Throughout my life of following Jesus I have been desperate to hear what the Lord has to say. Whether it was for personal direction, from a leadership point of view, or a desire to hear for another, I’ve wanted to hear clearly. I just don’t want to do something or go somewhere that God didn’t want me to go. I want to walk in step with His desire. I’ve never wanted to make decisions, especially big ones, without His direction.

In the church circles I have moved in I’ve been surrounded with others who have the same desire. That means that I often hear words or prophecies from others to me, and I have done the same for them. I also have had many conversations with people who are doing something or taking a stand because they fully believe God has spoken to them about it.

I love it.

I love to hear that dependancy and that obedience. So many times God has spoken and it’s clear that people have listened and been obedient to His call – it’s a beautiful things to witness. There are also times when I believe people have heard correctly, been obedient, but we haven’t seen the fruit of their obedience……yet. And of course there are times where people have heard wrong, applied it incorrectly, or were lying about what they have heard God say.

If you are following Jesus I’m sure you have a story about someone who was adamant God had spoken but their interpretation didn’t seem consistent with the Lord or didn’t honour Him at all.

This isn’t a new problem and the scriptures talk about this often. In fact in the book of Jeremiah we hear the Lord talking about how the wrongs can happen in this area. This comes when the Lord has been telling Jeremiah about a drought that is coming to Judah before their exile to Babylon.

But I said, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. Jeremiah 14:13-14

I find that the Lord’s different types of wrong prophecies interesting. He speaks of 4 different ways that people were engaging that were wrong;

• False Visions – He doesn’t suggest that they are doing so unintentionally. This wasn’t they tried to give a word and got mixed up. The word used more often relates to a deceitfulness – they knew that they were doing it wrong.
• Divinations – This was a pagan practice of determining the future by examining the position of stars, communication with the dead or with spirits, examining animal organs, or casting lots. This was a spiritual practise, clearly the enemy spoke through these ways or people wouldn’t have engaged in them.
• Idolatries – People believed that idols spoke to them. Just like with divination this was a spiritual practise, the enemy did speak to them through this.
• Delusion of your own mind – The word relates to a deceit that has happened in their own minds. They are lying to themselves and clearly deliver that what they are hearing is from the Lord.

Whilst we may not come across much divination/idolatries in western culture they are something that is growing. Horoscopes, readings, star gazing, eastern meditations etc. are all on the rise as a culture who are desperate for direction turn everywhere for help. The others have been common and will continue to be. Unfortunately I have seen some of these things happen in the church. This raises a big question

How then can we know if it’s God?

Can we be sure that the words we are hearing personally, or the prophecy another has given us is from the Lord rather than from somewhere more sinister, or more simply that we or they just heard wrong? This is especially important when it comes to big life moments – it’s vital that we know what we can.

Let me ‘try’ and help.

This isn’t an exact science of course. God is not a formula, system, or theory. He is God. He is real, alive, and He is in control, not us. His ways are above our ways and He can speak however He likes. It’s also worth noting that because of our limited nature we aren’t going to get it right 100% of the time.

However, there are certain things that will help us in this journey of discerning His voice.

I offer the following in no particular order….

• Examine our heart posture – when we believe God might be speaking on something ask the following question; Is my heart pure on the matter I believe God is speaking into? There are simply times when we aren’t holding purity of thought on a matter, or a person. Perhaps we feel wronged by them, perhaps we are jealous, or have been hurt in past. Until that hurt is healed I tend not to prophecy or seek to speak into that place or person. I just know the pain in my heart will pollute the word that the Lord may or may not be speaking to me about them. If I am sure that I am healed and my heart is pure then that changes things but I must ask the hard question of my own heart posture if I want to position myself to hear God accurately.
• Understand our own desires – it’s true that the desires of our hearts often do line up with what God has for us or what He wants us to speak into another’s life, but it’s not always the case. What makes these moments difficult is that the deep desire we have can sometimes overpower the voice of the Lord in that moment. Perhaps we are asking God for direction on a change of location or a job and we feel like we are leaning a certain way which we attribute to God’s voice. Is it our desire or His voice? A really good starting point is to call out, publicly, and privately with the Lord which option we would really like – that’s legal. Then when we are talk in with the Lord or discerning it with others we are open about where our human desires are and can invite the Lord to confirm whether that desire is His desire, or is it something that is ours alone.
• Stay Humble – whilst it’s important to be confident in what the Lord has said in our lives, we must also realise that we can get it wrong. It’s entirely possible right? So, I always pray; “God, this is what I believe you have said, but I could be wrong, I’ll turn back if you need me to.” Adopting that posture allows room for Him to move and speak even if I have heard Him wrong. I also think that even if we unintentionally do the opposite of what He was trying to speak to us about He will see that our heart wasn’t to be proud or selfish, but simply seeking His voice.
• Line it up with Scripture – A simple one but worth mentioning. The Spirt will never go again the Scriptures so if what we have been asked to do is contradicting what we see throughout the word then we can be pretty sure it isn’t from God. I realise that sometimes it can be hard to see whether a specific situation is in the Scripture but the principle usually is. I might not be able to read whether I should move to A or B for Uni in the Bible but I will find examples of people hearing God when it comes to moving location.
• Ask for confirmation – Keep asking, even if you believe you have heard. Gideon asked God for a few confirmations. Obviously we don’t want to delay His word, especially if it is a time sensitive word, but it is also wisdom to ask the Lord to confirm it. Sometimes I ask God to confirm a word within a certain window – I’m not trying to demand, I do it humbly (I hope) but in doing so I try to walk the tension of timing and confirmation.
• Walk in grace and truth – when we feel we have discerned and believe it is Lord we need to move and as we move we need to recognise that the word is still unfolding so we need to be bold (truth) but also not proud or stubborn (grace). There are times where I have confidently set down a path where I have believed God directed and realised I got it wrong. I think God still delights in this because I walked it in faith and truth but had the grace to turn back once I saw that I had missed it.

God always sees our hearts. Even wrong steps done for the right reasons capture His heart. God’s desire is for us to walk with Him in relationship. He his not an evil, manipulative boss who is waiting for us to get it wrong so He can punish us. He is a loving father who deeply wants His kids to hear His voice and learn to walk with Him.

We must not pull back for fear of getting it wrong, but we must do all we can to walk obediently in what He has told us.