I want to share with you some tips I have learned the hard way while developing my ability to “learn to discern” the voice of the Lord.
Hearing the voice of God is vital to our spiritual life and maturity. Jesus modeled this for us by getting up early to pray and only doing what He saw the Father doing.
God is Speaking
God can speak to us in many different ways. The most common is through the Bible. This is the basis for everything we hear—it must line up with and not violate biblical principles.
I am a prophetic seer with years of experience and testing to do what I do. I started out and advanced the same way that you do, though. We are not all prophets, but we do all have access to hearing God!
Note that Jesus and His disciples operated in most all of the spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12. You have the same access to these gifts through the Holy Spirit. You might operate in one or two gifts more than the others, but you still have access to them all.
Perceiving the Source
What is from you, God or the pizza you ate?
The most common question I get asked is how to tell the difference between God’s voice, your own voice, the voice of the enemy or others.
In order to discern the source of revelation, you will need to train yourself. This can easily be done by starting a few new habits.
“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:14 NIV
Most people spend more time training to better their careers, hobbies or sports. There is nothing wrong with doing this, but you will benefit greatly from also training and learning to discern God’s voice!
Here are a Few Tips for You to Consider:
- Ask. If you have not heard the voice of God, ask Him to speak to you!
- Record. When you start sensing God might be saying something, write it down or record it. Down the road, it will help to study how it came to you. Note if you have peace in your spirit or not.
- Search. Go back and study the ways God has spoken to you in the past. You have to become so in touch with the real voice of God that you can identify other sources.
Resist the urge to focus more on Satan and demons than God and angels. Satan is a liar! We need to make room in our lives for hearing God and seeing angels. This was one of my biggest hurdles early on.
How to Discern
So how can you tell if a prophetic word is from God, ourselves, or demonic sources?
Discerning God’s messages from those of demonic sources is easy. Demonic sources will not have the characteristics of God in them. For example, there might be a lack of peace or it might be fear-driven.
Distinguishing God’s messages apart from our own thoughts and desires takes time and practice. I have found that our own thoughts often elevate ourselves. They can also be legalistic and rule-based, as opposed to reflecting God’s grace. Our own ideas will usually come to us once or twice, but there will be no confirmation. Be careful of false confirmations!
When God has spoken and you pray about it, you will usually get confirmations. It will be in harmony with biblical principles and you will have a sense of peace and lack fear.
Keep in mind that if it offends you, it might be from God because He is trying to get you to change. Peter was offended with what God said to him in Acts 10 to eat unclean animals.
Peace is the best fleece! Don’t let a bad experience with hearing God turn you off.
The Goal of Hearing God
The ultimate goal of the prophetic and hearing God is to know Him better!
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”
Ephesians 1:17 NIV
