Which Way Do I Go?

I had the joy this past weekend of leading a breakout at the Pillars Girls Conference in Canton, Georgia.

I had only been living in Jacksonville, FL two weeks, but I was excited to go back home and see my friends and teach God’s Word to teenage girls.

God’s timing is Ah-mazing in that the topic of my talk was on discerning the voice of God, and there I was having just made the decision to move to Jacksonville. Talk about having a sermon illustration!

But the last few days I had been thinking that I really want to share with others what I had the privilege of teaching at Pillars just a few days ago. Because I’m sure most people don’t want to sit here read by  6-7 pages of notes I condense my notes down, and hope that maybe someone will be encouraged.

Discerning God’s voice/will is not easy, yet we are told, “my sheep will know my voice…” So it’s important that we learn how to hear God’s voice over all the others and discern his direction/will/plan.  It’s not at “mystical” as we make it out to be. Doesn’t mean we’ll always get it right 100% of the time, but stepping out in faith is never a bad thing.   

Often times was want to know God’s voice because we want to know His will, but there are so many other reason why it is SO important that we learn to discern His voice over all the others! 

We will discuss ways to discern God’s will/voice, but they are all going to come back to ONE KEY and FUNDENMENTAL TRUTH…GOD’S WORD IS GOING TO BE THE FILTER IN WHICH YOU RUN EVERYTHING THROUGH!

Too many times we stand dead still at a fork in the road, refusing to move and pleading for God to show us the way. But He is saying, “If you will just walk with me, I will show you. Mark Twain is alleged to have once said, ‘It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me; it is the parts I do understand.’

#1) How God speaks?

A. God’s Word (His Ways)

“The Word of God is living and active…” – Heb. 4:12

            Those who know God’s Word the best hear God’s voice the most. With all of it’s mystery and difficult passages, the Bible is the mouthpiece of God. He speaks through His Word! Determining our motives and our mindset. Sometimes a verse or two will literally pop off the page to me, like the unfolding shapes of a children’s pop-up book. Countless times I have read a Bible passage and thought…Has that always been there? It seems like it just arrived today This happens because the Bible is alive an active. You want to know the heart of God? Read His Word!

The ways (reveals will of God) are clear, didn’t say they were easy, but that they are clear.  If you don’t know what God wants you to do or say you are not hearing from Him my first question is going to be…are you in His Word?

Everything else we talk about hinges—prerequisite--on this one simple yet powerful point. Not just reading God’s Word, but getting it into your mind and HEART! There are so many different and creative ways to daily renew your mind and heart with the Word of God—gaining a better understanding of our God. When you know His WAYS, when you know HOW we speaks, it’s amazing how easy, yes I said easy (at times) it is to hear God speak.

God wants to speak more than you or I want to listen. Our desire to hear Him pales in comparison to His desire to speak to us. The efforts He has already made to be heard far outweigh the half-hearted efforts we make to listen, sometimes.

His book is the PRIMARY (HIGHLIGHT OR UNDERLINE THAT) mode of hearing available to us. Those who know God’s Word the best hear God’s voice the most.

B. Prayer:

            “Praying about everything…worry about nothing.”

We have this amazing gift in that we have direct access to God through Jesus Christ. When we open up the Word of God we have been invited into a dialogue. Without dialogue there is not much of a relationship! Prayer is not just a time for us to talk to God, but for God to speak to us as well. We are called to always be in a “mode” of prayer. Having hearts that are consistently in communication, awareness, of God. Prayer is not just that thing you do before you eat or before you go to bed, or right before you take a big math test you DIDN”T study for. Although those are good times to pray as well…but prayer doesn’t always have to be so formal. Time set aside to pray is important, but the times I have heard God the most have been in throughout the day, having a heart just open to Him and eager to hear. That is prayer...it’s not just talking to God, but God talking to you. Prayer is not just one way street—it’s a dialogue that doesn’t have to end just because you said, “amen.”

Prayer is powerful!!!! It is also one of the ways you learn to discern the voice of God. Take what you’re hearing (sermon, conversation, circumstance…etc) and direct it back to God. If an issue is troubling you or confusing you, don’t waste time and energy worrying about it. Take it up with Him in prayer and wait patiently and expectantly for His answer.

One of the things God freed me from years ago was this fear to just pour out my heart before Him—to just be real. Pour your heart out before the Lord…whatever is in there…pour it out. Good of bad! He ALREADY KNOWS you mid-as-well go ahead and tell him. Get it out on the table and have some dialogue.

There is NOTHING I hate more than an elephant in the room. I don’t know if it’s my age, but the older I get the more I just don’t have patience for weird/awkwardness that can be solved by a simple conversation! I have no patience for people who can’t just put things out on the table and be willing to have some dialogue, possibly awkward dialogue, for the sake the relationship or friendship.

God knows our hearts, and one of the beautiful things about Jesus is that he wants to not only save us, but have a relationship with us…and that means that it goes both ways. God has already done far more than we could ever ask or imagine in his pursuit of our hearts.  Prayer is powerful….when God says pray about EVERYTHING he means EVERYTHING…everything can be effected by prayer! EVERYTHING!

C. Circumstance-

God is persistent--Just pay attention!

We all want a “burning bush” or what I like to call the big neon flashing sign from God saying… “THIS IS MY WILL!!” But if we will do two VERY important things about our circumstances…I think we’ll begin to see threads that God has been weaving, neon lights we didn’t even know were there. We’ll begin to recognize God in our circumstance!!!

Circumstances can be just as sacred as a worship service when the Holy Spirit is in them. If He’s orchestrating the events in your life—and He is!—He can meet you and speak to you anywhere

Never think that the circumstances in your life have nothing to do with God’s will. They have everything to do with it! When you’re seeking His guidance, you should always reflect on the events the Lord is allowing to occur in your life. Persistent, internal inklings, matched by external confirmation is often the way God directs believers into His will.

Beth Moore once said, “I know God is speaking to me about a certain matter when it seems like everything I hear or read for a while points toward the same issue. Anytime God gets “thematic” with me my ears start perking up.”

“I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.”- Job 42:5

Job had known about God. But now he’d been enabled, by God’s words, to know Him!

This is precisely what God wants. God’s goal in your life is to move you from a mental knowledge of Him to an experiential one.

D. Other People

Wise Counsel!!! When God desires to speak, He speaks; and He has no problem delivering His message—whether through the mouths of donkeys or the mouths of men. Remember, he’s persistent.

The Lord uses His people to declare His will to His people.

All of us need people in our lives who love us and desire God’s best for us.

--Don’t underestimate the way that God can use the right people to lead you to the right place

--Don’t underestimate how the enemy can use the wrong voices to lead you to the wrong places .

That’s why the people we surround ourselves with matter!

Seek WISE counsel. Sometimes that means seek age, or experience. Yes, it is important to have friends who are neither jealous of your success or secretly glad for your failures but want only to see God at work in your life is a trust friend. I am thankful for this, and I pray you have friends like that in your life….but there comes a time when we are called to seek wise counsel…we as girls like to pile up on the bed and talk with our friends for advice, when the truth is that all the wisdom of the world may not be on that bed with you. Seek age and experience…but they NEED to be people who are filled with wisdom gained from their own close walk with Christ. We need the wisdom from heaven to speak through our friends, family, and even strangers, not just their opinion and experience.

God speaks through the wise counsel of friends, teachers, preachers, and even writers.

Hearing God’s voice through human lips can change church from a check-the-box obligation to a burning-bush experience if we come expectantly and listen with discernment.

Discernment is essential, of course. Not every person who claims to be speaking the truth of God actually is! Keep the wisdom team in your life nearby as you listen discerningly to other voices. Be careful that the guidance you receive from others truly is from God! Don’t blindly accept everything that comes your way along with a claim that it comes from Him!

His Word is your lamp!!! He will never lead you contrary to His Word…EVER.

E. Holy Spirit

God also speak through His Spirit. When a person trusts Christ as Savior, a radical change takes place. It is more than the elevating of his or her Friday night vocabulary and Sunday morning activity, it is the fact that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the believer’s heart. God’s Spirit, the third member of the Trinity , comes to reside inside every believer. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the “one who walks alongside of.” The Holy Spirit indwells Christians  like a constant companion who walks alongside. He guides the thoughts and actions of believers in the way that God desires. Like a homing signal, the Holy Spirit is always directing us to God. The challenge is to tune our spiritual ear to the voice of the living guide.

1 Cor. 2: 9-10…etc. You can know things that you, in and of yourself could not know.

How do I know the difference between the guidance of the Holy Spirit and my own emotions? Grounding ourselves in the Bible can help us discern between our emotions and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Emotions come and go, but God’s Word remains the same. God can use our emotions to direct us, and He does, but the Spirit’s guidance is consistent and deep. Here’s how I would define it: The Holy Spirit’s directing is a sustained movement of the heart that points to honoring God. Also, I would say…go with your “gut.” Not ALL the time, but if you ever get those “RED FLAGS” PAY ATTENTION. Sometimes that is God giving you a check in your spirit that something is not right.

NEVER EXPECT THE HOLY SPIRIT TO LEAD YOU CONTRARAY TO GOD’S WORD!

#2) How do I know It’s God?

            A. He Brings Peace, Hope, Grace, Encouragement, and Love

God’s peace makes all the difference.  In the days and hours before Jesus went to the cross, He comforted His disciples by telling them that He would not be leaving them without  guidance or direction after He was gone away. And He promised them His peace—a permanent, restful assurance no obstacle or opposition could diminish or destroy within their hearts, locked in their very souls.

“I’m leaving you with a gift,” He told them, “peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27).

At a time when His followers were surrounded by anger, frustration, and death, Jesus was assuring His disciples that with real peace—His peace—even the most dreadful of circumstances could not tamper with their serenity.

They were to know Him by His peace. God’s voice speaks the language or peace, love, grace, forgiveness and hope.

            B. He Will Challenge You

The challenge is part of the plan. Or maybe we’d forgotten. Or didn’t want to admit it. But since our heavenly Father’s goal is to help us reach our full spiritual potential as believers in Christ, we too will often be challenged by the things He calls us to do.

Sometimes REALLY challenged!

And it won’t be a mistake or a divine mishap. It will be on purpose. This is God’s time-honored track record. He has always called people from unlikely places, asking them to do things that were far beyond their abilities, far beyond what they felt equipped to handle.  In fact, it you want to get really honest about it, this pattern seems to be the most consistent way to characterize God’s voice in Scripture. Over and over again, He laid down a challenge.

            C. He Exudes Truth

When the Scriptures are ignored, He remains the unknown God. The Bible provides the framework into which His messages to you will come. Anything the Spirit says will fall within the boundaries of what has already been written.  SO LIKE WE’VE SAID 100 TIMES: You will hear Him most accurately as you remain constant and consistent in your study and meditation of His Holy Word.

When he speaks, He speaks the truth. He is the “God of truth” (Ps 31:5).

The more intimate we become with God and His Word the more quickly  we’ll be able to tell who’s really speaking. If we want to be able to recognize Satan’s lies—and who doesn’t—we must be sure we’re spending lots of time in close fellowship with the Truth.

The more we read the written Word, the more acquainted we become with God’s character, personality, patterns and WAYS! When God speaks today, His voice will carry the same personality and patterns, and will reveal the same attributes as He reveals in His Word. We’ll know His voice because it will “sound” like the One we’ve come to know so well in the Scriptures.

The Lord wants your relationship with Him to be so close that Satan’s voice can never deceive you. He wants you close enough that upon receiving a certain impression, you can know if it lines up with the nature of the God you’ve come to know so well through the Scriptures. Then when what you are sensing seems strange, you can confidently say, “My God would never say anything like that.” If you focus on the priority of knowing Him and knowing His Word, discernment will start to happen automatically, on its own.

You’ll know whether or not you’re hearing from Him because you’ve grown so to Him. 

            D. He Speaks with Authority

Luke 24:32

            When the Holy Spirit speaks, His voice comes with power and authority. It hits you deep. It grips you. Your heart burns. It’s Him! You know it!  I know that God is speaking when His voice is so powerful that it comforts, heals, instructs, corrects, and gives wisdom in only a few words.

When God speaks, His voice is noticeable by its resonance, depth, and impact. It pulses with a calm, steady force that makes a clear impression on my soul. It is the “burning fire” that the prophet Jeremiah describes (20:9); it’s the “hammer which shatters a rock” (22:29). Like the disciple on their way of Emmaus, you’re moved to stillness as you reflect  on what you’ve seen and heard.

Sometimes we wish for a sign in the heavens painted in bold, primary colors that instantly tells us what to do, something miraculous that clearly defines what God’s will is. We want lighting in a bottle, but we have lighting in the Bible, in the wondrously beautiful, personally instructive, ever-available treasury of His eternal, living Word.

I’m suggesting that there should be a tuning of your spiritual ears to notice the moment that a passage captures your attention in an almost shocking way, drawing your thoughts immediately to a personal circumstance to which applies. When this happens, God is most likely speaking.

Ask yourself: Why us this verse communicating to me so directly right now? What does it mean? Does God have a reason for putting me in this particular zip code of Scripture on this particular day, when I’m right in the middle of this particular circumstance?

When God’s Word leaps off the page and grips you—stop right there! This isn’t some random occurrence or coincidence. It is God Himself speaking through His Word. It is the living Word o God at work. Speaking with authority.

We must change our thinking about the Bible if we consider it a stagnant rule book to be consulted by page or paragraph number. It’s not just an old book to be consulted by page and paragraph number. It’s not just an old book with a lot of theology for us to digest. It’s a fact. God is no longer in the business of revealing new doctrine. The canon of Scripture is closed. Yet because the Book is alive, it applies a new and fresh to us in every generation.”

There’s no code for you to crack. No puzzle He’s waiting for you to put together. No stick He’s dangling in front of you then snatching it away when you turn your head toward it. He’s not sitting up in heaven with the camera rolling and stop-watches tricking, testing whether or not you’re spiritually sharp enough to figure out the next move He wants you to make.

He’ll speak persistently. He’ll speak personally. He’ll speak with peace. He’ll speak with challenge. And He’ll roll it all together in the eternal counsel of His truth until His message echoes in your heart with heaven-sent authority. That’s the voice of God.

Don’t just be listening to hear him. Be listening to know Him! Next to come to know God’s Word, the key is relationship. Really coming to know and love God through His Word! We are all on this journey. I don’t know one person who can claim to get it right every single time. We are all learning and growing in this whole “discerning God’s voice.”  

Like Paul said, “I do not claim to have obtained all this....”

But, what if the key to knowing God’s will/voice is to know God’s ways? What if we’ve been spending too much time looking for personal guidance, but what God wants us to do is to know His WAYS—because when we know His ways we can know his WILL!

We are busy wanting God to reveal the concealed part of his will when God wants us to know the revealed will of ways. When I follow (obedience) in his ways (what I already know) he will lead me into his will. 

Be careful to not over-spirtualize decision making too much. 

 “Your WORD is a LAMP unto my FEET and a LIGHT unto my PATH.” – At the end of the day…knowing the Word of God is going to be key in hearing the voice of God!