Ernest Smith

Based on the response of my previous two blog posts, I would say that the subject of hearing God’s voice is one that many people struggle with and desire to grow in.  Hearing the voice of God is not easy.  There are no simple formulas that are fool-proof ways of discerning the voice of the Lord.  If it were easy, none of us would ever get it wrong.  If it were too simple, then what’s the point in seeking a deep relationship with God?

When it comes to hearing the voice of God, I believe that God speaks differently to each individual.  There are ways that God speaks to me which are more effective in my life than in yours and vice versa.  However, I believe there are common ways that God speaks and if we want to hear Him clearly, then we need to learn how to discern these ways in our lives.

One of the primary ways that God speaks is through His Word.  For further reading on this subject, check out my last blog post.

Another way that God speaks, but one that is much more difficult to discern, are promptings of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, which means He is God.  To spare everyone a theological lesson, lets just settle on the fact that the Holy Spirit speaks (Acts 1:16), gives commands (Acts 1:2), teaches (John 14:26), comforts (Acts 9:31), testifies (Acts 20:23), sanctifies (Romans 15:16), fellowships (2 Corinthians 13:14), dwells within us (2 Timothy 1:14), renews us (Titus 3:5), and is given to us as a gift (Acts 5:32).

The Holy Spirit has a great work to do in our lives and as you can see by this list, which in no way is exhaustive, much of this work is guiding, teaching, commanding and speaking to us.  So how does the Holy Spirit speak to us?

Well, there are many ways to answer that question, but I will simply give one way that the Holy Spirit uses to speak to me…my stomach.

God, for some reason, has always used my stomach as a way to tell me if what I am doing is His will or not.  Now, God doesn’t use my stomach for every situation, but many times when I am seeking God’s will for something, if I get a tightness in my stomach, then I know that it probably isn’t God’s will. 

I know this sounds strange and if I were to always go off of how my stomach feels, then I may be doing some crazy things the morning after I eat at Moes.  I am not pretending that every time I get a tummy ache that the Lord is speaking to me, but there have been countless times where God has used a tightness in my stomach to tell me to slow down or stop going in a direction.

I do want to warn you, though.  If you simply use the “promptings of the Spirit” as your only guide, then many times you will find yourself outside of the will of God.  God will confirm what He is saying through the Holy Spirit, many times, through His Word or Wise Counsel.  If you can’t back up what you sense the Holy Spirit is saying to you with the Bible or with wise men and women of God, then you may not be hearing from God, but rather from that burrito you ate.

As it says in 1 John 4:1, we are to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”  Just because you get a tight stomach or a voice in your head or whatever way you believe the Holy Spirit is trying to prompt you to do something, it doesn’t mean that it is God.  If you can’t confirm it by the Word of God, the Bible, or by wise men and/or women of God, then it might not be God.  At that point, don’t run to make a change in your life, but rather run to the cabinet and get some Tums.

Next time we are going to discuss how to discern God’s voice through wise counsel.