At times we can find it extremely difficult to recognize God’s voice. When an idea pops into our mind, we can find ourself wondering if it’s an instruction from God, a deception from Satan, or just simply something we want to do. However it’s important to know how to discern God’s voice, because it can have eternal consequences.

There is a lot of evil that God gets blamed for. We can find ourselved saying, “God told me to do it!” The Bible says in 1 John 4:1, “Don’t always believe everything you hear just because someone says it is a message from God: test it first to see if it really is” (TLB).

One thing for sure is that our Heavenly Father will never contradict His Word. So we should be asking ourself: “Does that idea in my mind right now agree with the Bible?”God doesn’t say one thing and then change His mind and say something else. If He said it, it’s true,it will always be true.

When we’re wondering whether we’re hearing God’s voice, the first question we need to ask is, “Does this thought line up with what God has already said?” If what we’re thinking contradicts something that God has already said in the Bible, then we know for certain that it’s wrong.

Jesus said in Luke 21:33, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (NIV). God’s Word is eternal, because truth never changes. If something was true 10,000 years ago, it will be true 5,000 years ago, and it will be true today, and it will be true 10,000 years from today.Remember that if God says it that settles it regardless of whether we believe it or not.

Today we need to establish in our heart that God won’t contradict Himself. So, when we are trying to recognize His voice, the best starting place is to ask ourself, “Is this idea in harmony with the Word of God?”

Erick Bouwmeester