Discerning the voice of God

Often during prayer I sense that God is saying something to me and it very often turns out to be wrong. So I am keen to learn to discern His voice. The notion of that 'still small voice' has proven very deceptive for me. So much so that I am nearly driven to just ignore any inner voice I hear.

So, on top of testing the voice against the word of God, do you have any advice on discerning when it is and is not God?

Hi! 'ET101'

Ummm, poke your head out the window and look up and down your neighborhood street and remind yourself about all the married couples living in those houses and about the different forms of relationships between the spouses and between the family members.
Did you happen to catch something about any single one of them that would flawlessly work for every single one of the others?
No, don't be surprised if you didn't ... because there isn't one.
Does every child learn how to ride a bike in the same manner? No ... an' that's why it becomes such a delicate teaching task for most parents.

So, if someone tries to give you some kinna' formula about how to distinguish the voice of the Lord, I'd be exceedingly cautious about that if I were you. There's been alot of weirdos in this world who have done a lot of weird things while claiming they were obeying the voice of God.

It's very easy to mistake loud thoughts that can pound in our hearts for the 'voice of God'. It's also very easy to mistake the quiet thoughts that can whisper to our heart as not being from God. There jus' isn't a hard rule about this sortta' experience.

However, there is indeed a rule which applies to everything of the Holy Spirit; one which you are certainly commanded to make your own.
What is this rule?
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try [test] the spirits whether they are of God".
How do you test the inspirations/thoughts received from a spirit?
Well, the golden rule is to put it against the irrefutable truth that God is ONLY and PERFECTLY good.
Let's say you receive a thought declaring that God is somehow connected to or desiring to do evil. Well, put that thought up against the golden rule that God is only good and that will immediately tell you from where the thought originates.
This also is a very excellent way to test the spirit of a prophet. We can immediately detect the lies they are speaking because they do not conform to the truth that God is only and perfectly good. I won't mention his name here, but I read a supposed prophetic book Online yesterday and the highly regarded prophet spoke about how God hated sinners and was eager to visit anguish and suffering on them all and that God relished in the prospect of punishing the evil doers. I instantly knew that the so-called prophet was not speaking for the God whom I follow; kind and longsuffering and merciful and not wishing that anyone should perish. If God is eager to punish anyone, it is Evil Incarnate, (the origin of evil), and not man.

There is a second rule; although it isn't as hard-fixed and certain as the golden rule.
A thought from God should be soon thereafter be followed by a witness of Scripture. This can occur in any variety of words or verses. But we must be careful not to manipulate things so that the witness becomes something 'magical' or mystic.

I hope this helps.
God bless!

I would advice you to stop beliving that teaching that you can hear Gods voice.
I used to live that that for 15 years and never ever did I hear Gods´s voice. It was just my own heart speaking and sometimes I was correct.

God speaks through his word and he conforms our will to be according to his will (Phil2:13)

Hi! 'Josef83'

About your comment: "I would advice you to stop beliving that teaching that you can hear Gods voice".
I can only suppose that you have a God who changes His behavior from day-to-day 'er week-to-week.
I'm sorry, but Christians shouldn't wish to follow after a god who changes; a god who is inconsistent; nor a god who doesn't speak.
It is said of the God whom we follow that He is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever".
I seem to recall that God spoke in diverse ways and manners, (including audible voice), to a multitude of people throughout the Bible narrative.
Thankfully, He's unchangeable and still speaks to His people today ... and, yes, audibly on occasion.
I strongly suggest that you find this unchanging God for yourself.

Hi,

I mean this teaching when you sit down and close your eyes and try to manipulate God to speak to you.

He speak through his word (Bible), through means (other people who confirm your desire) and sometimes even audioble (This happened to William Carey), through our thoughts and through our desires. Phil 2:13

God bless you :-)

hi,after 49 yrs of serving the Lord, i am convinced that if you do not hear the voice of God than you cannot have faith.when i was first saved i went from a mocker to a believer in 15 minutes because i heard the Holy Spirit tell me i have been wrong and that Jesus really died for me and loved me.in hebrews 11, all of the examples heard that same voice. they did not hear preaching or bible verses.faith comes by hearing and hearing the personnal directive word from God.(grace)abraham did not build an ark and noah did not leave a city to search... my sheep hear my voice...jimp

Hi! 'Jimp'

I sortta' grinned to myself when reading your Comment and mumbled, "After 49 years have passed an' yuh still haven't become weary of hearing God's voice?". :)

Funny thing, now that you mentioned "from a mocker to a believer". I first heard the gospel at a storefront mission supported by Dave Wilkerson and Teen Challenge. They were giving away free food an' stuff and so occasionally I would have to gas-up on their stale donuts and sandwiches when my thieving wasn't so successful.

The missionary crew had their situation down pat. They had seated a Christian at each table with the task to provoke a discussion about the gospel with those droppin' by to eat.

Anyways, I visit there one evening and sit down at a table to munch on some food an' coffee. Pretty soon the young Christian lady sitting at the table starts talking about the Jesus she knows. I set out to embarrass her away from the table by deliberately asking her some weird questions about God an' stuff. She never ruffled a bit and courageously answered each question and even threw in some of her own for me too.
But when she said that God spoke to her, well, that was it! I absolutely knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God only talked to people like the Catholic priest who lived up the street from my childhood home.

So, I mockingly asked her, "Oh, so I guess yer gonna' tell me that God answers you too, ay?".
She firmly and quietly answered, "Yes, God does answer me".
Her answer stunned me!
I could plainly see that the lady wasn't some puzzle-factory case and she seemed sufficiently intelligent and competent to not be imagining such a thing. I knew she wasn't lyin' to me because she said it so confidently and assuring.

It was that conversation with that Christian girl that brought me back to the mission time and time again to hear more of the Gospel from her and others. I kinna' figured that anyone whom God speaks to might have something important to say and should be heard.

Some twenty years later, I bumped into that same Christian girl in a department store and we had a great time revisiting the events from that time.

Jimp and Blayne,
Pls talk more about how God speaks to you. How his voice is like. Thanks.

hi, as a young man with a family, i was impressed of the Lord to quit my job and go to bible col. i knew a few people at trinity evangelical div.school in ill.the dean and top theo.i drove from new orleans to dearfield and as soon as i set my feet upon the property i heard the Lord say this is not for you whereupon i payed my respects to dr. bostrom and dr. pinnock, went to a student service and drove back to new orleans. a week later i drove to pensacola fl. to see liberty bible col. and the LOrd spoke that this was the place for me.i was able to transfer in the same company to pensacola and found an apartment on the golf course LOL. it was so smooth and i thank God for my years there.many events (going on the mission field etc) were led by the Lord wooing and were wonderful experiences .one day i was working in baton rouge at a store and the Lord spoke to me to go witness to an old man looking at some audio equip. I told the Lord that i do not witness at work for that was stealing from the company . God almost yelled in my heart and i walked over to the old man and asked about his position today in Christ. this is how i met len ravenhill.jimp

Hi! 'Learn'

You asked, "Jimp and Blayne, Pls talk more about how God speaks to you. How his voice is like. Thanks."

Tuh tell you the truth, I feel a little bit nervous about your question. Basically because, while God is no respecter of persons and deals with everyone in an identical just and fair manner, this doesn't mean that His relationship and communion with every individual Christian is the same.

Sometimes I think that God has found some of us entangled so far down in the land of stolen spirits that He first had to pipe Sonlight down jus' to command our attention.
And, God has found others who were so convinced of their own goodness and worth and that He did jus' the opposite; He withdrew and the hellish powers of wrath began to devour everything they had valued and held dear. The destroyers were prevented from continuing their pernicious work only because the repentant pleas of their victim had reached God's ear.

So it is that God meets His lost sheep at whatever cliff they may have stumbled and fell. And, He guides them as the Good Shepherd using both His staff and His voice.

Whenever I may be asked about my Christian journey, I have great reluctance to mention the term 'voice of God'. Especially in this age of accusatory psychology and smears. Also because the term can be so easily misunderstood or misinterpreted.

I can only speak from my own personal experience to describe what I know as the 'voice of God'. It should not be compared to another's experience because God speaks to everyone in a language and manner which they individually are prepared to receive and comprehend. For instance, the literal translation of Jonah 3:3 has the meaning of: "The Word of God is to Jonah". It was specifically and exclusively meant for Jonah. This is how God always speaks to His people; individually.

This is why I myself have never had the experience that member 'Jimp' speaks about. God had never once instructed me to speak directely to someone. However, God often does use people to bring into existence or deliver His thoughts towards a situation or a person. I can only say that He has not sought me to do what member 'Jimp' testified to.

God has only spoken to me during those occasions when I desperately was needing a life-line thrown to me. When I was exiting the land of stolen spirits, there were days and weeks that I was so utterly captivated by the chains of shadowy jailers and so completely paralyzed under the stares of the enemy, that God directly intervened to lift me "out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings", Psalm 40:2).

I could describe the "voice of God" as something near an audible thought which suddenly comes to the forefront of consciousness. I should say too that God's speaking to us never violates our individual faculties (human spirit). He never presents Himself as tyrannical or over-powering. He always addresses us gently and kindly ... one could almost say, in a cooperative manner.

God is never disapproving or disappointed if we unwittingly are deaf to Him. More importantly, God never punishes us if we refuse to obey His instructions for whatever reason. God cannot give something of Himself that does not belong to Him ... and punishment and vengeance doesn't belong to God ... the wages of sin are not rendered by God but by the one who employed you to sin, the devil. This is why I was careful to clearly state above that the works of wrath also belong to the evil one. God's posture towards us Christians and every sinner is long-suffering, kind, merciful, etc ... But He will most certainly punish and bring divine retribution upon the devil and his cohorts near the edge of time.

Now, it is common for me to think in pictures. By that I mean, for as long as I can remember, I've always been a visual type of person. My analytic mind involuntarily produces pictures or metaphors. It's not uncommon for me to play picture games in my head during the day. My son has the same quality; only he plays with Math in his head. He's a music producer and one day I said to him, "I never really saw your music abilities during your childhood". He replied, "Sure you did, Dad. Music is all about Math. Don't you remember how I loved to mess with Math?". That was indeed true about him during childhood. Someone once told me that my way of seeing things as pictures was the signature of a writer. That might be true too. I jus' don't know.

Anyways, about thinking in pictures:
God has always spoken to me using pictures which were accompanied by an audible thought. But the way this occurs is something different than what happens in my normal everyday life. In my everyday life, the pictures are formed in my head. But when accompanied by the voice of God, they are formed in the air before my eyes.

I have since discovered that the writer of Acts described the Pentecost experience using the words "LIKE AS" ... "cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
I have the mind that they too saw images or pictures in the shape of cloven tongues of fire.

That's about all I can say about my experience concerning the voice of God. I hope it might help someone.

QUOTE: "I would advice you to stop beliving that teaching that you can hear Gods voice.I used to live that that for 15 years and never ever did I hear Gods´s voice."==JOSEF83

Josef, plenty of us HAVE heard God speak. However, God speaks very seldom, and He also never wastes words. He is no chatterbox. : )

God spoke to me just once in a voice that i could hear, in my mind, and it was a voice of conviction which drew me to repentance. Another time, however, he seemed to only speak to me through Providence. And i knew it was the Lord's doing because once again it was communicating a biblical precept and the need for repentance. In fact, if any voice or communication is said or thought to be of the Lord and does not communicate to a person to repent of something i would highly doubt it is from the Lord. The Holy Spirit's job is to:
1. convict the world of sin & righteousness
2. testify of Jesus Christ
3. teach or remind you of The Word

So if the voice fails to do one of those three things then there is reason to doubt it.

If someone hears God speak it in no way means they are more spiritual, and if someone does not hear God speak it could mean any number of things. We don't read of God speaking audibly to Ester or Mordacai, for instance. Nor did He speak directly to Hannah or Job when they wanted Him to (although God finally spoke to Job at the end of his trial).

There are many times we may be totally missing Him speaking because other things in our lives are just too loud or our own desires or emotions crowd out His voice. Sometimes, for example, i have sensed things but just couldn't put my finger on what i was discerning or picking up on, as if the "vibe" was not loud enough. It always turned out later to really be something, and always a situation in which i deeply regretted not having had better perception (or reception!), because there really was something to that "vibe" or "voice" i was getting. Often though, it was so fleeting that i was unable to pull it into focus long enough to concentrate on it.

I think the more tender a person's heart is, the more likely they will hear God speak when He finally chooses to. And of course, the more time they spend in the Word and/or prayer, etc. But God is a person of few words, and never wastes them.

Hi! 'Learn'

More to add to your question asking, "Jimp and Blayne, Pls talk more about how God speaks to you. How his voice is like. Thanks".

I thought I should tell you about a circumstance that seemed in every way to be from God but was discovered to definitely not to be so.

To make a long story short, when I was introduced to the gospel of repentance, I was an utter and complete mess ... both psychologically and emotionally. I had been damaged and injured in multiple areas of my life. Not only was I a lost sheep who had fallen off a cliff ... I had fallen to unfathomable depths and hit every crevice and tree branch on the way down.

Like I said, it's a very long story. But before beginning to tell you it, I should at least first mention that during the time of my being introduced to Jesus, I met a man who was a missionary for Youth For Christ. Him and I were fond of having arguments about God and the Bible during my ardent searching time. Anyways, the missionary challenged me saying, "If God doesn't prove Himself real to you in twenty-four hours, you and I will go down the street telling everyone that God is dead. But if God does prove Himself real to you, then you must walk down the street with me and tell everyone He's alive".

It was a worthy bet which I couldn't lose sortta' thing. I was either gonna' discover God or save this eager missionary a lot of grief an' aggravation.

So, that night I returned home to my rooming-house and dropped off to sleep without much of a second thought about the missionary and his challenge.
The next morning I awoke with my right knee-cap severely sore and swollen. I didn't have a clue how it happened. And, when I attempted to walk, it became a screaming pain.
So, I stayed home all day all anxious about my knee. I had plans to burglarize a building with some accomplices that evening and I was afraid that I'd miss the 'big score' and have to eat even more free stale donuts and sandwiches.

By evening time, my knee had swollen even more. I was beginning to panic. It was then that I got the idea to stumble down to the Storefront Mission and ask someone there to drive me to the hospital.

It was a gruesome and slow walk, but I reached the door of the Storefront Mission and hobbled up to the food distribution counter. A man was standing there; I recognized him as the head Christian cheese of the place. So, I told him about my need to visit the hospital.
And, what do you think this guy replied?
I should have half-expected it; because he always walked around the mission like some holy saint. Not piously arrogant; but always smiling an' happy about himself which caused me great suspicion.
The Christian head cheese says, "I'll drive you to the hospital if you first let me pray for you".
The last thing I needed was some holy-roller comedian at this point.
But I was desperate. Actually, I was terrified that I was gonna' discover that I had some incurable disease 'er sumthing.
So, I told the Christian cheese, "OK, you can do your magic wand trick, but yuh gotta' promise me that you'll take me to the hospital afterwards."
The head cheese motions me to a rear office and I follow him in and sit on one of those old wooden swivel chairs that that he musttah' found at a cheap rubbish-an'-ruined sale.
The guy says, "Do you believe in God?"
I answered, "Well, certainly. You'd have to be awfully stupid not to believe that there is a God."
Then he asks, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?"
I replied, "Yep, history has written all about Him."
He then asked, "Do you believe that God can heal you?".
I had to think about that for a moment before answering, "God can do anything He pleases!"
"No", he said, "Do you believe that God still heals people today?"
Now that was a tough one to answer.
I guess he saw my bewilderment and so asked, "Do you believe that God is the same yesterday, today and forever?".
"Well, I guess He is", I replied.
At that point the man lays his hands on my head and prays aloud ... all I heard through the fog everything happening at the time were the words "Power of God ... from the crown of his head to the toes of his feet".
Nothing spectacular happened. I mean the room's fuse panel didn't blow and I didn't see any strange looking lights 'er anything like that. But I did feel a little tinge of warmth.

Just when I was about to say, "OK, let's get me a drive to the hospital", the man turned and quietly walked out the office door. I was, as you can imagine, more than a bit perturbed. After all, this head cheese Christian and I had a deal.

As I prepared to struggle out of the office chair, I suddenly realized that there wasn't anything wrong with my knee. Not a thing! I was shocked. I just couldn't believe what had happened.

I became frightened ... very frightened. The first thought that came to me was that God had stopped the world to heal my knee ... and, this same God could just as easily kill me on the spot if He so wished. That wasn't a very comfortable thought to have on the evening of committing a burglary.

By the way, the head Christian cheese man was once a celebrated Pentecostal pastor in the USA. One day God told him to pack his stuff and move and set up the Storefront mission which was later to be named the "Stepping Stone Coffee House". I gratefully learned much from this man; he was a very faithful man of God.

Anyways, that's really not the story I intended to tell you. I only told you so that you had some inkling that I was certainly not yer normal everyday kinna' sinner guy. I was a real mess of a guy.

Now, I will hurriedly tell you the story about how I became convinced that God was purposely arranging things for my life through a series of different well-meaning people and events.

Can you believe that only three months after my hearing the Gospel that God decided that I should attend a Bible College? I was still smokin' like a furnace and my morning Bible verse was "And smoke came out of his nostrils". I was still vulgar and very much a basket case of a personality.

But hey! Who's gonna' argue with God's arrangements, ay? It started by someone offering to pay my way to Bible College. It progressed with the Bible College offering me a scholarship. It was all became so tidy when I was offered free room and board.
Oh, an' all this was done with the rudimentary 'Gideon's Fleece Method' too. That surely put the Good Christian Saint label on the package, right?
Wrong!
So, this former burglar skipped off to Bible College with every confidence that nothing this well arranged and put together could be anything but God's will.
Did I mention that I was something of a hell-raiser too?
Well, that side of me followed me to Bible College as well.
The Bible College saints were especially coming down hard on me about my nicotine habit. Some of them had prayed up a storm while I was keeping busy unsuccessfully trying to quit.
One night I was feeling more than a bit mischievous and I borrowed someone's half-ton pickup and stole a life size concrete statue of Jesus from the nearby Roman Catholic grotto and plunked it down right in front of the Bible College Chapel door. Just so everyone got the point of my grievance, I stuck a cigarette in the statue's lips and promptly returned to the dorm to catch some sleep.

Well, as you can imagine, the Bible College was in an absolute uproar about my mischief. They were beside themselves about how to rid themselves of me without appearing too cruelly unforgiving. The question, "What would Jesus do?', didn't apply because I was evidently beyond hope and remedy.So, the College Board quickly assembled and I was summarily expelled before lunch was served.

So, yuh see? Not everything that might appear to be God's doing really is His doing. Anybody with a half a brain in their head should have known that I wasn't ready to attend a Bible College. They should have considered themselves fortunate that I didn't rob the Collection Plate on my way out the door, sortta thing.

No, my scrambling off to Bible College wasn't God's doing. It was the work of misplaced enthusiasm; the result of pious thinking and the efforts of well-meaning people.

Sorry for the long story. But I thought you should know the reverse side of things too. We can get into a lot of needless trouble with an undisciplined eagerness to be a hero for God.

I've since learned that it is far better to be preoccupied with doing the works of God rather than working for God.

I recommend:
http://media.sermonindex.net/14/SID14735.mp3

Blayne; I hear you. After the sense of what I believed God was saying to me, I was looking for something extremely specific to confirm it - yes, as you put it, something 'mystical.' When it didn't happen, I thought I hadn't heard from God. Since then, I prayed more. ..and Ithink I just needed to correct the need for that 'mystical' confirmation. Meanwhile, I think God did actually speak to me.

I will seek God some more about it and share on SI if appropriate - it relates to preparation for end times persecution.

Jimp; It was wonderful for me when I heard God. God has spoken to be through dreams too before. It's very, very exciting for me. I think there-in was my downfall too. I thought, if God just spoke this thing to me, then He will confirm it in this one special way I had thought of immediately. It didn't come to be confirmed as I thought and I was disappointed (before returing to God about it and finding encouragement that maybe God was in it, and I just over-reacted in looking for the special confirmation). [PS: like your account, I'm also a young man who felt God's leading to leave his career and seek out seminary. In the process currently].

Also, Blayne; when you say that God speaks to us in our own individual ways, I agree. I have never heard an audible voice per se. I think I am just discovering and seeking to affirm my way of hearing God. It will come.

I agree with you Trekker about how God uses His words sparingly.

What a life story, Blayne!! I'm in the process of working out details for seminary and I'll be doing all I can to listen and obey Jesus as best I can.

Thanks Keylla; I'll listen to it.

Thanks everyone especially Blayne.

Yeah, for me 1 of the ways God speaks is through an audible thought that suddenly appears.

Jimp,
its so awesome the way God tie you up with Leonard Ravenhill. I bet you two had a good chuckle about it.

Hello. I read here occasionally, not wanting to enter into discussions, though.

I heard from the Lord a lot when I was quite young, then received the teaching that it isn't good to try to hear God speaking to one's spirit. The fear was that we would open ourselves up to deception this way.

Thirty fairly dry years followed.

When I began to learn again to hear the Lord, my first-love relationship returned, greater than before. It has been so vital to hear the Lord! Life has gone in such a different way than it would have. God gives specific leading, answers questions, gives warnings and encouragements, and directs our steps into ministry to others.

I have started a blog for anyone who wants to share about depending on the Lord, hearing from Him, and so on. This has made such a difference in my walk with God, and in friends' Christian lives. A couple of the posters on this thread seem to want to pursue this further, so I want to let you know of the blog. Please share some there, if you wish.

The blog is set up under a different email, so I can't attach it to my profile. It is musttalkwithjesus.blogspot.com

Hi! 'Jer2'

Thanks for sharing your thoughts an' experience. It's so good to have other Christians stand up together in a chorus of testimony about God ... about Who is and how He behaves towards His people.

Ummm, I visited your musttalkwithjesus.blogspot.com Site. You have chosen a remarkably suitable BlogName!
Unfortunately, the ability to Post a Comment to your Blog is a bit awkward because it's restricted to Social Account memberships. What's the chances of you investigating to have the Comment area open to individual Names/E-Mail Address jus' like how SermonIndex handles things?

I did enjoy your Blog's inital Post though. Thanks for the effort you're putting to the task over there.

Blayne, thank you for looking at the site.

It's not so easy to use as SI, for sure. Each post only has room for 5 separate comments, but if we are sharing, and not taking sides or arguing, we can use continue in separate posts.

There are three ways to comment.
-Set up a Blogger account. This is quick and free, and you can use any email address, not necessarily social media.

-Use your name and your website address, if you have one.

-Comment as an Anonymous poster. Here, you don't have to open a blogger account. Within the post, you can sign your name, you just won't have a user name.

EDIT: I just opened the comments up to receive Anonymous commenters. It took a few minutes to find out that this wasn't the default.

I would love to hear anyone's experiences listening to God!

So, on top of testing the voice against the word of God, do you have any advice on discerning when it is and is not God?

What a great topic, discerning His voice within us.

Just some general thoughts to interject here first: Although there will be many times when we absolutely know He has spoken, we must always remember that we still "know in part" and "see through a glass darkly."

Also, I believe God speaks uniquely to us depending on our gifts so avoid comparing yourself to others.

But as you have learned, discerning His voice from others is important. It seems to me there are three main voices that sound within us, God, Satan, and self. It also seems that the best way to avoid the counterfeit is to know the genuine. To know the genuine we must be familiar with the character, motive, and fruit of the source speaking to us.
In other words, learning to hear His voice is dependent on our cultivating a close relationship with Him.

Character - God is love, just, good, merciful, holy, unchanging, etc. When He speaks He speaks from the nature of who He is. Learn His character

Motive - When He speaks it's always in the context of His good purposes. For example, He desires to conform us to the image of His Son. Learn His purpose.

Fruit - James 3:17 gives a sense of the fruit of His voice. Pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. Learn His fruit.

Something that might be of help to you also is to keep a prayer journal to give you a reference point for your faith as you apply what He has spoken.

In Christ,

Ron