The profundity of simplicity…(part 2)

I mentioned two things in this post about hearing from God.  I am going to unpack the first statement I made today.

When I think I have heard from God, I usually have.

This is my experience.  It does not have to be yours.  But I have found when I think God has been saying something to me, regardless of how many “fleeces” or checkpoints I create in my own mind, I will end up…most of the time…right back where I started.

Of course there are exceptions to this…because I am fallen and redeemed by God’s grace. Yet I am still quite capable of infusing my own selfish desires into the mix…and even worse…blaming God for it!

So…here’s some indicators I use to weigh the situation:

1. I know what His voice sounds like – I am a child of God.  Just like my children know what my voice sounds like, I can recognize his voice…because I have heard it before.
2. I rarely agree with it (at first) – Hence the reason He is speaking to me…DUH! He is speaking to me to get me to do something I would not naturally do myself.  If I sense God’s tugging and I immediately say “God, that’s a GREAT idea!” I am automatically suspicious.
3. It often requires some level of persecution – It always makes me laugh to hear people say, “The safest place to be is inside the will of God”…not because it’s not true…but because they usually mean “If you’re obedient to God, He won’t let anything bad happen to you”.Can I just say that is total CRAP! The Bible says all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Paul and Silas were fully obedient when they went to Macedonia.  Where was the first place they ended up? Jail.  I have learned though that I would rather be in the jail God put me in than the place I choose for myself!
4. It comes in the normal course of following Him where I am – God speaks most clearly to me when I am already being obedient to what I know he wants me to do.  Whether revealed in His word or something specific He wants from me, God speaks to me from a position of obedience.Don’t get me wrong, He will get my attention when I am disobedient…but then there is no question where that’s coming from.  Disobedience hinders communication with God.

This is what goes on for me.  I use these as some common ways to identify God is speaking to me.  Tomorrow, I will share about point 2: sometimes, the harder I strain to hear, the more difficult it is to distinguish between the voices in my head.