When you think God is speaking to you, how do you know it’s His voice?

It happened again. Truth slipped out and it began to help someone. I asked her, “Do you think God is speaking to you? Telling you what to do?” “What do you think he’s telling you?” She answered my question. She thought He was. She told me what the message was. Then she said she wasn’t certain.

How can we really know?

I had a reason for asking. A decade ago I was in her shoes in an almost identical situation. I had listened to and questioned a thought uncertain if it was from God or not. The words kept me in a stand-still position in regards to my torn-apart marriage. They kept me suspended in my emotions, unable to move forward and unable to let it go. When you still love someone but they’ve moved on to someone else, leaving the marriage and you, it can be very difficult, especially when you have kept Your marriage vows and are concerned for your ex-mate, and you still believe in the possibility of a miracle. I understood her dilemma and her desire to follow God even when it doesn’t seem to make any sense. I had been there a few times in my past, and it is a major spiritual struggle.

I began to talk about discerning God’s voice.

I decided to share the story of my uncertain thought that I just mentioned. It was the summer of my marital separation before the divorce became final, an extended period of pain and rejection, hope and prayer. I sought God for all I was worth. I didn’t know if this time it was over over. I spent the early morning in prayer. Mid-morning, I had just finished my walk in the orchard when a bold thought entered and anchored itself.

 I am going to heal your marriage.

The non-audible thought was strong, commanding, stern. It startled me. At first I felt joy and excitement (my husband is going to be healed!) and then doubt (what was that? was that God or me?). I wondered at it. Wrote it in my journal. I thought about how it started with “I am,” the old testament way that God revealed himself, “I Am has sent you.” I asked my pastor how a person can know if something is God’s voice. He said to consider three things 1. scripture confirmation and aligns with scripture 2. confirmation through a spiritual Christian brother or sister 3. a sense of the Holy Spirit’s agreement–not argument.  I prayed that God would confirm that it was from Him sometime in the next two weeks. Two weeks came and went. There was no confirmation. Yet, the thought haunted me long after the divorce. Was God going to heal my marriage?

Another scenario. I had been asked to pray for a young girl in failing health who lived in Colorado. I live in California. She was the only child of a couple who were unable to conceive a second child. This child had been born with a severe heart condition and her health was rapidly deteriorating. She had recently slipped into a coma. Everyone was praying. I was praying often and consistently. It was midday. I was walking in a circle in the farm’s driveway, supplicating, asking for God’s intervention.

Norma, the quiet thought came. “Yes?” I responded.  It’s too late. “What’s too late, Father?” I asked. She’s already gone. “Oh. No. Then it’s too late to pray for her. I understand. I should pray for her family.” My prayer halted as I stopped in my tracks.

I sensed it was God speaking to me. I believed the little girl was no longer with us. A deep sadness washed over me. I began praying for her parents knowing the heartache that was ahead. The thought (voice) was calm, quiet, and gentle. Did I question if it was God’s voice? Of course. I am not completely confident in my sensitivity to God’s voice. Yet, I was not surprised when I received a text a few hours later saying the girl had passed on earlier in the day.

The two thoughts sounded different. The first one was abrupt, startling. The second was soft, kind. To date, my marriage has never been healed twelve years after the fact. I no longer believe that that thought could have originated with God. I have learned this, when God speaks there is a quiet authority. It is certain, calm, and direct with a sense of weight (authority). On numerous occasions I have felt a prompting which I now recognize as God’s Spirit. I have acted on these promptings and they never lead me astray. There have been other thoughts that have a different sense, jarring. forceful and commanding. I believe these cannot originate from God even though the words may be plausible. They are sent to trip me up, to make me act on impulse. I’m careful. I ask God for guidance and validation. I also stay close in my relationship with Him.