Whose Voice Do I Hear?

Prayer. What is this 6 letter word? Some people think it’s about talking to yourself. For a long time I thought that too. I’d be lying if I said I don’t struggle some days to know what is my inner voice verses what is the Holy Spirit. Have you ever been there? Are you there now?

Yet my faith is growing every day. My head knows that God hears me yet it’s hard to trust some days. Old habits die hard, right? My head knows that God loves me yet sometimes I struggle to believe that He really loves me. My head often blocks for my heart. It protects it and in that protection it actually oppresses me and keeps me from the one true protector, God the father.

It has taken time for me to believe that I am worthy of what I pray for. That there is power in my prayers. I have stopped ending each prayer with “And whatever your will is God let it be done”.  With those few words I negate my prayer; I negate my belief; I negate God’s power.

Prayer is potent and powerful when we believe that God is able to and that He wants to answer our prayers. He wants us to believe the promises in His word and to trust Him. In fact it’s a command in Matthew7:7-12. How crazy is that?  God commands us to come to Him with the requests that are on our heart.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets”.  

So how do we know if we’re hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, the enemy or our own inner guilt and insecurities in the response to our prayers? One litmus test God gave us is in Philippians 2:3-5. In this verse He gives us guidance for how to think pure thoughts. This is also one way to know if your inner knowing is from God because He is pure; He is good; Philippians 2:3-5 also describe His character.

Pure   Right   Excellent   Praiseworthy   Admirable   Nobel    True

This acrostic I created above is a tool I created from Philippians 2:3-5. I use this as a filter for what I am hearing. You can ask yourself, is this thought pure?  Is it right? Is it excellent? Is it praiseworthy? Is it admirable?  Is it Nobel? Is it true?

Interestingly enough PREPANT is a real word! It’s a brand of galvanized steel. Steel is already strong and the galvanization process puts a layer of zinc on top of it to stop corrosion.  God’s word is that layer of zinc for us to lock in the strength we have in Him.

So when you’re not sure who’s voice you’re hearing pray and run what you hear through these 7 questions to ensure that it lines up with the character of God.  Try this for a week and see what happens.

Mary R Miller