Advice For The Christian Girl

Discerning God's Voice Part 1

Discerning God's Voice Part 1

John 10:27-30
ESV
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

To discern the voice of God you must be a sheep of God. Jesus said that His sheep know His voice. Children of God, the body of Christ etc know God's voice because they belong to God.

Before anything, you must ask yourself if you're a sheep. If you're a child of God. To be a child of God you need to be sure you're saved. Have you received Jesus as Lord and saviour? Have you surrendered your life to Him? Have you made Him Lord of your life?

You hear God's voice you need to make sure that you're a sheep to your shepherd so that you can recognise His voice and discern what He is telling you.

After you've made sure you're sheep, obeying God's word and walking with the Spirit, you'll have a strong foundation for discerning His voice.

1) Know God's word as a foundation

To be able to discern God's voice you need to know His word

God will never contradict His word. Everything God says goes in perfect alignment with what He has already spoken in His word. God won't mislead you further from His truth revealed in the word of God.

We should daily meditate and read the word. To grow in communion with the Holy Spirit is to partner with His ministry by reading the word. The word of God tells us that the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance what Jesus said but the question is how do we know what Jesus said (John 14:26).

We Read the word of God. Otherwise, the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate to us and we won't be able to discern and understand when it's Him speaking.

God for example won't tell you how you can't speak to Him because you're not like so or so. Why? Because He has already said there is no condemnation in Christ (Romans 8:1). He can't continue to condemn you and press guilt on you after you've genuinely repented and apologized.  You'll know it's God speaking when you hear you should apologise because God calls us to make amends and reconcile (Matthew 5:24). You know its God telling you to cut something out that's causing you to sin because He has taught us to do this in His word (Matthew 18:9-11).

Do you see? You're able to discern God's voice in situations because you know the word of God. If you know God's word it makes discerning His voice a lot easier because everything God will tell you will always be aligned with His word.

If you feel a tug to invite someone to church or pray for someone it could be the Lord because He calls us to spread the gospel as His disciples (Matthew 28:19) and to pray for others (Ephesians 6:18). It could be the Holy Spirit reminding you to read the word when you are about to do something else because God calls us to read His word (Joshua 1:8), it's God's voice that tells you to pray when you suddenly have that urge to pray or feel burdened to pray because God calls pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). It could be the Lord directing you to go to church, a bible study etc because gathering with other believers is His desire for us all (Hebrews 10:25).

All those scriptures I wrote in brackets are scriptures that now help me know that whatever I'm hearing or feeling is from God because it's aligned with what God wants and His will. If you don't know the word of God, don't read scripture often or take time to meditate on His word, then you'll find yourself often in confusion about what to do in situations. You'll be lost and could fall into disobedience due to a lack of knowledge but if you know the word of God, it will help you be able to quickly reject whatever is not of God. I say the word of God is like the first foundation or first door. If whatever you're hearing is aligned with the word of God, you're on a good foundation and from there you can further discern by waiting for the fruit of the Spirit (peace) or confirmation. Always the word of God should be your solid foundation.