God is personally speaking to me?

I personally do not recall any personal messages from God directly to me, except through His word, the Bible, which, to me, is necessary and sufficient. Of course God does speak to me through teachers etc., and ultimately, through the Holy Spirit. But by personal messages, I mean God speaking directly to an individual with a very specific concise message.In evaluating messages that people claim they have received from God, I look for consistency with scripture: First, in the way the person who claims to have a message lives and the fruit that the person bears. Second, the content of the message must not contradict scripture.Another important factor is the context in which the message is received and its purpose. There also is a pattern of independent confirmation involved when a genuine message is received from God.Examples:1. I know of one Christian, a successful and God honoring businessman, who received one day a message from God to leave his business, home and the bulk of his personal assets behind, and take his family to a destination in Europe. He felt strongly that this is clearly what God wanted him to do, though so many details were missing. Upon explaining this to his wife, they prayed about it and asked for a confirmation.After they prayed, he received a call from his Christian business partner, who hemmed and hawed, and said, 'I don't know what your going to make of this, but the last few days I've been feeling that the LORD wants me take charge of the business, your home, and your bank accounts.' With this independant confirmation, arrangements were made and they left for the destination God gave him, no money was to be taken. When they arrived at their destination, and left the plane, they kind of wandered around a bit, like, 'what do we do now'. A man who noticed their confusion, walked up to them and after asking them some questions, said that the LORD sent him there to meet them and that he had lodgings prepared for them. They went on to perform Christian service and things did work out alright.2. Hans Kristian, who smuggled Bibles into communist countries, told of many miracles and messages from God. His travel plans behind the Iron Curtain, for security reasons, were very secretive, and often involved going to places he never been before and to meet people he never seen before. Of course, no one knew he would be coming, and he often had to dodge informers and spies.Hans had to meet with two underground pastors and give them much needed funds. His flight was delayed and the original plan to visit the homes in the daytime was foiled, so he had to make contact that night. His first place of contact was the home of a Pastor Korbut which was located right next to the church at 37 Gorky street, a church in the city of Sophia in Bulgaria. Hans did not feel free to ask directions on how to get to 37 Gorky Street, speaking to the wrong person could arouse suspicion and trouble. Soon he got lost and his wanderings and fussing with a map were attracting unwanted attention, plus he was freezing as it was very cold. He had caught the attention of a girl sitting on a bench, about 20 years old, who noticed their confusion and came up to him and asked if she could help him. With some apprehension, Hans nonchalantly said he was looking for Gorky Street. 'What number on Gorky Street' she asked, 'Oh, no number, just Gorky street' Hans replied. 'But you must be seeking a particular address, what number is it, we might be going in the same direction' she calmly replied. 'We would like to go to number 37’ Hans replied, after a pause. 'Praise God!' she exclaimed, "I was praying at home and the Lord told me to come and lead a man from the West to our church.'She led him away from the house he thought was Pastor Korbut's, pointing out that Pastor Korbut use to live there but the secret police recently took it over and moved Pastor Korbut to another home. She took him to Pastor Korbut.Yes. I would say these are genuine messages from God.

Brother Art.These are the kind of things that make my skin resemble a porcupine!What kind of faith is this? To uproot your entire life in the one instance, even with the confirmation... So Abraham like.Also, like your prologue to the examples. Indeed discernment is key, especially in the times we are living where it seems to be at an all time low. Generally, to hear "The Lord told me.." raises a huge red flag as it should. But I believe confirmation as in these instances should be sought and the Lord will confirm.Reminds me also of the underground church in China, moving from house to house led by the Holy Spirit.Yes. I would say these are genuine messages from God.I would say so to.Thanks Art, what an encouragement!

Those examples are cool. Kind of sounds like what I've been reading in Acts. The last story I read I think was about Peter hearing from God and Cornelius hearing from God at the same time. I think it was one of those revelations that Gentiles could be saved along with the Jews.Though you shared some success stories of God truly speaking to these people, I do have a question. At my church, this thing was going around with the young people, that God was telling them that they were supposed to marry so and so. [laughs] Yeah, actually, I was supposed to be this one guy's wife, according to God, you know. But not one of these people ended up marrying who they said God told them they'd marry. What do you think about that?Honestly, because of these bad experiences of mine, I am very sceptical when someone says they've heard from the Lord about something specific. I do think you need to... test it. How you test these things to the Word, like about marrying someone, I don't know. I do know that i pray for discernment. But yes, there are success stories out there and thank God for that!

Yes, test everything!!! And yes, we must have discernment about this sort of thing!!! Also, God's things are not rushed and hurried, so if things, decisions are made in haste, that could be something not of God. Generally, God's word or scripture will back up "a word from God."Here's a recent example of a churchgoer who must have forgotten that Christians follow Jesus and His teachings. A 3 time a week Assembly of God homeschooling mom thought the rocks her kids were playing with were a sign from God. She believed God was testing her faith. She listened to the voices, and took those rocks and hid them in the house. When the kids went to bed, she took those rocks and crushed her children's heads, 2 died and the baby is now blind. She believed God was "testing her faith" like Abraham and that God would resurrect them. When she went to court, she pled insanity and won the case on an insanity plea. That means not only would God want her to kill her children rather than obey Jesus, but also God allows His children to not take responsibility for their actions. I don't believe she is insane, with teachers like Kenneth Copeland telling the poor sheep to listen to voices all the time. She went to church 3 times a week, and the world thinks she's a looney. Great, another mockery of the blood of Jesus. This happened in Texas (Lubbock, last year, I think). It was in the news for a long time, and I took this and learned we are weak, our flesh is weak and can be easily fooled. Yes, I believe God can and sometimes does speak to us, but we must make sure it lines up with Jesus, we are Jesus' followers. Follow Jesus!!!!

ArtB you wrote:"How do I know if God is personally speaking to me? ReplyI personally do not recall any personal messages from God directly to me, except through His word, the Bible, which, to me, is necessary and sufficient. Of course God does speak to me through teachers etc., and ultimately, through the Holy Spirit. But by personal messages, I mean God speaking directly to an individual with a very specific concise message".This is not an easy question to answer, and to tell you the truth I wish my hearing from God was more like yours ... Instead I wrestle with, "Why me"? ... I just recieved a CD series from Bro. Chip Brogden who stated that the majority of people (those who believe they hear from God in a more personal manner) who come to his "prophets confrences" fit into one of three categories: Fruits, flakes or nuts ... Although he later stated this as a joke it seems to be pretty much true, so it didn't make me feel very well because I'm one of those people who believe I'm hearing a distinct word from God ... So here is an excerpt from an e-mail I just sent him (just to example that some people really do wrestle with your question).(((Dear Bro. Brogden, "Fruits, flakes and Nuts", huh? ... and then you laugh ... I suppose that's what I need to do, get a sense of humor about the prophetic calling (hearing words from God). Our Lord has had me on a 20 year birthing of one message, to one pastor/church, in three parts ... 1983 "My final revival is coming, and it will begin here" ... 1999 "I have set before you and open door, and you will go thru it" and at the beginning of 2004 "Now is the time" (with instructions) ... The one good thing about this last word is that it was freeing to me, becauseHe's let me know that it's completed in it's delivery, and now it's between Him and my pastor/church. I guess I don't find "fruit, flake or nut" particularly funny because I'm viewed as all three by my pastor, most in my congregation, many of my acquaintances, and often times by myself ...Now He has me on a mission of seriously proclaiming to the saved that "Judgement is immenient in His house, and that the money changers will soon be destroyed from His temple because money is about to become scarce in America, period" ... And although I find this much easier, I'd really rather that He'd chosen someone else for this ... It feels weird, I can't get any rest until I've done what it is that I'm supposed to do, then I'm viewed as weird ... I've got to continue to pray about getting your sense of humor in all this ... Amen.Yours in Christ )))So how do I know if it's the voice of God ... I can only say that I just do, it's the filling that really convinces me ... If I could remain in that place of filling when I'm hearing His voice, I'd never doubt, but it goes, and then I doubt ... Many times because I want to doubt,because I want to be free of the burden.The other thing is that I reason that it can't be satan that has had me on a 20 year mission seeking Revival in the Body of Christ (at my particular place of worship), because Jesus said a house divided against itself cannot stand ... An old saint helped me come to this conclusion a little while back, because I was asking her your very same question ... And then there's the fact that to me it has to be God talking/prompting me to deliver the word(s) I hear, because it certainly isn't gaining me much personally ... Let me explain ... Really, I'm not that nice of a person, I'm extremely selfish, especially with my time, Jesus is still dealing with me about this ... I just recently took a job related assessment test, and it pegged me right to the tee:"Rather than a motivation for putting others first, Rahman's preferences revolve around self as a first priority. Rahman is motivated by self-interest, status, and recognition. Rahman does not like to lose, so all options and choices are evaluated on the basis of the chance of gain versus the chance of loss before a decision or commitment is made. Stress and frustration are experienced when things aren't going Rahman's way. Pleasure, enthusiasm, and energy are experienced when things are going Rahman's way. Association and relationships are chosen, maintained, or abandoned on the basis of self-interest.So on the basis of this I have to believe/know that it's the Lord voice prompting me to do what I'm doing, because what I'm doing, from the point of self interest, goes entirely against my grain ... So for me I concluded that I know it's the voice of God because what He's telling me to do is directly in the vein of the "seeking of His kingdom, and His righteousness first", and it goes directly against my extremely selfish nature of my sacrificing my "self" to the benefit of His will, which inevitably leads to the benefit of others ... I thank God I'm not hearing (like your examples) to sell everything and go to Israel and preach in the streets wearing sack cloth and ashes ... Hope this has some relevancy to you, in regard your question ... Amen