God, please talk to mi – Part IV

For the past three weeks, we have been saying, “GOD, PLEASE TALK TO MI”. We’ve been discussing how important it is to hear God’s voice and that biblical meditation facilitates us hearing it. Last week, we looked at how He speaks through dreams and visions (a spontaneous inner picture) and discussed three things that would assist us with receiving visions. They are looking for the vision; watch the scene unfold until it stops; and testing, weighing and considering the vision.

As we develop our ability to hear from God, we also need to develop checks and balances so that we are not misled or tricked by our enemy. The Bible reveals that there are many voices in the world (other than God’s) that are demanding attention. “There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is unmeaning ...” (1 Corinthians 14:10, YLT) So, learning to clearly distinguish God’s voice among the three major voices we hear is invaluable. The other voices are:

1. Self: This tends to be analytical thoughts from our own reasoning process. But they are limited by our own knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and abilities. It sometimes attempts to impersonate God and might interfere with us hearing from God. Self is limited.

2. Satan and his demons: They lie, deceive, and always attempt to lead men into sin. They speak to us in spontaneous negative thoughts which line up with their character and might be easy to identify. However, sometimes they attempt to imitate God and communicate with us to make us believe it is God leading us. 2 Corinthians 11:14b (NLT) says, “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” He does this to trick us into making wrong decisions or having wrong opinions.

Therefore, with God’s empowerment, we need to arm ourselves with the ability to discern God’s voice more accurately and test the voices that we hear. God encourages us in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 (NIV): “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. ”

One method that allows us to test the word is journaling. By journaling, we get the opportunity to consider and test the words we receive in order to see and accept what God wants us to hear and know.

The way we test what we hear is:

1. Does it contradict scripture? 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV) says: “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” So when we receive a rhema that does not agree with scripture, we can throw it out. Sometimes the rhema does not agree with our understanding of scripture, so we need to ensure that our own understanding of scripture is correct.

2. Does it line up with the biblical definition of prophecy? 1 Corinthians 14:3 states, “ ... The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.” So does the word

• Strengthen our faith and make us stronger in our walk with God?

• Encourage us towards a specific way of living?

• Comfort us by counsel or through binding up or pouring healing oil on our wounds?

If what we hear/receive does not strengthen, encourage or comfort, we might have an improper focus. So let’s fix our hearts on Jesus as we pray asking Him for clarity.

3. Seeking independent witnesses. In the book of Deuteronomy, we find this statement: “A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” (Deuteronomy 19:15, NIV) Our ability to hear from God will increase when what we hear is confirmed by two or three other people.

4. What does your church leadership say? Hebrews 13:17 (NIV) says: “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” They are there to help protect us from error. Those whom the LORD has raised into leadership in the church will have good insight into our lives, and a confirmation from a leader can be a strong indicator that a word is accurate.

God wants to speak to us, so as we journal, it is vital that we cultivate a humble and teachable spirit. In learning any new skill, mistakes are inevitable. So accept them as part of the learning process, and continue journaling and processing.