3 voices (which one do you hear?)

Voices

. Today we are going to look at something we haven't touched on before. with new year upon us and new opportunities in front of us, there is something that i believe God wants us to learn today that will help us know his voice more.

. so today we are going to be talking about voices, specifically the different internal voices that we hear and at times fight with within ourselves.

. the interesting thing about voices is that they are all unique, each of us hear today have a voice, but none of our voices sound the same as anyone else’s

. and over time as we get to know people better, we also get to know their voices meaning we are in fact able to recognize people by the sound of their voice.

. you don't even have to be looking at someone, or even know they are there to be able to recognize their voice ( which sometimes gives us opportunity to run and hide if the voice we hear is someone we don't really want to speak to! )

. In the same way as we are able to recognize the voice of the people around us, Gods desire is that we would also learn in the same way to identify his voice that speaks to us

John 10:27–28 NIV

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

. Jesus says that we will know his voice, and in fact it his his desire that we do!

. We need to understand a couple of things about this

when we are talking about the voice of God speaking to us, we are not talking about an audible voice that we can hear, we are talking about the way that God speaks to our hearts. the internal voice of God

. im not saying we can never hear the audible voice just that it is not overly common!

2. the second thing we need to understand is that is while the spirit/voice of God wants to speak to us internal there are 2 others voices that we can hear internally, the voice of the enemy, and then our own internal voice ( conscious )

. which means that there are 3 different internal voices that we could possibly be hearing in any given moment, what we need to do is learn to discern which voice we are hearing, and which voice we need to be listening to!

. so we know that Jesus wants his sheep (us) to know his voice/ voice of the Spirit how do we know that the Spirit wants to and does speak to us?

John 16:12–13 NIV

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

. we have received the spirit of God/ Holy Spirit as a guide, and he is to guide us in all the things of God he will teach us the word of God! and he will only speak what he hears from the father.

. So when the spirit is speaking to us everything he says will line up with the word of God, he will only speak truth to us, he will never speak a negative or a condemning word, it will only be things that point you to God, and will lead you to make decisions that will bring glory and honor to God.

. ( sometimes bringing glory and honor to God will mean going against a standard of the world, not everything you hear from God will be easy but it will be in line with his word and the truth)

. The things that the voice of the enemy speaks will be totally different to the voice of God, the book of revelation calls satan the accuser!

. the voice of the enemy will never lead you into doing the things of God, he wants to lead you as far as possible away from God, and he uses deception to do this.

. if he came openly and revealed himself openly we would not be fooled or deceived would we ( if he spoke internally to you and said “hi its me satan, your enemy this is what i want you to do, or hello im hear to trick you into walking away from God.”) it wouldn't be very effective would it?

. so he comes in the most deceptive ways he can

2 Corinthians 11:14 NIV

And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

. you see we need to understand our enemy, do you know that satan was an angel?

. it may seem strange but the images we see though media and movies that depict satan are so far removed from the truth, and yet this is what we see so that is just what we think he is if we don't actually know the truth.

. 2 weeks ago we spoke about the importance of you personally reading and knowing the Word of God! ( have you heard the saying “that every good lie has a little truth in it?)

. well this is how the enemy tries to deceives us into following his voice and his lead for our lives

2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:2–4 NKJV

For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

2 Corinthians 11:3–4 NKJV

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

. we know that Eve was decisive by satan in the garden of Eden, and the way he did it was by twisting the words that God had spoken to cause Eve to believe, that God was holding back something good from them.

. he took the words that God had said and twisted them in such a way to trick Eve into making the wrong choice.

. and this is exactly what he does today, he tries to convince us that something that the word of God says is somehow untrue, or doesn't apply to us, or means something totally contrary to what God has actually said.

. Now the third internal voice that we may hear and be lead by is our own, or our conscious.

. what i have learnt to be true in my life is that my own internal voice is always swayed by which of the other 2 voices i have been listening to the most.

. you have probably been told at some point in life to either follow your heart or follow your conscious.

. but i would say to you only do that if your inner voice/conscious has been listening to and hearing from the voice of God.

Hebrews 9:14 NKJV

how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

1 John 3:20 NKJV

For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

. Your inner man/women will always be swayed by either the voice of God and the voice of the enemy, our responsibility is to take care of which voice we are listening to.

. because the voice that you follow will determine the out come of your decisions. if you know the word you will not be deceived by the lies.

. know that God never goes against his word, anything even remotely contrary to the word of God, is not coming from the mouth of God.