Discerning God's Will

Question:

How do I discern God’s voice or the voice of the Holy Spirit from my own thoughts? I’m thinking practice but I’m wondering if any scripture addresses this….Thanks!

Answer:

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I found an excellent devotional on this topic by Rod Best. His devotionals can be found on http://www.rodbest.com. Here are his comments:

DISCERNING GOD'S VOICE

1 Kings.19:12

“11The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”

Elijah was expecting God to speak in a certain way. Do we think God speaks when we see Him display His awesome power? God may speak this way but usually He speaks in ways that aren’t the obvious – we can miss what He is saying. If we expect God’s voice and really need His voice,and are diligent in learning how to recognize His voice, He will speak to us regularly and sometimes in amazing ways that are unexpected to us.

Besides God, there are at least three other voices that speak to us - the voice of our emotions, the voice of darkness, i.e, the enemy, the voice that comes through the pressure we feel from family, friends and others. This raises the question – “How do you know when the voice is God’s and not another’s?”

Get To Know Him Intimately

It is one thing to know what God does, but another to understand How he works. We understand Him as we know Him intimately. We will only hear Him speak to us as we spend time with Him and we don’t have to have any special gifting or special anointing for God to speak to us apart from getting to know Him and stilling our hearts before Him. All He requires is that we listen and are obedient.

How Does God Speak To Us?

God speaks to us through: 1) Scripture (Rom. 10:17); 2) Fervent Prayer; 3) His Audible Voice; 4) Circumstances; 5) Our Thoughts; 6) Dreams and Visions; 7) People He sends into your life.

Ask these questions:

i) Have I prayed for God to speak to me? We have not because we ask not – look to our own reasoning.

ii) Am I willing to obey God's message no matter what? - It is no use asking God if you’ve already decided in your mind what you are going to do.

iii) Am I open to all means by which God may speak to me? - including Him speaking through those I don’t wish to hear from.

iv) Have I removed any barriers that would hinder me from hearing God? - These include:

a) Certain attitudes or insecurities - When God told Moses to go to Pharaoh, Moses told God to find somebody else for the job. (Ex 3:11). Ever do that? Ever say to God, “What about my past failures? Or my inexperience? Or my lack of finances? Or my present circumstances?;

b) Distractions – caught up with the unimportant. talking to someone but they aren’t listening because they are pre-occupied;

c) Not hearing Him because He is speaking more than we want to hear - Jonah didn’t like what God told him, so he ran away. Are you doing that?;

d) Ignorance of the varied ways in which He speaks;

e) Just as happy to hear from God’s servants than from God Himself - An example is in Exodus 20:19 where the Children of Israel indicate they are happier to hear from Moses than they are from God. V19 says “And said to Moses, Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” We often listen to His servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to tapes and sermons or testimonies from others, but we don’t take the time for God Himself to speak to us. This can be the easy way out – because we are too busy, or because we know that when God speaks, we must die to certain things in our lives that we don’t want to die to. If it is one of God’s servants speaking, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative.

Conclusion

God is as close as our cry to Him – He says “Call unto Me and I will answer Thee........" Do you know Him intimately enough to hear His voice, and if not, what are you doing to change the situation? Are you cultivating your spiritual ears to hear God’s voice? When you have heard from God, will you be a doer of His Word?


Rod Best