Is that Really You God?

 

How do we discern God's voice from other voices?

This week in the online Bible Study, "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God," we are looking at what it means to hear from God and obey Him. One of the things we are learning is about the 5-Question Filter that we can use to help us discern if what we are hearing is from God or not.

Today, I really learned the importance of this filter, although, I didn't catch it at first...God had to point it out to me.

I was working on the questions at the end of chapter 2. They were some tough questions! The questions that were most difficult were the ones asking you to reflect on the areas in your life that need sacrifice or change, and also to reflect on ways that you have conformed to the "world's way."

Tough right?

So, I thought about it, and wrote some things down. That's when it happened. I started feeling very defeated and down. I started feeling like I will never measure up, and I will never be good enough. My feelings of depression were getting worse and I started praying and asking God to show me what He wanted me to do in these areas. I listened for awhile, and didn't feel like I heard anything. My mind started going down the road of saying, well, I guess that He has already told me. I have a lot of things that need work. I'm a mess. I'm a failure.

Yikes! You see it pretty clearly what is going on here, don't you? I do now. After the fact, as I write this it's really clear, but in the middle of it I sure didn't. I was hearing a subtle, very convincing voice. But, it wasn't God's voice.

After a little while of feeling my sadness increase, I said to God, "I don't want to feel this way!" And that's when I heard from Him. He reminded me of the 5-Question Filter. He pointed out that all of the thoughts I'd been having did not fit with His character. I let out a big sigh. "Thank you Lord."

The devil is so sly isn't he?

1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

Today, he found me, in the middle of doing my Bible study! The good news is, that he didn't devour me. Jesus saved me from this by reminding me of His character.

I heard from God a bit more too. Not audibly, but in my thoughts. He reminded me, that of course I wasn't "good enough", because I'm a sinner, but the good news is that I don't need to be "good enough" because Jesus was more than enough in my place. He also pointed out to me that He is at work in me in all of the areas that I wrote down, and that He was making changes in me already and there was evidence of this. He reminded me that he is not about legalism and following a bunch of rules and do's and don'ts, but He is interested in my heart. He is longing for me to be a YES GIRL and to live in total trust of Him and total surrender to Him, but that this doesn't mean that I have to do it on my own! He is there to work in me, change me, give me strength, lead me, and pick me up.

Now, I knew for sure that those thoughts were from God. Why? Because they pass the 5-Question Filter test. I'm not saying that these 5 questions are some magical method to use to discern God's voice, but they certainly do point us in the right direction. I encourage you to spend some time listening to God this week and discerning His voice. It definitely is a great part about being a YES GIRL.

Here is the 5-Question Filter for you, put together in such a beautiful way from the Proverbs 31 Ministries blog.

created by group leader Jenny Armstrong

These questions are a great resource.

Another great place to learn more about listening prayer is:

LISTENING TO GOD FORUM at http://rustyrustenbach.blogspot.com/ This is the blog by the author of the book: A Guide for Listening and Inner-Healing Prayer, written by Rusty Rustenbach who works for the Navigators.

 

This book is really great. The website has some free tools such as guidelines for Listening Prayer that you may find really helpful.