God talks to His people. But I’m sure you’ve wondered at times if the voice you were hearing was God’s voice speaking to you. Maybe you’ve been quickened in your thoughts and felt God wanted to communicate with you, but you weren’t sure. Reading the scriptures can be alive, too, but how do you know God directly talks to you through the writers? How do you know any of it is God?
This teaching goes with #3, How to Know God’s Voice. Because this is so important, I will continue to add instructions that will interlink with each other on this topic.
When you’re unsure, the question becomes, how do you know if God is talking to you or if it’s just the imagination of your heart? This question and others on this topic are very common among Christians today and should be answered for each of us. Having a sound mind is important, but knowing that your spiritual life depends on hearing from God, should motivate you to learn God’s voice for yourself.
There is a harvest, and we reap what we sow. Therefore it matters when we say God is speaking to us. If it’s not the word of God that is sown, then the fruit of the harvest will not be the word of God either.
Remember, it’s the true word of God that tells you the truth; nothing else will change you from believing lies about the kingdom of God, so it’s important to discern God’s voice correctly. To be deceived means that you remain in your sins and create a mind full of lies and deception. Knowing the voice of God will lead you in the right direction and with the right purpose.
God’s voice has to be learned.
God has to teach us how to hear correctly. Having spiritual ears that can hear lies and perceive deception takes time and patience. It means that you have to be willing to experience the wayside ground, the stony ground, the thorny ground, and the good ground until you can discern how to hear the voice of God. God was concerned with how we hear so much that He sent His Son Jesus to teach us how to hear God’s voice and forsake the voice of all false prophets.
With that said, Jesus teaches us that we shall know a tree by its fruits. This is a great way to begin to learn the voice of God. What is the fruit of what is spoken? Within the fruit lies the seed, and the fruit gives clarity on the origin of the seed. The fruit will tell the story of what was sown.
There is a key to knowing the voice of God. It has to be learned!
Let’s look at the example in Matthew 13:24–30,
Jesus put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” (You can find the interpretation to this parable in Matthew 13:36-43)
It wasn’t until the plants appeared out of the ground and the fruit came forth that they knew there had been a bad seed sown. They knew the good seed had been sown, but unconsciously the bad seed was also sown. At least now, not only did they know the bad seed was sown, but they could also discern that there was another sower of seed besides the good sower. The fruit revealed to them that there were two sowers, and now they could see the difference between them.
This is an amazing illustration of how we receive seed into our ground. As a believer, you may think you’re only receiving the good word of God, but unconsciously you might be receiving a perverted truth from a different source than Jesus. No wonder you have so many deceiving thoughts in your mind. You even wonder where they come from; now you know. (And that’s not counting the ones that come from your willingness to receive bad seeds from the world.) Seeds can produce fruit, children, or thoughts, which are all the same thing in one way or another.
Jesus continually taught us how to hear correctly.
We see another detailed teaching from Jesus in Matthew 7:15–20,
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."
In learning God’s voice, you have to begin to look at the fruit. What is the word that you received bringing forth in your thoughts? What does the word you hear cause you to seek after, earthly things or heavenly things? Does it draw you toward God, or does it keep you seeking your earthly desires? Does it heal you? Does it deliver you from the enemy? Does it fill you with understanding? This is very important because when God sent His word, His Son, from heaven, He had one intention: to reveal His Father in heaven to us so that we may all be partakers of “eternal life” and not live the earthly life forever.
So how can I be sure I’m not following my thoughts and that it is God speaking? Jesus has answered those questions very well for us. Whether you hear directly from God, the Scriptures, good teaching, or your salvation, you must learn to discern what is from God and what is not. Here are a few more things to consider when learning God’s voice.
Don’t move too fast.
Patience will save you from lies and keep you moving forward. Wait for the fruit, so you don’t act on something you still need to clarify. (James 1:4)
You shall know a tree by its fruits.
The fruit will always tell the story. The fruit will reveal what kind of word was spoken and who spoke it to you. (Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 7:15-29)
Prove everything you hear.
Confidence and trust are formed in you by proving God’s word. But it is also where you find out if the fruit is what you think it is. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)
Just because it comes to pass doesn’t mean it’s God.
Signs and wonders can seduce you to think God is talking to you. Not all signs are from God. (Deuteronomy 13:1-6)
Who does it glorify?
Does the word you receive glorify you, or does it glorify God? (John 7:14-18)
The best way to learn if God is talking to you is to wait patiently to see what the fruit is that the word produces. Has it changed you? Did it heal you? Did it bring understanding to you? And most of all, did it glorify God in you?