Saturday, January 31, 2015

Discerning The Voice Of God In Four Filters

By Janine Hughes


An amazing and mysterious promise made by Jesus is that as his followers, we should and can hear Gods voice. When he calls, we should listen and respond. When it comes to listening for and Discerning the Voice of God, there are four distinct filters that should be applied.

Number one will always be the Bible in discerning Gods voice. The Bible has every source material which you will need to do so. You have a person you always look up to when you need an example of a person always in conversation with God. An individual will discover that such a person has a very intimate knowledge about the Bible. It will help you translate the invisible, unseen world of God into your physical world.

To put it in another way, as Psalm 119.11 says, the word of almighty is hidden in his heart or treasured the word of most high. This verse can be identified as the core dimension in discerning Gods voice. This translates to mean that each time we read the Scripture, it is an opportunity to get some divine raw material. This raw material is what God will use to speak directly into our hearts. Each reading is an opportunity in investing in our inner treasure trove.

Filter Number Two is identified in that within the Bible is our supreme litmus test when it come to God voice discerning. Although the second filter resembles the first, it sets the stand of objectivity that we are held on. Romans 10:17 tells us faith will come from hearing word of Christ. Essentially, it translates to mean nothing we shall hear from God will ever contradict what is in the Bible.

Often, we get to hear Christians who claim they have heard from God about everything from addictive gambling tendencies to traits of bad relationships. This is often not the truth and when a person says God has told us to perform an act in contradiction of the wisdom in Scripture, the presumption should be it is not Gods spoken word.

Filter Number Three points out that a community is the best form of having Gods voice discerned. Paul admonishes in Romans 12:2 that the community and individual should hack to the calling of God. In a verse just before, Paul insists that communities must give their bodies as living forms of sacrifices. In translation, we should discern the will and voice of the most High as a collective community.

Jesus, to add to this in John 10, talks about being a good shepherd while we are his sheep. He calls every sheep by individual name but moves the flock as an entire communal group. This filter covers both communal and individual discernment.

Number four literary shouts how important it is for you to show humility. God hates proud people but loves a humble person. A verse constantly appearing all over the Bible tells you so. If you develop the power to hear your God, it will easily translate into pride. It will creep slowly into your heart before you know it. Humility is the acknowledgement that although Gods spoken word will never err, your understanding is not always correct.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment