Testing The Voice of God (V)

11/5/21 

Just like Daniel in the lion’s den, we too are in a lion’s den.  For it is written: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  (1 Peter 5:8).

Hearing God’s voice comes with testing the spirits and you can’t test the spirits if you don’t know the Word.  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.  (1 John 4:1-3).

God will never tell you to do something that is against His Word because Jesus is the Word.  He cannot go against Himself; He cannot contradict Himself.  Knowing the Word of God is one of the most important aspects of testing the spirits if it goes against the Word, it’s not of God.

In contrast, the enemy knows scripture and will quote it to you.  Usually, he will make you question what you have heard by quoting a verse either incorrectly or partially.  Understand our enemy is the great deceiver and we must discern the spirit behind the words.  

Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11).

How you hear the tone of voice in your head is important to deciphering the author.  The Lord’s voice brings peace, yet it is piercing to your soul.  It brings you the answer yet, it is sternly to the point.  When I receive a response from God, it is mostly short and definitive.  One the other hand in my experience, when the enemy speaks or quotes scripture to me, I hear it in an almost sneering voice, it brings confusion.  And it’s the way he uses it,” Did God say that?”  Sneer, sneer!

Furthermore, don’t be surprised if the Lord starts to use scripture addresses to talk with you.  Through the years, God has confirmed His communication with me through various ways.  But I wanted to explain more in detail the giving of scripture addresses.  After I ask Him a question, He frequently responds with a scripture address.  It comes like a ticker tape in my mind with only the scripture reference (i.e., Amos 3:7); I have to look up the address to find out what it says in the Bible.  Or I can just hear the verse quoted in my mind.

Make sure if you receive an address, don’t shrug it off.  Look it up and let the Spirit speak to you.  There are times when God gives an address that I look up and a short time later He gives another address that references the first verse He gave me (but a lot of times the original verse does not reference the second verse so that I could not say in my mind that I already saw that end reference verse and my mind just recalled that last verse).  I call this phenomenon “scripture looping.” 

To explain further, in my Bible, a lot of times at the end of a verse is what is called an end-of-verse reference (in fine print), which goes to another similar verse in the Bible (for further study, I assume).  Scripture looping is another way to test God’s voice…it’s almost as if God is testing His Own Voice!

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!  (Psalm 34:8).

I like the definition of taste as I could similarly use the word ‘test’.  From Merriam-Webster Dictionary: “The ability to discern what is of good quality or of a high aesthetic standard, to try or test the flavor or quality of (something). Synonyms: judgment · discrimination · discernment.”

Lastly, I think one of the simplest tests for confirming God’s voice is what my older sister does when she hears something and she’s not sure it’s the Lord speaking.  My sister simply asks, “Who was that?” and she waits for a response.  If it’s the enemy, he usually won’t say anything because he’s been found out!

And the Lord says: “Listen to all with your spirit, ask Me to interpret.  I will answer when you call and show you things you do not know.” 

PRACTICE POINT:  If you need to confirm the Lord’s voice, ask God for confirmation of what He has spoken to you about and do not go ahead with whatever you think He has told you until you receive confirmation.  Tell Him you are waiting for confirmation before you move ahead.  As usual, write down your interaction with the Lord in your Book of Remembrance. 

BONUS POINT:  If you suspect you have heard the enemy’s voice, go to God with what you have heard.  Listen is prayer for your Guide to show you who has spoken.  As before, record your conversation.