Matthew 18: 16 (Amplified Version)
…so that every word may be confirmed and upheld by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Alright, so now you are beginning to hear the voice of God. Oh, but there seem to be other voices too and you can’t always tell if it is God or you or just the wind blowing through your head. It’s ok, we’ve all been there. Here is a starting point for you in discerning God’s voice until you recognize His voice easily. First, God will never contradict His Word so if you think that it is His voice telling you it is ok for you to be in an adulterous relationship, you are being fooled. That is the voice of Satan. Satan will constantly contradict the Word. Secondly, if you think God is speaking to you and this is about something significant in your life, ask Him to confirm it. He will always confirm His word to you. Now let us also exercise some wisdom, if you get confirmation from your hedonistic friend who is always dragging you into trouble, then you might question it. God is going to use His Word and His anointed ones most often.
Here is an example. One time God was trying to tell me something and I really was not getting it. He had already shown me the applicable scripture, but frankly I still couldn’t see how it applied to me. For about a month everywhere I went that scripture popped up. I really mean it was everywhere. Every preacher I turned on was preaching it. Any publication I picked up had it splashed all over it. I was even given a product on CD to preview and it turned out to be on that section of scripture. Out of all the books in the Bible I was given the CD with that scripture on it. Then I went to a Joyce Meyer conference and the songs they sang were about it and Joyce actually interrupted the praise and worship to preach on it. Ok, finally I got it. It was so loud by then that I really couldn’t miss it. This example, I think, shows a couple of things. First of all, we can all be kinda thick at times, but more importantly, the confirmations of what God told me privately all came from Christian sources. Secondly, He absolutely will confirm His Word to you. And He will keep it up as long as necessary when you are honestly seeking Him as I was. Many of the confirmations came by way of His Word. He would have preachers preach and teach on the scripture that pertained to my situation. He put that verse on every media type I touched. I think that if I had eaten a fortune cookie during that time that scripture would have been my fortune. There is something very secure about seeing your answer in the scripture. I would not have the same confidence if I was watching some TV drama and “got a message.” I am not saying God couldn’t use that forum. I’m just saying that it would not (and should not) inspire the same confidence.
Lastly, let me share this with you. When I was learning how to hear God’s voice, God would often let me practice with little things. He might show me or tell me something unimportant so that if I missed Him, it was not a big deal. When I did hear Him though, and acted on it, I would realize that I had heard the voice of God. From many small things, He has taught me how to hear Him in the big things. I would even talk with Him while I was walking around the grocery store. It sounds weird, I know, but it helped me to learn to be led by Him. And if you knew how much I dislike grocery shopping and how bad I am at it, you could fully appreciate that I needed to be led by God. It was really good practice, and it became fun. Try it with something small and have a good time hanging out with God.