Is that You, God?

Last night God asked me a question that made me pause. He said, “Will you recognize My voice?” Now y’all know that I immediately said, OF COURSE! But I started to really think about it. How many times have you had a thought and attributed it to God and it was your flesh? Have you heard a word from someone that sounded good and even right but turned out to be that person’s opinion or desire? God wants you to get to a place where you know His voice and respond to it. He wants your relationship with Him to be so intimate that when you aren’t sure, He can immediately confirm it and you will catch hold to it.

When God asked this question, I was reading in Nehemiah 6 about the opposition to the rebuilding of the wall. In that particular chapter, Nehemiah is faced with a decision. His enemies are sending messages for him to come talk to them, all while plotting against him. He seeks out a prophet for his thoughts and the prophet tells him to lock himself in the temple so his enemies can’t kill him. Nehemiah thinks about that advice and contemplates if he should run and hide in the temple to save his life. Then he has a revelation. “I realized that God had not spoken to him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.  They were hoping to intimidate me and make me sin. Then they would be able to accuse and discredit me.” (Neh. 6: 12-13 NLT) What is your point, Ebony? The enemy is tricky. Sometimes he will use the church or a religious idea or something that just sounds good to trick you into sin. Nehemiah had to examine the source and the word and determine that it wasn’t God speaking to him. Remember what John says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1John 4:1 ESV) Will you recognize His voice?

Perhaps you are in a situation now where you have to decide whether to move or stay. You are waiting for a clear word from God on how to proceed but you are getting so many opinions from others that the airwaves seem cloudy. You might even be tempted to ask why or if this is even God that brought you to this crossroads. You have no clue what to do. As I was writing this God showed me a word to share with all of you that are trying to discern His voice in your life. “And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself any more, but your eyes will constantly behold your Teacher. And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.” (Is. 30:20 – 21 AMP) You will recognize His voice because it will be clear and redemptive. Even if it is not the word you want to hear, it will be a word that will teach you and move you forward. God knows exactly where you are, where you have been and where you are going. He is right in the midst of your situation, and will give you the instruction that you need when you need it. Will you recognize His voice?

God is present and He is faithful and He wants for you to be blessed and connected to Him. He is always speaking to you, you just have to have your ears open to hear Him. You have to be prayed up and open to recognize when it is Him and when it is your flesh or a trick of the enemy. In this season, the Lord is challenging you to go deeper. You can no longer afford surface relationship with Him. He has things to tell you that you must be able to recognize His voice. Nehemiah was on the brink of fulfilling his assignment when the enemy tried to distract and disrupt him. If he would not have been able to discern that that was not God speaking to him, he would have abandoned a mission that he had been ordained to do. But because he was in fellowship with God, the work was finished. “So on October 2the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun.  When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.” (Neh 6: 15-16 NLT) God has a way that is mighty sweet. Will you recognize His voice in your life?

AMEN...