I know that it’s hard to sometimes distinguish God’s voice in such a busy world full of distractions. But are the recognition of His voice and His truth different things to recognize? Some people would argue that they are not, that His voice is truth and vice versa. But what about those times that you can’t hear His voice? Those times that you don’t feel His presence. What about those days of doubt in your faith? Where do you go, what do you do, how to do you respond, do you move forward, hold back? These are questions that we ask ourselves everyday. Some days we Hear God’s voice stronger than others. Some days we just don’t listen. As children of God we need to make sure we are keeping our hearts and minds available to God when He wants to speak. But the truth is, everyone has dry seasons in their faith. Seasons where maybe you feel like God is so far from you, that you might not even believe He is there. So how do you distinguish God’s truth from the world’s lies? How do you make a decision when everyday life says its normal, ok, accepted, and permissible?
Whenever I am struggling with making a decision I seek counsel from my parents, pastors or friends. But I understand not everyone has people they can go to for Christ centered advice and help. There’s this book called the Bible, and I guess it’s a pretty popular book. But more than a book, its God inspired, God breathed. You can also think that it was written by a bunch of wackos a thousand years ago. But they were passionate wackos, and no one normal ever changed the world anyways. This book of God’s truths and words is extremely powerful. It can be a book that just sits on your coffee table with growing amounts of dust, Or this book can be your guiding light, your most treasured possession of letters from your creator that were recorded so that you may have something to hold onto when everything seems lost. It’s not a matter of “if” you will have dry, confusing seasons. You WILL have seasons of trial, and feeling like nothing is going right and you feel God is further than ever. But it is crucial and important to know His truth by scripture, and remembering promises He’s spoken to you. The only way to know God’s truth from the world’s lies is to live with a Christ centered mind set. The world has so many wonderful mind blowing amazing good things, but there are also not so good things disguised to look just as good and exciting as well. And yes, sometimes there are obvious things you know are not from God, but sometimes you genuinely need help with direction. As a Christian though, when you know the truth of who your God really is, you can wake up in the morning and fall asleep at night with a peace and power that is out of this world.
God did not leave us to figure things out for ourselves, or just mess up all the time and learn the hard way. Although sometimes we insist on doing it that way, God did not intend for us to do that for the rest of our lives. We have pastors, we have schools, we have so much available to us, especially inAmerica! But just because it has the word Christian in front of it does not mean that it is at all Christ centered or has anything to do with Jesus at all. So my advice to you, if you’d like to take it, is to know His voice, know His character, and in moments when you can’t hear or feel Him at all, know His word. And when you can’t figure out if it’s from God, or from your own human desires, you can always just ask. It never hurts to ask, especially when you are promised to always receive. Even if it’s sometimes not what we want. The more you get to know God, the more evident and obvious His truths are in your soul. The more evident and obvious they are in your soul, the easier the out pour will be from you heart and your mind.
“12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
Hebrews 4:12-13