How do you know God is speaking to you?

Lately I have been faced with a problem. I had been asking God what He would have me do, it was a long struggle, and after much prayer and begging and searching and trying to get out of it, I heard God tell me what He wanted for me. It wasn't the answer I wanted to hear, but I was so happy to know for sure, to have peace, finally, and I changed me desire to what God desires for me.

So how do you know who actually heard God? How do you know you are hearing God?

My hearing God is being questioned. Ironically, God spoke to me in a class called Discerning God's Voice (read this to see the thoughts on the exact day it happened). Not even kidding. But I tested it, and God repeatedly confirmed His will for my life. I know that I know that I know it was God.

I looked up how you know that it is God you are hearing.

What does the Bible say?

Jeremiah 29:12-13 says, "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."

"Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed" (Proverbs 16:3 Amplified Bible).

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Jesus tells us in John 10:4b and 5, "...and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." (interestingly, sick sheep will follow anyone)

"But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14)

Isaiah 30:21 says, "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."

1 John 4:1 Don’t always believe everything you hear just because someone says it is a message from God: test it first to see if it really is.

John 7:17 Anyone who wants to do His will can test this teaching and know whether it’s from God or whether I’m making it up

7 keys ways to discern God's Voice:

• Scripture: "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).
  
  
• The Holy Spirit speaking to our 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 Prophetic (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).
  
  
• Godly counsel: "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety" (Proverbs 11:14).
  
  
• Confirmation: "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed" (Matthew 18:16).
  
  
• 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).
  
  
• Circumstances/Timing: "After these things he (Paul) left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontius, 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 -- this relationship between Paul, Aquila and Priscilla -- which happened as a result of circumstances -- became one of the most important strategic partnerships in the book of Acts).

Presupposition for Discernment

Before we can say discernment is actually occurring, certain conditions must be met:

1. You must desire to do God’s will. This means that this must be your fundamental choice in life.
   
   
2. You must be open to God at the moment of discerning. This means that you must be completely open to accept any of the possible results of discerning. If you are only interested in doing what you want to do, and are not open to other possibilities, then discernment is not possible.
   
   
3. You must know what God is like.
   
   
4. You must be a person who prays.

So many of those things fit with what happened. I desired to do God's will, not mine. I was open to what God wanted when I was seeking the answer. I know what God is like, and I pray. Scripture tells me I should be serving people, but does that mean God was speaking to me? OK, are there more reasons to believe it was God? The Holy Spirit just burst in me at the moment of discernment, I was filled with the Spirit and it was an amazing moment, regardless of it not being what I wanted to hear.

How about more? The place it came from was pretty prophetic, but that could be debated if you wanted to disbelieve God speaks to people. I was seeking Godly counsel, through several avenues, I had multiple people praying with me for God's answer. How about confirmation? The moment I heard it, a person who was praying with me leaned over and said "Did you hear God just speaking to you?" It was pointed out as God's voice and answer before I even said I had heard it! I showed it to 2 other people, one was not convinced, but didn't say anything, and the other was as moved as I was, to tears.

But then I got the peace of God! It was the first time I was totally at peace with the situation in 4 years! It was peace that passed all understanding. But is that enough to convince others that it was God? How about circumstances that happened after that? Coming across training for that situation, random people emailing you that they had you on their heart and were compelled by God to buy you a book for that situation, and excitement and vision from God for the ministry........... All that, and I heard wrong?

So, what do you do when you are forced to disobey what God has clearly led you to do? How do you believe that someone else heard God right, and you were wrong, when God has repeatedly confirmed and supported the discernment you had? How do you convince them of this when they made a decision about your life without even ASKING you what you thought, and dismissing what God told you without even ASKING what it was?

I can tell you it tears you apart inside. It takes away your trust and respect. It rocks your world. It leaves you not wanting to have anything to do with "Christians" again. And serving? Who would want to do that again? It is pretty awful. But I refuse to go that route, and I plan to obey God, and not be a slug in a church somewhere. I KNOW that I know that I KNOW what God told me. I have tested it. I have confirmed it.