God Does Not Deceive

These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.  Matthew 10:5-15 NASB1995

Maybe too often in our busyness we miss this, but God wants to speak to us. Did you catch that? He wants to speak to you and me, to the guy next to us at the stoplight or the waitress at the local restaurant. and just as He built you to hear His voice so He built all of mankind to hear it too and different people hear Him in different ways.

So, how do we know it’s actually Holy Spirit’s voice? It’s not as hard as you think. Remember that God wants to speak to us, and He built us to hear His voice. When we hear or feel something we think might be God, we can run it through a few simple tests to be sure.

First, test what we hear, see, read or feel against the Bible. Is that voice in your head asking you do something that doesn’t match up with God’s character as described in the Bible? If so, then it’s not Holy Spirit. 

God never lies. And God will never direct us to sin or to make wrong choices. He loves humanity deeply, even the people that we don’t like.  At times, He’ll ask us to do things that we’re sort of uncomfortable with, like giving someone a second chance after they hurt you or going out of your way to encourage someone you’d rather ignore. 

And again, read the Bible. First page to last page. Pick a chapter, pick a verse. But get yourself into His word. It is alive, it is teaching, it is a conversation with God. The Bible heals us, rebukes us, reminds us of our identity in Christ. It is why reading the Bible is so important. Holy Spirit can use what we read in the Bible to teach us about God’s character so that when we hear His voice it sounds familiar. 

Next, you can test what is heard, seen or felt against your own selfishness. As humans, we’re naturally selfish. So, when that voice in your head says to do the unselfish thing, or to think about someone else first—that’s Holy Spirit. You know how it feels when someone encourages you to do the right thing, and you really don’t want to do it? On the inside, you resist it. That little rebellious voice—that’s not God. But, the voice that’s asking you to do what’s right instead of what’s easy—that is Holy Spirit.