His Voice, your thoughts

His Voice, your thoughts

Good Day. 

Quiet gives God space in which to speak.  Yet quiet can be difficult, and hard to come by.  I guess I knew being quiet, or ‘keeping still’ as my mama said, would be a lifelong challenge when Mrs. Crawford corrected me for talking too much in the first grade and then proceeded to break a paint stick on me. Prophetic.

It is challenging to be still, and when I am still, challenging to quiet my mind … at least long enough for God to get a word in edgewise.   ‘Be still, and know that I am God,’¹ he said.  Seems like everyone loves that verse.  I wonder why.  It appears to be simple.  It is strong.  It invites confidence and opens us up to life changing truth and assurance.  Be still, and know that I am God.

But you see, when listening for the voice of God, which often comes in a whisper, as to Elijah,² how do we know the voice (or the whisper, the thought, the prompting) is from God?

            And, if a thought is not from God,

          then from whence does it come?  Therein lies the reason we must be aware of the juxtaposition of our own thoughts and the voice of God.

Sometimes it is easier to see if we take ourselves out of the equation, to objectify the question by assigning thoughts to someone other than yourself and consider for a moment~

An Ordinary real life situation:  Don prays, ‘God, I keep hearing people talk about purpose, about destiny … do I have one?  Can you show me?’

What then runs through Don’s mind in the quiet is ‘Seriously?  If I do have a purpose, I will probably mess it up, just like everything else I touch.  I always find a way to foul things up—even simple things.’  Stop. 

Analyze that:  Where did that thought come from?  Was that thought the voice of discouragement from God?  Objectively speaking now, outside of Don’s head, anyone would say, ‘of course not.  God doesn’t speak like that.’

Then where did the thought originate?  Besides basic utilitarian thinking, like ‘time to go, gotta get my shoes on, brush my teeth, and I’m out the door’ … thoughts about self and others and situations and God come from either

            Goodness or badness.

To the skepticism of some, let me put it out there:

thoughts about God, self, situations, others, behavior are influenced by a source-

 either good or evil… ultimately, from God or from Satan.  There, I said it.   Here’s another Ordinary real life situation in which thinking is involved: Lyn’s son needs a check before school to cover the cost of his soccer uniform.  It is almost time for him to leave, as she starts looking for her checkbook, but does not readily find it.  Bottom of her purse?  Un-uh.  Junk drawer in the kitchen? Nope.  Cluttered desk?  No such luck.  Wait, maybe in the trunk of the car?  Not there either.  The carpool is now honking, as she thinks, ‘I’m such a loser.  Why can’t I be more organized?  I am such a mess…oh, why can’t I find my checkbook?! Sometimes it seems like I can’t get anything right.’

Analyze that: What kind of thoughts were Lyn’s … positive?  Motivating?  Valuable?  Or were they ugly and condemning?  Condemning of course.  Where do thoughts of condemnation—including self-loathing, constant self criticism, and harsh judgment—come from? 

The key to the source lies in characterizing the nature of the thoughts, which the aforementioned could be summed up in one word: destructive.  And then we go one step further – in considering our thoughts, would God possibly whisper to us words of condescension, derision, or condemnation?  Oh no, he would not.

> God's voice gently guides and encourages, gives hope--³                                                                 > God leads; Satan drives--⁴                                                                                                    > God convicts; Satan condemns and brings guilt--⁵                                                    > God woos; Satan tugs hard

When God speaks, he does not use fear to motivate.  If fear overcomes you, it is the enemy, not God.⁶ When you are trying to ascertain what God is saying to you, look at circumstances, the Bible, and inner impulses of the Spirit.  Similarly, when someone else tells you that ‘God told me’ such and such, you must certainly be discerning!  Some easily bandy about, ‘the Lord told me’ or ‘the Lord gave me a dream,’ and it appears to carry some authority—or, does it?  Please, Friends, be discerning.  Does it line up with God’s Word?  Is it consistent with his character? 

Interview yourself and ‘take captive’ your thoughts~  how you doin’? as Joey would say.  Time to separate his voice from your thoughts.

Christine