What does God want of me? Should I go into ministry? change jobs? go to college and where should I go to school? Should I take this job, or is there something better on the horizon? Who should I marry? In life, we find ourselves bombarded with never ending questions, series of choices and tough choices to make. How do we know we are making the right choice? Is it possible to actually make the right choices? Should we constantly read the stars or contact psychics and wizards? This ,past week, a close friend came up to me wondering what to do in a situation where somebody had given them a personal prophetic word regarding a decision they had made and was in the process of following through on. My friend was totally shaken, had little peace and was wondering what to do. We had a little discussion and later on that night as I prayed for the person, I realized that many of us Christians struggle so much with hearing God's voice. This struggle causes men and women who happen to tell us things about us that others didn't know to appear "great" "holy" or super heroes. They are sought after and what they say is taken to be gospel truth. Rather than teach people to hear God for themselves, many of us in the ministry want to tell people what the Lord is saying and hence attain the super status. Realizing this, I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to write a few of the things I have learned over the years about hearing God's voice and I pray it will be of help to you. The truth is that God wants to speak to us, and yes, you can 'know' that you hear His voice. God wants to fellowship and communicate with us in a two-way communication. He created us and desires to have a relationship with us. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to take our place and to die for us. He did this so that we could once again have fellowship with Him. The bible encourages us to enter into God's very presence, "...having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way..." (See Hebrews 10:19-20). God want to fellowship with us and has plans for us so that we can be a blessing and a reflection of His love, leadership and blessings. His plan is for good, for a hope filled future. (See Jeremiah 29:11). I am blown away every time I read John 10:27, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." What blows me away is the fact that the sheep hear the Shepherds voice. It means that I can hear His voice and know I am hearing God and follow His will for me. Notice it does not say some of the sheep will hear the Shepherd through the "bigger, better, stronger sheep". Jesus stated that His sheep hear His voice. We should therefore learn to earnestly seek after God, seek to hear His voice and to walk in His will. He promises us, "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:12-13. We should not expect to hear a voice every time we seek God as He "speaks" or communicates to us in different ways at different times but our confidence should be in the realization that God wants us to know His will and walk in His ways. So how can we know we are hearing the voice of God? Does the bible have certain keys or truths that I should know which would help me to test and confirm God's voice? In my studying of the bible and reading on the subject, I have come across seven truths against which we should seek to judge every possible leading or word from "the Lord". We are to carefully examine the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, the words of godly people who may have influence on us by their words and actions through the use of the following keys: • The Bible: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (II Timothy 3:16-17). God does not contradict Himself and therefore He will never lead us to do anything that is contrary to His word. • The Holy Spirit speaking to your heart: "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, 'know the Lord,' for all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them" (Hebrews 8:10-11). • The peace of God: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful" (Colossians 3:15). A friend of mine loves saying that peace is the rudder of a Christian. This is the inner peace that gives us the assurance that the word is indeed from the Lord. • Godly counsel: "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety" (Proverbs 11:14). Seeking Godly counsel is highly encouraged in scripture but many times we tend to think it is not important. There are many people who have shipwrecked their lives simply because they received a “prophetic word” which they held on to and refused to heed to godly counsel even when corrected. • Prophetic Words (word of knowledge, word of wisdom, personal prophecy): "Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:19-21). We should not despise personal prophecy but we should also judge it in the light of God’s word. In the present day, a lot of people keep running from one minister to another seeking a prophetic word or even ministers giving out utterances everywhere. The problem with these approach to personal prophecy is that what is said is then taken as gospel truth without remembering the instruction of the Bible, to judge or test prophetic words. ( See 1 Corinthians 14:29) • Witnessing Confirmations: "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed" (Matthew 18:16). Are there other people who have the same witness to what you are hearing? God does use other people to confirm His will and leading. • Timing or Circumstantial evidence: "After these things he (Paul) left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tent-makers" (Acts 18:1-3) circumstances caused Paul, Aquila and Priscilla to meet and it resulted in one of the most important partnerships for the gospel in the book of Acts. There are people and circumstances that will work out right at a certain point in time and impact our lives greatly. Many times the Lord will confirm His direction to us through three, four or more of the above keys, especially in those seasons when we are considering a career change, making important decisions or when feeling “stuck in the mud”. Remember, we need to constantly pray and seek the Lord at all times and as we do so, we will learn to hear Him and to discern His will. I encourage you to do so during this Christmas season and may we all march into 2009 knowing that God is leading us every step. I am praying for you. Blessings Edward M. Munene Pastor International Christian Centre Mombasa www.icc-mombasa.org Personal Blog page: www.lifession.com