Beginning
to discern God’s voice isn’t always easy. Samuel was one of the greatest
prophets in the Old Testament. Yet, when God spoke to him for the first time he
didn’t even grasp that it was God!
When you get an email there is no 100% assurance about the sender. But if you rest on the chest of Jesus like John did at the Last Supper, you can be completely sure that it is Him.
God’s presence is like a unique fragrance that only He wears and is able to manufacture. It permeates everything He does and says.
It is impossible to separate God from His presence. That’s why mighty moves of God will always be accompanied by His presence.
When I courted my wife she used to spray perfume over the letters she sent to me. She once sent me a teddy bear practically baptised in it. And I mean the full immersion! To me that perfume became the scent of love. Even now, over sixteen years after she stopped using it, I occasionally catch that scent in some street of London. I am surrounded by thousands of smells but when I catch that scent I turn around and fully expect to see her. God’s presence is like that. Once you know it, it is unmistakable.
When you get an email there is no 100% assurance about the sender. But if you rest on the chest of Jesus like John did at the Last Supper, you can be completely sure that it is Him.
God’s presence is like a unique fragrance that only He wears and is able to manufacture. It permeates everything He does and says.
It is impossible to separate God from His presence. That’s why mighty moves of God will always be accompanied by His presence.
When I courted my wife she used to spray perfume over the letters she sent to me. She once sent me a teddy bear practically baptised in it. And I mean the full immersion! To me that perfume became the scent of love. Even now, over sixteen years after she stopped using it, I occasionally catch that scent in some street of London. I am surrounded by thousands of smells but when I catch that scent I turn around and fully expect to see her. God’s presence is like that. Once you know it, it is unmistakable.
Words from God, soul and the enemy
God’s
words carry His presence. Always disregard any thoughts that seem revelatory
but don’t come enveloped in His presence. This will save you from a lot of
trouble, as the enemy will attempt to abduct your increasing spiritual
awareness. Man’s spirit is nothing but his ability to connect with the
spiritual dimension, and once you become spiritually sensitive you will also
become more vulnerable to the deceptive voices of the multitude of demonic
beings that inhabit the spiritual dimension.
We shouldn’t focus on demons but the reality is that the confusion they bring can kill your prophetic gift.
Thoughts from God, soul and the enemy all carry energy but they all have distinguishably different presence. As you learn to discern the nature of the energy source behind the thought, you will learn to discern its origin.
Most days, I hear from God at least once but I also hear from the enemy as he tries to mimic God’s voice.
The desires and fears of your heart will also talk to you. Yet the cry of your wants lacks the presence and peace of God but carries the restless energy of your soul.
We shouldn’t focus on demons but the reality is that the confusion they bring can kill your prophetic gift.
Thoughts from God, soul and the enemy all carry energy but they all have distinguishably different presence. As you learn to discern the nature of the energy source behind the thought, you will learn to discern its origin.
Most days, I hear from God at least once but I also hear from the enemy as he tries to mimic God’s voice.
The desires and fears of your heart will also talk to you. Yet the cry of your wants lacks the presence and peace of God but carries the restless energy of your soul.
God brings clarity
When God
speaks to you He brings clarity. We all have those moments when we suddenly see
aspects of our life with momentary precision. Often, this clarity takes a
verbalised form. Sometimes, this is the by-product of your subconscious mind
working out solutions to your problems, but when it comes with clear presence
of God then it is probably Him. His presence pulsates with positive energy and
energetic peace. It never wears you out but recharges you.
Paul said,
Paul said,
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of
power and of love and of a sound mind. (2
Timothy 1:7)
If your
spiritual experiences wear you out, they probably aren’t from God. You might
not always feel the energy of God’s presence strongly but your prayer life
shouldn’t exhaust or confuse you.
A word from God is like a double-edged sword, bringing clarity into confusion, positive solutions into the negative world, compassion into indifference. God never confuses or condemns. Condemning thoughts emanating from the enemy sap your spiritual energy whereas convicting words from God carry the positive energy that releases their own fulfilment.
God doesn’t want you to act according to prophecies, dreams or visions on whose origin you aren’t certain about.
This is one of the most important lessons in the prophetic. You might be in a rush to act even when confused. God isn’t. He wants you to act only with clear mind and boldness given by the Holy Spirit.
The best way to deal with ideas of whose origin you are unsure about is prayer.
When I take thoughts that come from the enemy to God in prayer He will usually confront them.
When I carry thoughts that emanate from my soul to God He often merely gently redirects my mind to His will.
If you take something to God over a long period of time and He says nothing about it, then it probably isn’t from God, unless you know for certain that it originated from God in the first place. Then all you can do is to wait patiently, until He will speak about it again. Sometimes this waiting can take years but whilst you are waiting God will talk to you about other things.
A word from God is like a double-edged sword, bringing clarity into confusion, positive solutions into the negative world, compassion into indifference. God never confuses or condemns. Condemning thoughts emanating from the enemy sap your spiritual energy whereas convicting words from God carry the positive energy that releases their own fulfilment.
God doesn’t want you to act according to prophecies, dreams or visions on whose origin you aren’t certain about.
This is one of the most important lessons in the prophetic. You might be in a rush to act even when confused. God isn’t. He wants you to act only with clear mind and boldness given by the Holy Spirit.
The best way to deal with ideas of whose origin you are unsure about is prayer.
When I take thoughts that come from the enemy to God in prayer He will usually confront them.
When I carry thoughts that emanate from my soul to God He often merely gently redirects my mind to His will.
If you take something to God over a long period of time and He says nothing about it, then it probably isn’t from God, unless you know for certain that it originated from God in the first place. Then all you can do is to wait patiently, until He will speak about it again. Sometimes this waiting can take years but whilst you are waiting God will talk to you about other things.
The enemy's poisoned arrows
Your own
thoughts carry human energy. Thoughts from the enemy carry demonic poison. They
are active, interrupting your own thought processes, and they often attempt to
mimic God’s voice. Yet they lack the power of God. Sometimes, they might have
an aura of triumphalism about them, as the enemy attempts to appeal to your
pride. Yet the enemy can never counterfeit the presence of God.
Often I can feel the presence of God but around I can feel spiritual disturbance. At those times I inspect any words I hear very carefully. Do they emanate peace, or is the presence of God there protecting me from the enemy and his demonic venom?
Perhaps the enemy can read your mind; perhaps he can’t. What is certain is that the devil and his demons have studied human behaviour for thousands of years and can guess what you are thinking about, most of the time.
When I was nineteen I worked for a year in a psychiatric hospital. I had begun to realise that God was developing in me the ability to hear Him. One day I came out of the lift and saw a patient who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
“Pray for her and she will be healed!”
I could hear it loud and clear in my mind. First, it sounded as if God was challenging my faith, especially as I had just been reading the Gospel stories about Jesus healing the sick. Yet, something felt wrong. I didn’t have a healing ministry, and as I hesitated to act, I felt a sense of compulsion and guilt load over me, as if the healing of the patient were in my hands, and my failure to act could rob her of healing.
I realised then that the enemy was also able to connect with my spiritual interface. This drove me to seek God in solitude.
Often I can feel the presence of God but around I can feel spiritual disturbance. At those times I inspect any words I hear very carefully. Do they emanate peace, or is the presence of God there protecting me from the enemy and his demonic venom?
Perhaps the enemy can read your mind; perhaps he can’t. What is certain is that the devil and his demons have studied human behaviour for thousands of years and can guess what you are thinking about, most of the time.
When I was nineteen I worked for a year in a psychiatric hospital. I had begun to realise that God was developing in me the ability to hear Him. One day I came out of the lift and saw a patient who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
“Pray for her and she will be healed!”
I could hear it loud and clear in my mind. First, it sounded as if God was challenging my faith, especially as I had just been reading the Gospel stories about Jesus healing the sick. Yet, something felt wrong. I didn’t have a healing ministry, and as I hesitated to act, I felt a sense of compulsion and guilt load over me, as if the healing of the patient were in my hands, and my failure to act could rob her of healing.
I realised then that the enemy was also able to connect with my spiritual interface. This drove me to seek God in solitude.
This is an excerpt from my book Five Movements: Winning the Battle for Your Prophetic Gift.
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