Many years ago God began to speak to me regarding the things He had planned for my life. He spoke to me of place that He would take me, and ministry that I would be involved in, and things that we would do together. It was wonderful to hear these things. It was so wonderful, in fact, that I was convinced that I was deceiving myself. These "too good to be true" promises must be exactly that, too good to be true, I decided.  

Frightened that I might be playing a very bad trick upon myself, I did the safest thing I knew to do. I simply stopped listening to those thoughts. I shut off that still small voice within myself. I was terrified of making a horrible mistake and sinning against God.  

For several years I refused to regard such thoughts as being from God. Rather than having conversation with Him, I chose to talk at Him. I would present my case before Him, then close my mind and spiritual ears to receive any response.

My greatest fear was that it was the devil deceiving me. Secondly, I feared that my will and emotions were duping me. It was several years before I began to listen to those internal thoughts again.

It was only after going through a season of counseling and healing that I would dare to listen again.

                                     His Grace is Sufficient

During the season of healing I became aware that I did not understand grace at all. Fear of rejection and punishment had dictated much of my Christian experience until that time. Viewing God as a harsh and punishing disciplinarian God, I expected not only His wrath, if I made a mistake, but also His rejection. So, with that paradigm, I did not dare to err, even inadvertently.

Once He began to teach me that all of my mistakes were paid for on the cross, and all of the punishment that I could ever deserve, was already taken, in my behalf, I began to dare to listen once again.

That doesn't mean, however, that I had completely settled the issue of who or what I was actually hearing. Was it my thoughts, His voice, or the enemy's voice?This was a learning process that is not reconciled overnight.  

Believing that God's grace is sufficient is an important key to facilitate this learning process. He is a patient father who enjoys watching and helping His children grow. He is an encourager who pats us on the back and strokes our head when we reach little milestones on our journey. He gently re-routs us when we get on a detour that is unsafe. He is committed to making all things work for those who love Him and are called to His purposes, even our mistakes.  He has always been faithful to confirm when I am headed in the right direction. Usually He does this in uniquely personal ways. This way I know to keep pushing ahead just as I am doing.

                              Trial and Error 

Frequent dialogue helps to recognize another's voice. We know immediately who we are hearing when our spouse calls us on the phone. We can identify the voice of our child out in the yard when a host of children are playing and shouting. We recognize the voice of our parent in an instant.

This ability to recognize is accomplished through familiarity, long standing relationship, intimate communion. So it is with recognizing the voice of our Creator God. The more often we listen, and even move, when we hear, the more easily identifiable His voice will become to us.

He has grace for our errors just as we have grace for our child stumbling when beginning to walk. He is pleased that we are trying and even ecstatic when we are trusting. Trusting Him makes Him smile with delight, like a very proud Papa, watching his toddler accomplish a new fete.  Sometimes e may find that the voice we might have heard was not that of God but, perhaps, our carnal nature. It might also be the voice of this world's influence and culture which surrounds us. On some occasions it might be the enemy of our soul attempting to disguise himself as God.

This trial and error learning curve is not something that we should fear. The Scripture says that "His grace is sufficient," which means more than enough. He will judge us on the desires of our heart not by our successes or failures, as we are learning. If we desire to be influenced only by His voice, but we follow another voice mistakenly, He will simply use this as teaching tool to sharpen our discernment in the future. Yes there is sometimes a price to pay for our error.

However, I learned many years ago, that we learn far more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. The price we sometimes pay is the cost of wisdom, if we learn from the error. In that case, mistakes are not failures but merely stepping stones to success. He promises to work all things for good for those that love Him and He cannot lie.

                                              Faith is Spelled R -I- S- K

My refusing to listen for His voice, for fear of error, was far more displeasing to God, I believe, than any mistake might have been. I simply chose not to trust Him and leaned instead to my own understanding. My decision was motivated by fear and not by faith.

He loves to challenge us to risk because that requires faith when we rise to the occasion. By risking and trusting, we grow in the understanding of His goodness and kindness and amazing grace.

His church, unfortunately, is filled with people who have not learned of these excellent attributes of their God, as they tremble in constant fear of punishment. The punishment, by the way, was already executed at the Cross on our behalf.  It is finished! Jesus said so Himself. He did this in order to draw us into communion and fellowship.  Fear is from another voice always. It is the voice of our enemy. God teaches us with love not by fear. 

                                              Whispers of Intimacy 

We need to raise our voice when and speak loudly  when someone is at a great distance or if they are simply not listening. When someone is very close they can be heard in a whisper. God is so very close. He dwells in His fullness within you. There is no need to for Him to shout when He is so close.

The very fact the He whispers is a sign of intimate close relationship. He honors us with that initiation of intimate communication. He has given us some guidelines in His Word to weigh all things by those guidelines. Does it glorify God? His enemy would never do that. Dose it align with the Scriptures? If anything is contrary to the Scripture it is not of God as He will not contradict Himself. If it produces fear it is not of God. If it produces confusion it is not of God for Satan is the author of confusion. If it condemns or accuses is it not of God. God does not condemn us. He corrects  and convicts us toward God not away from Him.  

We are to judge the tree by the fruit in all things. Is the voice which we might be hearing producing good fruit in our lives? Does the voice draw us closer to our God or turn us from Him? Satan or his emissaries will never turn us toward God. Nor will they ever initiate good fruit in our lives. Does the voice draw us to love God more? If so, you can be assured that it is not the voice of God's enemy. 

                                                            Safeguards

Whatever we bind on earth is already bound in heaven, the Scripture says. So we can bind all voices of darkness from speaking into our minds and injecting their thoughts masquerading as our Creator's voice. We bind in the Name of Jesus Christ by the simple declaration that, "We command all voices of darkness bound and muted, unable to masquerade themselves as the voice of our Holy God in our minds and hearts. We bind all ungodly imaginations far from us."

In the same way, we can bind our carnal mind from its imaginations and the imaginations influenced by this world's culture can be bound  from interfering, as well.  

Consecrating our minds, spiritual ears and spiritual eyes, to our Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone and being cleansed with His blood form any vain imaginations, sinful thoughts, or curiosities is also important. This way the enemy has no legal access to our thoughts. 

                                 He is Faithful to Confirm His Words

Those precious promises that the Lord spoke to me, which I believed at one time to be simply too good to be true, and therefore not God, at all, but my own vain imaginations, He has been faithful to confirm over the years. I am now walking in much of what He spoke to me some thirty or so years ago. There is every indication that the rest of those promises will also be fulfilled in the near future. He is so very good, that His desires for us are quite beyond our own imaginations I have learned. Never would I have dreamed, that my life would take the twists and turns, that have led me to the place, that I now occupy in His Kingdom. Never could I have imagined what I can now now see on my horizon.  

Beloved, if what, that still small voice whispers to you, seems too good to be true. That is an indication, that it is indeed our loving, kind, generous and extravagant God. I have found that I simply cannot dream dreams, as big as God dreams for me. Nor do I believe can you! His ways are so much higher than ours.

                               Initiated and Insured by His Amazing Love

We are called to a Divine partnership with the King of Kings and our loving Father, establishing His Kingdom on the earth as we await His return. We are to do as we see the Father doing and say what we hear the Father saying. We have entered into an eternal and Divine Covenant, of intimate relationship, which requires that we hear His sweet and encouraging voice and respond.

Isn't it amazing that our Savior signed, sealed and delivered this covenant, fulfilling both God's and man's part at the Cross so that it cannot be broken. 

This, my friends, is the heart of the Holy Spirit !