Many Voices - by Caroline Quinton

Some thoughts re Discerning God’s Voice (all Bible refs from New King James version)
(Ramblings from my Journal, CQ)

So many voices, so many crying out “I am right, follow me, follow my teaching,” or pushing aside the greatness of God’s redemptive plan in Christ, exchanging it for a watered-down gospel – often so subtle, it is hard to recognise.

Heb 13:9
Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, …

Isa 30:21
Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.

How do we know? How can we discern the voice of the Lord?

1) Stay close to Him – priority and quality time every day. Read the Word. Learn the Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to daily speak through the Word. Ps 25:12-14
Who is the man that fears the LORD? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.
He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth.
The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.
Then PRAY!
Ps 25:4-5
Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.
Communicate with your Father. Love Him. Worship Him. Sing praise to Him. Read a psalm. Remind yourself of the wondrous salvation that Christ has bought for you, of His redemption and His forgiveness in your life. If the Holy Spirit highlights some sin in your life or a place of error, confess and get right and let His cleansing and joy fill you. Thank God for His mercies new every morning – thank Him specifically for all His goodness in your life.

2) Submit to God first, not men (or women!)
Gal 1:10-11
For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
Godly submission, as described in the Bible is unto the Lord and, only with God FIRST in our lives, can we then humbly submit to the wise and loving pastoring in our churches. But NOT willy-nilly to any old teaching or doctrine. It HAS to be under Christ – He is the Head of all things and of the Church.
Col 1:18
And He is the Head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the pre-eminence.
Only cults refuse to listen to their members and insist on absolute obedience. Our obedience is to Christ.

3) Be humble and receive one another in love. If you have doubts about a teaching or even something which seems, in our day of world communication thro’ the internet, to be gripping other Christians all around, it is important to remember that different things help different people. Some ideas or presentations may not help us, but they are helping some people. There are often differing perspectives. We can stand back and pray. Other things are possibly destructive, and if there are people in our care who ask us, then we can ask the Holy Spirit to give an answer through us.
Luke 21:14-15
"Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.”

4) Keep in fellowship. To keep ourselves in truth and to combat confusion it is important to have close friends and family in the Lord with whom we can share openly. We may have different ideas. That is healthy. It is the attitude of “I am right, and no one can argue with me” which is a precursor to being very wrong!! And pharasaical! Pray together, keep the Bible central and study together, honouring and praising Jesus Christ, and no one else.
Heb 10:23-25
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

5) Have a quiet heart, listening to the Holy Spirit – a “Mary heart” sitting at the feet of Jesus. He wants our hearts confident and secure in Him and in His words.
Isa 30:15
For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength."
A gentle quiet spirit will listen, hear and assimilate and the Holy Spirit has an opportunity to interpret to our heart what is going on. Dogmatism and opinionated thinking just shuts out the voice of the Holy Spirit.

6) God is holy! It is true and one of the wondrous joys of our salvation that God accepts us just as we are, and unconditionally loves us in Christ. BUT His holiness never changes. He is neither a God of compromise, nor a God of lukewarmness. His nature has no place for sin. He accepts us into His family so that we may be changed – “from glory to glory” and “from faith to faith”! Our Christian life has to be one of growth in holiness.
1 Pet 1:16 “…because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
God’s desire is that we may represent Him to this world. Watch out for anything that would make God conform to our image, rather than the other way round!

Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

2 Cor 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Hallelujah!