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Discerning The Voice Of
God
4 Practical Ways to
Discern the Voice of God
Meg Bucher
Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me.” (John 10:27)
The definition of
‘discernment’ is “to examine, prove or test; scrutinize.”
Biblical discernment expresses a
“close and distinct acquaintance with, or a critical knowledge of things.”
Nothing is more critical to test and apply to our hearts,
minds, and lives than God’s word. He is not afraid of our questions and
welcomes our seeking.
“Discernment is how we follow God’s leading through the
process of spiritually sensitive application of biblical truth to the
particularities of our situation,” writes John Piper.
What Does the Bible Say
about Hearing & Discerning God's Voice?
“For the Word of the Lord is right and true; he is
faithful in all he does.” (Psalm 33:4)
By His word, He governs all things (Psalm 33:4;
NIVSB Notes).
His Truth is the “agent of His purpose” (Psalm 107:20;
NIVSB Notes) and it is everlasting (Psalm 23:6).
God sends heavenly agents (Psalms 147:15) and speaks through our ministries here on earth.
On the winds of His tone is the gift of salvation; God’s
voice redeems us.
God spoke audibly to create the world, and us!
We hear Him because He is our Abba Father.
Like sheep hear the shepherd’s voice so we hear Christ’s.
God spoke directly to Abraham, Moses, Noah, and countless
others. However, He also employs His army of angels to deliver His word and
establishes His truth in us through the divine inspiration and interpretation
of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus spoke on earth, it was the very voice of God!
Jesus is the Word of God. His word is alive and active
because Jesus lives. And now, He lives in us.
Though it may not always be audible, we can know without a
doubt God’s voice permeates the earth, our lives, and our souls.
“Hearing God’s voice gets at the heart of what it means to
be human,” writes David Mathis.
Here are four things that will help you discern the voice
of God.
1. Discern Through
Studying the Bible
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all
your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
Prayer
We can wrestle with what we are struggling to understand,
asking God to answer and reveal things in prayer.
Our connection with Him deepens as we dive into His Word.
His voice will often pop right off the page with a direct answer to the
stirring of our hearts.
Nothing is coincidental with our God. When we are intent
on seeking Him, He is faithful to be found.
Use the powerful tool of prayer, conversation with the one
true God, to ask for wisdom in discerning His voice through Scripture.
Discipline
Jesus awoke early in the morning to be with and talk to
God. If He needed quiet time with His Father, we should be wary to walk out
into the world unarmed.
There is no way around the discipline of studying God’s
Word. In order to hear His voice, we have to know what it sounds like. And to
hear it, we have to quiet all other noise.
“For God’s voice to sink into our minds and hearts, His
words have to be there frequently, and they have to stay a while,” writes Liz Ditty,
highlighting the importance of meditating on God’s Word.
“Eastern meditation is characterized by clearing your
mind,” she explains, “but Christian
meditation is about filling our mind with the words, thoughts and images of
Scripture.”
Repetition
“Hearing the voice of God is about so much more than
knowing what to do,” Cara Joyner writes.
“It’s about relationship.”
Studying God’s Word isn’t just a task we can check off
each day; it’s involving Him in our daily lives. When we repeatedly let Him
into the cracks of our hearts, He starts to sweep them out and make them new.
Similar truths will start to wave flags of victory in
conquered parts of our hearts.
We will begin to remember and recall His faithfulness as
He answers prayers and speaks to us through different seasons of our lives.
2. Discern Through
Interact with Others
“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without
deeds is dead.” (James 2:26)
Service
Created in the image of the one true God, we are meant to
honor Him in everything we do. A huge part of our faith is reflected in the way
we treat and serve others.
Jesus said, next to the most important commandment to love
God with all of our hearts, that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
We are placed in each other’s lives to teach, encourage,
help, and hold each other accountable.
When we are actively living a life of faith, He will
connect a passage we read in the morning to a conversation with a friend.
Seeking God isn’t just absorbing scriptural truths; it’s
allowing Him to extract what He has put in us and use it in
the community He’s placed us in.
The Bible tells us not to sit idle for good reason. When
we move, our great God grows our faith and His voice becomes more
recognizable.
Wise Counsel
Mentors in the faith are important. They can be found
formally or organically, and as we seek more of God we will find those people.
Prayerfully ask God to send spiritual mentors who can help
you recognize God's voice and even speak His words into your life.
We don’t need to seek out 'Pinterest-worthy' people; their
lives will speak for themselves, and their knowledge of the word of God is
vital.
Their advice will come, not from their own prideful
opinions, but from the truth of God’s Word coupled with real life experience.
3. Discern By Looking
for the Good
“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use
have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:14)
When we diligently study the Word of God, praying for Him
to reveal hidden things and involving Him in our daily lives, we stack bricks
on a solid foundation of truth.
As we diligently aim to know and live the truth, we are
increasingly able to hear His voice.
“As we seek truthful things, we’re forced to confront our
own falsehood,” writes Hannah Anderson.
“As we pursue justice, we must grapple with our own
injustice. And as we search for whatever is lovely, we learn to reject the
tawdry and pragmatic for things of eternal worth and beauty.”
The more we know God, the more we know how far we all fall
short. Remembering who He is reminds us we are all forgiven and never loved
less.
4. Discernment Rejects
Perfectionism
“Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge
correctly.” (John 7:24)
Perfection is impossible this side of heaven. One man,
Jesus, lived a perfect life without sin. The more we learn to own and learn
from our mistakes the wiser we will be.
Discerning, hearing God and understanding what He’s trying
to say to us, requires our attention. Nothing gets our attention like pain.
Painful circumstances cause us to focus intensely on Him
for help. When we run from our mistakes, we are cheating ourselves of hearing
Him.
“Discernment requires time and effort,” says Dr. Charles
Stanley.
“You can’t simply move through life, thoughtlessly
reacting to situations yet never learning from them. Take time to reflect on
your responses and observe the consequences of your actions and choices. If you
feel convicted by what you notice, let that motivate you to begin a lifelong
pursuit of the Lord and His ways.”
Verses on Discernment
“Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is
discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous
walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.” (Hosea 14:9)
“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things
that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot
understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians
2:14)
“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all
the congregations of the Lord’s people.” (1 Corinthians
14:33)
“If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the
sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are
conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in
controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious
talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who
have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to
financial gain.” (1 Timothy 6:3-5)
“So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your
people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern
this great people of yours?” (1 Kings 3:9)
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow
and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental
spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any
double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and
marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
For more verses on Discernment, click here.
Not everyone is called to teach God’s word, but we can all
discern His personal voice in our daily lives.
If we strive to know and hear Him, He will be ever
faithful to show up and be heard.
God isn’t asking us to be perfect or ashamed of our
inevitable mistakes. He asks for our hearts.
"Megs" writes
about everyday life within the love of Christ. She stepped out of her comfort
zone, and her Marketing career, to obey God’s call to stay home and be “Mom” in
2011. From that step of obedience her blog, Sunny&80, was born, a way to
retain the funny everyday moments of motherhood. (https://sunnyand80.org) Meg
is also a freelance writer and author of “Friends with Everyone.” She
loves teaching God’s Word and leading her Monday morning Bible study, being a
mom, distance running and photography. Meg resides in Northern Ohio with her
husband, two daughters, and Golden-Doodle … all avid Cleveland Browns fans.
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