In various books and sermons and such I've heard people express the idea that you need to develop a sensitivity to the holy spirit and be able to "hear God's voice" in what otherwise be interpreted as everyday conversations and events.

To me, this whole idea just encourages a superstitious and obsessive-compulsive mindset. Such as---

From now on every time you press the letter "A" on your keyboard it means that your God has just recently sent you a secret message cloaked within the disguise of normal everyday events. If you are a good Christian it means you must find and decipher these messages otherwise you are "quenching the spirit" and have hardened your heart and blah blah blah.

This is all, of course, my own personal viewpoint. What's yours?

Need to work out what I want to say.....

Listening for God's voice is not that at all. On extremely rare occasions have I claimed to hear His voice as just that. In fact, only one comes to mind. More details about that if you desire.

On the other hand, listening for the Holy Spirit is different. The Holy Spirit does not :quote: talk :quote: as one would think. I :quote: hear :quote: the Holy Spirit when I am considering something that may or may not be the right path for me to take. I ask for guidance, I feel a yearning to do one thing or the other.

Sometimes we listen too hard for God's voice. In all honesty, it's there all the time. Attuning to Him is how you hear the voice.

I can honestly say that I've heard God's voice maybe once. It sure wasn't loud but I knew it was Him. And it's not like He carried on a conversation with me, it was just one or two words.

When I think of "hearing" God's voice, I think more in terms of the feeling I get when I pray to Him. Things become clearer (sometimes), I feel comforted, I feel less anxious, etc.

Does that make sense?

I've held many conversations with God... most of them appeared to be one sided but afterwords i had a clearer vision of what I should do, and an inkling of what would happen should I deviatet from the plan that started to unfold.

Not exactly his "voice" but I think it all boils down to the same thing, there are times I feel I've had actual conversations but whethere it was a dream or an actual occurance it still led me in whatI feel was the right course of action for me....

There is more I have to formulate... but I got this much figured out now and will get it down as it comes...

I totally agree with you Silent..


Many people claim that they hear God's voice because of the warm, happy, gooey feeling they get when they pray or worship, but feelings can be very deceiving. One must never trust feelings. people often ask God for things or how to handle an issue and based on the "feeling" they get, they go in that direction. Oftentimes peple want something so bad and pray for it and because it is what they want they will "feel" an approval or acknowledgement in the positive from "God" and honestly believe that God was telling them to go forth with whatever it is... :rollseyes: As human beings we must never trust our feelings and emotions when it comes to relating to God because the enemy can imitate and induce those feelings and emotions within us so as to deceive...Any man who claims that he can tell the difference 100% of the time and never be deceived in this way by Satan, is obviously right where Satan wants him, arrogant, proud and very deceived...



From the italicized quote I assume that you are from a very charismatic background?? Sounds like some of the crap they preach..

I don't know if I'd say charismatic, just really superstitious fundies (mennonite-ish) who got afraid about everything.

Perhaps charismatic in the sense that they taught that things like insurance and medical attention were to be avoided because they showed a "lack of faith." In short, it was an evil church.

Anyway, at the time it frustrated me that God was more willing to hold a real, verbal conversation with Satan than with his "children".

I "heard" God's voice last night. And boy did it piss my husband off...but that's another story for another time.

Once in my life I heard the audible voice of God. He woke me from a sound sleep and told me to do something. I cannot explain to you how I knew it was Him. It was just that I knew it in my spirit. I wish it happened more often, but these experiences are quite rare. I think my own experience is related to my gift of discernment, which comes with more unpleasant experiences than anything.

As far as hearing that still small voice telling you which way to go, I think Christians hear it all the time but they don't always acknowlege it as the leading of the Holy Spirit. Anyone read "Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyer? Great book to help quiet your head to better discern God's leading.

We love our children and want for them to have their heart's desire, right? How much more so God? He wants to be in on our decisions. He wants to lead us, to help us to avoid temptation and hurts. But too often with most of us, we're too interested in the here and now and what our flesh wants to bother seeking God or listening to God. At least, I know I am. So I think I squelch that voice too often.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you, right?

Make sure to give us a link to this story.

Totally off topic, Lynn, but what is your definition of "discernment"?

Discernment is knowing what you hear or see is of God or not of God. I also have discernment in spiritual manifestations. I see demons.

I know you've talked about it before. That would simply freak me out. How do you keep from losing your mind? :blink: :faint:

Faith, and knowing that God doesn't heap more on you than you can handle.. if he has faith in us seems we ought to as well....

Plus after a while you get used to it....

'zactly. Faith.

Plus, it doesn't happen as often now as it did when I was a new Christian. I think Satan messes with you a bit.

Wow... I might actually have to agree with String for once... at least partially.

My mother-in-law cheated on my FIL and they got divorced. Now the Bible is pretty clear on what she is "supposed" to do in this situation- stay single. She says she's prayed about it and "asked God to get rid of the desire to be married if He desired her to remain single." What kind of crap is that?!

Frankly, if you hear from God then you need to run it through two filters. First does it conflict with the Bible and its teachings? If it does it isn't from God. Secondly if it's just plain stupid and you are praying for what you want instead of what God desires then you are not hearing from God. Can a heroin addict pray "to have the desire for heroin go away unless He wants him to use"?

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Interesting take....

I half agree with String and a little more agree with seige.

While the scriptures are the ultimate authority regarding action in our lives, they do not speak direct and specifically to our everyday events and decisions. And we are often faced with situations where the choices or understanding before us is not clearly right or wrong from a scriptural point of view. That is, that neither decision is against the Word of God and yet we want to do and be where God wants us to be.

I believe we are to be led by the Holy Spirit and that often involves hearing that 'still small voice' that speaks to our Spirit. It is often a 'sense' of what direction to take. There is an example of this in Acts 15:28, where the apostles act because 'it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.....' plus many others where we are told that they HS will be our guide, teach us, lead us into righteousness etc.

Can we be deceived either by the devil or our own sinful desires and lusts? Yes.
Therefore, it is VITAL to note that this must never override the authority of scripture and that is the first port of call. Anything we believe God is saying to us must not contradict his Word or it is not from him.

After this point I still tend to be a little cautious of those things I 'sense' God is saying to me as I am aware of my humanity and its imperfection. However, if I get too bound up in this, it can be quite paralysing. My response to this is usually to pray something along the lines of

"Father, I think you are saying ........ and it seems right to me to do ........and unless I hear something different from you, this is the direction I am going to take. If I am wrong or you have a better path for me, please show me. Give me a check in my Spirit and make it clear to me what you want. I only want to do your will. I trust you to correct me if needed. etc etc "

I believe that in doing this I am yeilding myself to God and that he will honour my desire to hear his voice and do his will for his glory.

So in a nutshell, I pray, yield and then do what seems right, as long as it is not contradictory to scripture.

This post is already too long or I would give you some classic examples.

Well, you can't pray for something that's against God's Word and expect confirmation from God. This is like prayer 101.

I've heard of women who believed God told them to leave their husbands. Makes me want to smack them in the head with their own bible.

BUT, we're only human. Just because people go to church on Sunday doesn't mean they're Christians. Just because someone calls themselves a Christian doesn't mean they've actually even read the Word of God. I've heard of a movement within the Christian body where people don't call themselves Christians anymore because it can be such a loose term. They call themselves followers of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Me, I'm a born-again, bible-thumping, religion-hating, fundamentalist. Where's Basil? I know I make him nuts.

He's at work right now, but I'll tell him you called! :thumbsup:

What do demons look like?