“How do YOU determine if you have an idea of your own or if He [God] is telling you to do something?”
A friend posed that question to me yesterday. I appreciate that she personalized it by reference how I determine God’s voice, because the answers may vary by individual.
Inherent in that question are two important realizations: God speaks, and He speaks to His children individually. Each person, however, hears His voice in different ways.
Ways God Speaks
While we may discern God’s voice differently, God speaks THROUGH the same media to all of us. I am indebted to both Henry Blackaby and Charles Stanley for teaching me these four ways God speaks.
- God speaks primarily through His Word, the Bible
- God speaks during times of prayer.
- God speaks through the counsel of other godly believers.
- God speaks through the circumstances of daily life.
I have experienced the voice of God in each of these ways over the course of my life. Many of us hear differently, but He sends the message the same. With God speaking, how can we discern God’s voice speaking about the noise?
Ways To Discern God’s Voice
Thinking of those 4 ways God speaks to His children, here are 4 ways I discern the voice of God.
1. Read the Bible every day.
Whatever God tells you to do, it will be consistent with what He has already revealed in His Word. He will not give YOU special permission to do something He has forbidden all others to do. And He will not excuse you from something He has required of everyone else.
I also experience God speaking to me mostly in response to something I have been reading in the Bible. If I regularly read the Bible, I place myself in position to hear from God. If I am not regularly in the Word, then I am confused by the various notions in my heart.
2. Determine if you have a concern or a burden.
When God tells you to do something, He places a BURDEN on your heart for it. A burden and a concern are different. When I am concerned about something, I care deeply about it but the concern does not consume my thoughts. When I have a burden, I cannot get the burden off of my heart and mind. A concern may move me, but a burden compels me.
When God is telling me to do something, I can’t get it off my heart or mind. It is a BURDEN. When I think God may be telling me to do something, I pray about it for a season of time. I ask God to lift it from me if it is not him directing me. Pray about what you think God may be leading you to do for a while and see if it sticks with you.
3. Look at the pattern of God’s past work in your life.
I try to consider the trajectory on God has placed my life. What has God been doing in my life, how has he used me, and where am I going? Consider developing a “personal purpose statement” for your life. Who does you to do fit consistently with the pattern you have seen from Him?
4. Try it on for size.
If what you think God is telling you to do is Biblical, burdens you, and fits with God pattern in your life, give it a try. Start doing what it is you think God is telling you to do and see what happens. See how God responds in your spirit.
Don’t necessarily judge it by the results you get, results can be deceptive. Just because it works doesn’t mean it’s right, and just because it flops at first doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Listen for how God speaks to you spirit.
If you misunderstood and God says, “No, I didn’t want you to do that,” then good. That is an experience that moves you closer to being familiar with God’s voice when he speaks to you. If God confirms it, then you are already headed down the right road.
I think we have a bad view of “failure” sometimes. Failure is not necessarily a negative thing. Thomas Edison said, “I have never failed at any thing. Either I succeeded or I learned something.” That’s a great perspective.
Over the course of time, you will develop a sensitivity to discern God’s voice.
Book Recommendations
How to Listen to God by Charles Stanley
Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby
Click the comments tab and share with us some ways you have learned to discern God’s voice.