Testing the Voice

Call to Prayer 

Title: Testing the Voice

By: Daniel Peter

Date: 22.08.2023

And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

Matthew 14:28-36 (NKJV)

The reason for the salvation of our souls is so that we will become sons (John 1:12 ), and those that are led by the spirit are the sons of God (Rom. 8:14). So it is necessary that every Christian learns how to be led by the Spirit. However, God is not the only Spirit that exists in the spirit realm, and the other spirits that are not submitted to God seek to gain control of God’s children. The question is, how do we test whose voice we are hearing?

The first thing to equip ourselves with in our journey to be led by the spirit is the word of God. Knowledge of His word will help us recognize the voice of the His Spirit, for His spirit will not contradict His Word. The concept of using the word to judge a voice goes beyond testing for exact correlation, but the using the understanding of the mind of God to test the motive. For example, when the devil came to test Jesus Christ in the wilderness, he quoted exact scriptures but with the wrong motive (Matthew 4:1-11).  Because Jesus knew the mind of God, it was easy to know that what he was hearing was not consistent with His will.

Another thing we watch out for to know if we are hearing correctly is the confirmations He brings, for God confirms His word with signs and wonders (Heb. 2:4). Signs and wonders doesn’t just mean the manifestation of the miraculous, it includes the circumstantial confirmations we receive after we hear. For example, you hear a word in the secret place when praying, and you join a meeting and someone is repeating the exact thing you heard. This is the Lord confirming His word. However, they may be times the Lord may not confirm the word until you declare it. So, we don’t seek signs before we act, but we stand on the revelation of Christ (the word) to determine if what we hear is consistent with His will.

The last point I will give today is that we test for it’s power. The word of God is quick and powerful (Heb. 4:12). The word quick means it is alive. If it is alive, it means we can interact with it and we can test for its power. Gideon was one who utilized the privilege to test if he was hearing the Lord when He demanded the Lord to do certain acts that were near impossible (Judges 6). Again, we see Peter doing the same thing when he saw Jesus walking on water and He demanded that He should ask Him to come if He was the one (John 8:32). God granting their requests made them know they were hearing correctly. However, in a time of testing (trials), this may not be applicable. For example, when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, he didn’t wait to ask God to perform an act before He obeyed. He trusted God and did what He was told to.

The sure way to know if you are hearing the Lord is to have His mind. The measure of your knowledge of His word will determine the extent of His mind that is available to you.

Prayer Point.

Let’s thank God for His word today. Let’s ask Him to help us discern His voice accurately and to know when a different spirit is speaking and reject it.