How do you discern the voice of God?

[Loveneverfails]

We've all heard it before.

"God spoke to me"
"I felt God speaking to me"
"God told me to do ___"
"God told me my future spouse would be like _____"

Do you hear the voice of God? How do you know it is His voice? How do you differentiate His voice from your own inner voice? Do you feel like you are even capable of hearing His voice? Do you think God even speaks to people anymore?

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me" - John 10:27

 

[persNickety]

I usually am guided in my dreams. No voice actually. He works on a very personal level, inside my thoughts, feelings, dreams and through who he has made me to be. Through my experiences, the people I come across, my intuition, while people watching and reflecting. Taking in information, processing and getting meaning. Meaning of what it is like to be human. It's very subtle, aside from a few particular dreams.

 

[Cee]

Yes indeed!

Holy Spirit is our teacher, mentor, guide... it's important that we hear His voice. He is making us more and more like Christ as a result He doesn't speak to us in condemnation, but in identity. Telling us who we are not who we are not. He displays all the fruits of the Spirit. So He brings us into peace, joy, and righteousness.

Prophesy is encouragement, edification, and comfort. Or simply known, "Stir up, build up, and cheer up!"...

How do I know it's Him?

1. He never contradicts what Scripture says, but He does contradict my interpretations sometimes.
2. I feel peace when He speaks and I'm listening to Him.
3. Big things I run by people who show love, know love, and I feel are lead by Him. This gives me a multitude of counselors.

A lot of people don't understand their inheritance of peace. He is the prince of peace. As a result they have so many distractions, worries, and fears that they are uncertain they can hear from Him. Plus there has to be trust on our part to believe what we hear is from Him. Over time, we become very in tune with His frequency and it becomes easier to hear His voice and recognize it. I have not heard the audible voice outside of myself, but I hear His still inner voice daily.

Out of everything I have, I value His guidance and our secret history together more than anything else. And this is why I am so big on teaching people that they can hear from Him because everything changes.

C.

 

[cinder]

I've become very careful about using any phrase like God told me / God said to me since I'm seeing that these concepts are too abstract and abused. I think, especially in some more charismatic christian circles, that the phrase God told me is overused, it's an easy way for the immature to seem more spiritual and it stops a lot of argument before it starts. After all you can't argue with what God says. I do believe God still speaks to people today, but I have stopped believing that God says everything that people say he says.

I do believe I hear God's voice at times. Having been a Christian all my life I find it hard to differentiate between God's voice and my own thoughts, but I usually know when I'm trying to justify me or when the idea is so crazy and radical that it must be God because I would never naturally want to do that.

The best advice I can give to anyone wondering if what they are hearing or thinking comes from God is to check it against the scripture and with more mature believers whose relationship with God they trust. The other thing I would suggest is to err on the side of doing what seems good or beneficial. Example: I feel like God is telling me to give $100 to someone or some ministry. Err on the side of benefit here means give it whether it's God or your own idea doesn't matter too much. I feel like God is telling me to bomb an abortion clinic or anti-God event. Here err on the side of benefit means don't do it. Don't cause harm or destruction to someone (hopefully we can all agree that not harming people is a basic facet of God's character). Of course then there are the gray areas: should I pursue or end this relationship? What job should I take? etc. The best advice I've gotten for those is if you are truly seeking God and he hasn't spoken, it may mean he has no preference so either choice is fine.

Also, in anything that you are deeply emotionally involved in, get an objective opinion. Your emotions can clog up your otherwise good discernment.

 

[MissCris]

Good questions

I definitely don't have all, or even really any answers, just my own experience and observations...

The few times in my life when I've felt like God was really speaking to me, I was in desperate situations and honestly don't think I had the mental capacity to come up with these thoughts on my own. Either the voice I heard in my head was calmly but forcefully telling me to do something that was the exact opposite of what I wanted to do (the first time I felt like He spoke directly to me), or else the voice was utterly self-assured and soothing when the rest of me was out of control and totally lost and panicking (second time), or the most recent, the voice provided instant comfort during one of my most painful, miserable, self-loathing nights.

I absolutely believe that God still speaks to His children, and I have no doubt in my mind that the voice I was hearing those three times was God. The words spoken, and the feelings they brought about so quickly, were entirely beyond what my human flesh could ever have managed alone in those situations.

I also believe that there are a lot of people out there who simply use "God told me..." As an unarguable "reason" to do what they want, to get in or out of a relationship, to act self-righteous or excuse their heartless, in-your-face, beat-you-over-the-head with a Bible debate tactics.

But just because some people use God as an excuse doesn't mean everyone who says God spoke to them is full of bull- um...pucky.

It's during the quiet times in my life when I can't distinguish between God speaking and my own thoughts...so that makes me wonder if God Does speak to me when I'm not desperate and crazy.

 

[IloveyouGod]

From my OWN personal experience with God I'd say Yes, God speaks to me. And He speaks about the big and small issues/details. I'll need a huge space here if I start giving you examples on how God speaks to ME personally. But I'd like you to know that when God speaks it's VERY clear it's Him. You won't question it twice. When God speaks you'll have this peace even if what He says to you is not what you want to hear. Still, knowing that that's God's answer gives you this peace. Again, that's how God speaks to ME. This is my OWN relationship with Him.

 

[Loveneverfails]

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I really enjoyed hearing your perspectives. This is something I've been studying and thinking about for the past couple weeks, and I thought it was such an interesting subject that I wanted to see what my friends here thought about it.

- I agree with all of you in that I believe God does speak to us still. I also believe He can speak to us in any way He chooses, such as dreams, through other people, or even speaking quietly and directly to our hearts.

- I am consciously trying to improve how well I discern His voice from my own thoughts, but my own previous experience, I could already tell some of the main differences. Usually, if I feel an urge to do something that id normally never think of, there's a chance it's probably not my own voice. I'm learning now to check this "feeling" against scripture, against the wisdom of godly mentors if possible, and also to just pray and ask Him. "Father...was that You?"

- I'm also learning that just like in real relationships, the more I practice listening to Him, the better I get at it. This has really energized my prayer life, because I believe that if I am in more constant fellowship with Him, i will learn to recognize His voice better. In our human lives as children, we recognized our parents voices even at young ages because of how much time we spent with them.

- like others have mentioned, I can't stand the misuse of the term "God spoke to me". What is with people and just flinging that phrase around like a holier-than-thou banner? Sometimes I think maybe they're not even arrogant, but maybe they've been taught that when they feel a powerful urge to do something it must be from God, when really that's just a spiritualized version of the worldly sentiment, "listen to your heart".

At any rate, I am thankful for a God who still chooses to speak to His children!

 

[Lonerx1]

If you've been saved, you'll be led by the spirit, and you can hear that faint beautiful voice guiding you, telling you what you should and shouldn't do. When you stop listening, or get out of his will, or go against what he has shown/ told you; That voice will be ever so faint even if you hear it at all. Believe me I know! I got out of His will a few times and paid for it, and the only way back is down on your knees. God is a forgiving God, but we have to remember that his will is always right!

 

[Yahshua]

Amen Love,

Hebrews 5:12-14

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

 

[jeremyPJ]

sometimes it's just in a strong thought. But usually I hear his voice in my mind, but not like you normally "hear" everyday things. It's just different. I just "know" when I hear Him (when he "speaks", hard to explain.

 

[ado]

Knowing God’s Voice

 

[Atwood]

My Sheep Hear My Voice

Basically you get out the Word of God and read it.
If you are saved, then you pray for wisdom to understand it.

 

[secularhermit]

I also long to know it for sure... I still walk by faith! Blindedly and dull.

 

[ChandlerFan]

I don't know that I'm the best person to ask about this because anytime I've sensed that God wanted me to do something, I really just knew it's what I was supposed to do. There wasn't anything glamorous about it, or any type of foreign experience physically/mentally/emotionally to indicate that it was divine. I just knew.

I also believe that God is in control and works through the decisions we make, so when it comes to big decisions I do try to make them prayerfully and with counsel and care, but I also am not afraid to make a decision because I know that God will work it out for my good and His glory.