I've written on this a little before, and now it's time to revisit the whole mysterious notion of hearing the voice of God. It seems to be pretty critical for those of us who claim to "follow" Christ and who want to believe that this means more than simply memorizing the Bible and "doing what it says."I want to follow his voice today, right now, as I'm typing, when I get up to get another cup of coffee, when I doubt myself, when I am wondering what to do next. And just as much, I want to walk with those who experience the same.
Without the voice, my faith is nothing at all. My faith is nothing but pure imagination, and "I am of all men most miserable."
I do not believe I've ever heard God speak to me with his own voice in an audible way. That is, my eardrum has never vibrated with the sound of his words. I won't discount anyone who claims that he's vibrated their eardrums with his own voice, but it's never happened to me.
I do believe that I hear sentences in my head and heart that do not originate with me. They sound remarkably like my own sentences, the ones I "hear" just now as I type. But the sentences from the world of the spirits are not simply my own humdrum thoughts and preferences and observations and random statements. The voices from the spirit world have a different flavor, a different purpose and tone. Here's what I hear daily:
Condemnation. The voice of condemnation says things to me about me, like "you idiot," "you blew it now," "you have no idea what you're talking about," "they can see right through you, you know," "who do you think you're fooling?" "you are living a lie," "you #$*@$%!" "you can't possibly make it right," "they'll never believe you," "you're too fat," etc.
Accusation. The voice of accusation speaks to me about others, with statements like "she will never change," "he's a moron," "ha ha! what an idiot he is," "God is off doing important things, he doesn't have time for you," "she's not listening to you," "why can't they understand," "he doesn't like you at all," "look at how stupid he is," "don’t waste your time on him," etc.
Sometimes there's a double whammy, sort of a double dip of condemnation and accusation. "You don't have anything worth saying, and even if you did, he wouldn't listen."
I believe today that a large percentage of these kinds of statements in my head originate with the agents of darkness who have sold themselves out against the human race and are out for my ruin. The rest of the time it is me simply mimicking what they (and other human voices) have told me all my life. The net effect of these voices is to reinforce my perception of isolation from God and from those who are around me. These voices work on me every day, and I confess they have some degree of success each day.
They would have me believe that every human is less than he or she really is. That we are somehow disgustingly and unalterably flawed and unlikeable and unacceptable. But, as I have embraced the realities that I speak of in this blog, the evil intent of such simple statements has become very transparent to me.
They are the continual drip of poison that drains us of our energy and our love, and, worst of all, our very identity as children of the God of the universe.
If we are to be followers of Truth, we need the voice. To hear the voice of God, we must on the one hand stand against the voices that would shame us, and on the other hand, we must fight for silence.
We must recognize the false messages for what they are and stand against them in every form in which they come. Resist them we must, for to believe them is to doubt God. I cannot stand against what I believe is simply me, nor can I stand against what I believe is actually true.
Awareness and practice is required.
It's not enough for the agents of darkness to maintain their own poison drip of condemnation and accusation. They have recruited. Every commercial on TV tells us we are not thin enough, chiseled enough, beautiful enough, buxom enough, thin enough, clever enough, cool enough. Dr. Phil reminds us that we are not sensitive enough, or candid enough, or loving enough, or whatever.
Even the pulpit reminds us that we are "deceitful and desperately wicked." Most subtle of all is their caution against pride. This one hurts us softly but very deeply, because we who would believe are now conditioned to deflect (think about this for a while) the words of affirmation that God himself whispers to us. At least this has been my own experience.
The voice of God: Affirmation. Can you truly imagine words like these landing on your heart, shaping you, answering your question, knowing that God himself is uttering them:
"I like the way you live your life."
"I am proud of you."
"When I see you, you remind me of Jesus."
"I'm glad I made you--I have no regrets of calling you my child."
"You just did the right thing."
"I like hanging out with you."
Seriously, how would you receive these words, if they came to you in sentences that don't originate with you? My guess is you would deflect them too.
Not only are the false messages systematically reinforced, not only do I deflect the words of affirmation that God might whisper to me, but I hardly have a moment of silence in my life—the kind of silence that allows me to actively listen and maybe even have a conversation.
Just try to find a couple hours to get away and be quiet and listen.
For each of us, this "getaway" place will be different. But it must be fought for. Otherwise, the noise of life and the echoes of accusation will never fade, and we will not learn to recognize the voice of the one who wants to find us and rescue us over and over.
May we remember how bad the poison of accusation and condemnation are.
May we hunger for affirmation and receive it when it comes.
May we remember to fight for silence.
