One of the many questions I’ve heard Christians ask is, “How do I know it’s actually God that’s speaking to me and not just my own thoughts?”.
It’s a question I’ve asked God severally as well. Lord, how do I know this is you and not me?
These are the ways I’ve been able to separate God’s voice from mine.
Pray about it
Prayer is communication with God. When you’re in a relationship with someone and you feel like you’re not getting certain things from them or you’re not feeling their energy, they’re not communicating properly, what do you do? You talk to them about it. You communicate.
Same thing applies in your relationship with God. Tell Him, “Lord my mind keeps telling me stuff about this or that situation, I don’t know if it’s you or it’s just me. I need to be sure!”. If you hear something and you’re still uncertain, you can ask Him to reveal it in another way. It could be through dreams, through your close friend, something random as you go about your day, even through social media. “Lord, let a video related to it come on my For You page”. God will answer, trust me. He wants to talk to you too!
His voice is quiet and gentle
God does not talk to you when your mind is all over the place. When your thoughts are everywhere. You can only hear God when your mind is still.
I hear God a lot mostly when I finish praying or randomly as I’m going about my day. I could be working and I just hear Him. His voice is very gentle and as clear as day. That’s usually when I’m so sure it’s Him cause I wasn’t thinking or worrying about that thing at all, in the moment.
If you’re worrying about something and a thought comes in as you’re frantically thinking about that thing, you probably need to double check that.
Like the story if Elijah in 1 Kings 19: 10-18. When he was on the mountain, a windstorm came but the Word said the Lord wasn’t in the wind. An earthquake followed but the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake. Then there was fire but the Lord was also not in the fire. After the fire, there was a gentle whisper, that was when the Lord spoke.
You cannot hear God when you’re being loud. When your mind is loud. That’s why Jesus always secluded himself when he wanted to talk to God.
Another mistake most Christians make that doesn’t allow them is hear God is that we rush out of our prayer time. I get that life can be a lot. Everything moves so fast, time is always running but you have to give space for God to speak. Our prayer time is our quiet time but most of us always do the talking then leave. That’s a one sided conversation. Give room for God to speak as well. Sometimes the answer to your prayers is an instruction from God that you need to do to grant your that breakthrough but you just go, “Lord, grant me favor today. I want to ask my boss for a raise, I’m hoping he agrees” then God wants to tell you what you need to say or what time you need to make that request but you just “in Jesus name, Amen” and leave.
Speak then let God speak. That’s communication
Some days you might not hear anything and some days you will hear so clearly. But always give that room.
Realigns with His word
If you want to know if what you’re hearing is from God, check His word. Ask Him to direct you and show you in His word.
God doesn’t change so whatever the Word says about Him then is still who He is now. His word doesn’t change.
I promise you, every answer you need is in the Bible. You need to be reading the Bible! That is a major way to hear from Him. Once you learn how to meditate on the Word, you will fall in love with the process.
He reaffirms with signs
God knows that the way we’re wired, we can doubt what He says sometimes so He will continuously reaffirm it.
Jesus rose from the tomb. The Angel at the entrance told the woman to go and tell the disciples that Jesus has risen. As the women were on their way, Jesus himself appeared to them again to tell them the same thing! (Matthew 28).
One way God reaffirmed His word to me recently was through my friend. That’s why it’s so important to be surrounded by people who are also actively pursuing Christ. I knew what God wanted from me, He spoke to me, I read it in His word, I saw a sermon on it and several videos on social media, like at this point, God was practically shoving it in my face. But I was still being stubborn and I wanted someone to validate my stubbornness so I went to a friend who I thought would have the same views as me and will agree with me, but what she said was a complete 360! Perfectly aligning with what God said. I was stunned! I had no choice but to listen.
I hope this has been able to clarify any confusion or doubts in your mind. If you want God to speak to you, ask Him and He will. Make sure to be still and give room for Him to speak.
That’s it!
I hope you enjoyed today’s post! Also, let me know your thoughts in the comments section below cause I’d love to hear from you. How does God speak to you? What’s that experience been like?
Your girl is going through it lately, life’s been so hectic but we’re pushing through and TRYING to be consistent so see you in the next post! 😉
It's IB!! 