It's God's will for the Christian to hear from Him and then put what He says to use so that it may accomplish its purpose. This topic deserves a lot more attention than I’m able to give it here. My goal in this Post is to give some high level pointers and insight.
First, I’m not going to try to prove that God speaks to His people today. Face it, He does. There is a lot about this in the Bible, but the only reference I’ll use today is John 10:16 in which Jesus said, “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”
It’s also clear from Scripture that some folks hear from God more than others. What does it take to hear from God? In the verse from John, He is referring to His sheep. So it’s safe to assume you have to be one of His sheep. That means that a believing heart, tender and surrendered to God through Jesus Christ, is the only place to start. That makes you one of His sheep, right? I've also learned that He typically won’t say much if He knows His words will be discarded, ignored, mocked or disobeyed.
Leaving that part of the discussion behind, then, I believe there are several things about hearing from God that must be considered:
1. Was that really Him speaking?
2. Did I clearly hear what He said?
3. What did He really mean?
4. How should I respond to what He said?
5. When and how is this to be shared, if at all?
Was that really Him speaking?
It may just be your overheated imagination. It may the medicine you're taking. It may even be the enemy. Or it may really be His genuine voice, spoken through the Holy Spirit. Forgive my charismatic leanings if you must, but it seems to me that having received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit makes a huge difference. I’ll discuss what I mean by that in another Blog entry.
God will teach you how to recognize His voice, but He may have to do some more remodeling in your life to make the recognition easier. In fact, count on it. He loves to remodel for a good cause. He may very well speak to you in ways that are different from the ways He speaks to me. I can only give you some pointers; He will have to teach you Himself what His voice is like.
Recognizing His voice is far more about relationship and a pure, tender, responsive heart than it is about technique. If He is growing that kind of heart in you, He is doing it in large part because He wants to have intimate fellowship with you. Yes, you! That will involve communication, lots of it. So ask Him to teach you to recognize His voice and give Him specific permission to remodel as He chooses. Be persistent in your prayer. He knows what to do next.
Did I clearly hear what He said?
This question sets the bar higher. It’s obvious in Scripture that no one gets it right all the time, every time. In 1 Corinthians 14:29, Paul wrote, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.” Even during the Holy Spirit’s first century outpouring, Paul clearly implies that Prophets sometimes – maybe even a significant amount of the time – get it wrong. That’s why he directs that prophesy be judged, e.g., weighed for correctness by others with spiritual maturity and giftings of their own.
Because of our own personal filters, our minds can easily block out part of what He’s saying because it doesn’t fit what we think He should say. Or our minds can easily add to what He’s saying, again to make it better fit what we think He should say. For example, pride, personal agenda, unholy ambitions or desires, unforgiveness, hidden sin, etc. will affect your spiritual hearing to block and distort what He's trying to say to you.
After hearing from Him, I often ask whether I’ve added to or taken away from what He just said. That may take some serious thought and additional prayer. Depending on what He's talking about, I may ask Him to confirm it by speaking it to me again. I also pray that He would work on cleaning up those things that could cause me to get it wrong. I don’t want to attribute to God something that’s been altered. No, no, no.
What did He really mean?
Let’s assume for a moment that you heard God’s voice and you didn’t add to or take away from what He said. Good, that’s a start. Now you have to correctly understand what what He meant when He said it. The first place to start: does what I'm thinking He meant align with Scripture? What He means will NEVER be out of alignment with Scripture.
There have been times when I heard clearly, knew I wasn’t adding to or taking away from what he said, and knew that my conclusion didn’t contradict Scripture. Nonetheless, I still misunderstood what He meant and didn’t realize it until much later. Even though I had initially misinterpreted His meaning, He still turned those into teaching moments.
This may be an over-the-top example about contradicting Scripture, but it makes the point. If a believer thinks God is telling him to divorce his wife and marry this other lady because the other lady is so much more spiritual than his wife, think again. That is NOT God’s voice. Scripture makes it clear that God hates divorce and allows it only under the limited circumstance of that spouse’s infidelity.
If you think that what He meant by what He said leads you to do something against Scripture, your interpretation is wrong. No ifs, ands, or buts. If you've crossed that hurdle and are still not sure what He meant, keep praying.
How should I respond to what He said?
You’re at the point where you’ve heard correctly from God and are reasonably certain that you understand what he meant. Now then, how do you respond? Is it something you leap out and do within the next few minutes? Is it something that should be prayerfully discussed with your spouse or Pastor before you act on it? Is it something that should be treated as a “Thus saith the Lord”? Should it be submitted to others as a “I think God is saying such and such. Will you pray with me and tell me what you think?”
Remember that He may expect an immediate response or He may be planting seeds and guidance for some future time.
It’s very easy for a believer to get this far and still get it wrong. As long as your heart is sincere and you really do intend to do what He said, God is not angry with you for wanting to make sure your response is the correct one. Remember that whatever your conclusion, it must align with Scripture.
When and how is this to be shared, if at all?
Whenever I hear from the Lord and have gone through all of the previous checkpoints, I still must ask when and even whether this is to be shared. Especially if this is for another person, be very careful going forward.
I would rather not share at all than share something in a wrong manner that could hurt the listener. As they're supposed to say in Medical School, “First, do no harm.”
I review in my spirit whether there is a check from the Holy Spirit saying Not Yet. I look in my heart to see if there’s hidden pride that can hardly wait to be seen as super spiritual because, after all, “God speaks to me about you”, emphasis on me. Now that’s an ugly one, isn’t it.
Is it something that God spoke to me for the purpose of prayer only? This is a big one. More often than not, God-given insight into others is for the purpose of prayer. God never shares another person’s secrets or struggles so that I can mock, demean, be shocked, or look down on them. His insight is always accompanied by His compassion, mercy, and quite often by His heart’s loving brokenness. If you catch yourself with a condescending attitude, even a little one, slam on the brakes. You are in the process of missing God big time.
Conclusion
God may choose to speak to His child's heart during prayer, during Bible study, during worship, during one-on-one ministry, or at other totally unexpected time. Be ready in season and out to hear from Him and commune with Him.
Some Believers have been specially gifted by the Holy Spirit in this area. You might say they are prophetically inclined by the operation of the Holy Spirit to hear His voice. I generally lump all of these under the title Revelatory Giftings. These giftings are intended by God to be very a good thing, but experience has shown me that they can become harmful and damaging to a church. How? It's not that there's something wrong with the Holy Spirit's gifting. The problems arise when a prophetically inclined individual becomes convinced that they are hearing from God more clearly than everyone else, including God-ordained Pastors and Elders.
I recognize that there may be times when they really are hearing from God more clearly than other folks. But if that person begins to believe that their views are the only right ones, when they usurp church order, they open the doors for all kinds of trouble. That kind of thinking should be a huge red flag both to yourself and to those around you.
Also remember that sometimes – and often in some circles - what is attributed to God isn’t really Him at all. It may be man’s ideas about what’s religious, it may be man’s traditions, it may be flesh-inspired rather than Holy Spirit inspired, or it may be something much worse. Prophetically inclined people are just as susceptible to failure, deception, and blind-spots as the rest of us.
So what should you do? First, let the Lord create a pure heart within you. Let your focus and dreams be Jesus-centered rather than self-centered. This life really is about Jesus. That will fix most things right there.
I’ve written another Blog posting closely related to this one. If you minister to others, please read "Personal Prophecy: I’ve Got a Word for You”.
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