How Do You Know When You're Hearing God Speak To You?

[Crystal Renee Jones]

Hello Ladies!
As a baby in Christ, I'm still learning what it means to live in God's Word. As I go day to day and embark on this journey, I sometimes come in contact with obstacles. I know that the first thing that I'm supposed to do when faced with trouble/obstacles is pray. However, how do I know when I'm hearing God's voice? The other week, I heard someone say "God is not the only one who hears your prayers, the devil hears them too." So, how do I know which is which? For the past few months I've been faced with a very specific problem, I've been praying, fasting, and reading. Then one Sunday I heard a word...as a matter of fact I believe that when the Pastor stopped her sermon to make a statement, she was speaking directly to me (she does not know of my problem). How do I know that the word that I heard was from God and not just the devil trying to trick me?

[Tiffany]

Hey Crystal!

I am going to send you some messages from some DYNAMIC teachers, and I think this will help you out a great deal. Also, I recommend a book to you by Joyce Meyer called: How to Hear From God.

Call me later on this evening...

Love you....

[Tiffany]

Hey Crystal:

I am going to send you a two part series from Charles Stanley. Hopefully this will help. Let me know...Love you!

LIFE PRINCIPLES NOTES | LP070107


When you’re tempted to do the
wrong thing, do you listen to your
conscience or do you just ignore it
and keep going? Although sometimes it
seems as though people are acting without a
conscience,we all have one. God gave it to us
for a specific reason. It is a gift of God that we
should care for and give great attention to because
it is for our own protection. Every day we face
decisions that involve our conscience, and it sends
1 Your conscience is a gift of God.
No other creature has a conscience except human beings.We’re uniquely made, and God gave every one
of us a conscience, regardless of whether we know Christ as our Savior or not.We can see evidence of this
as early as Genesis 3, with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. God made it very clear what they could
and couldn’t do. However, they totally ignored their conscience, and suddenly things were very different
because they had violated the law of God.Whenever we ignore our conscience, we’re headed for trouble.
2 Proof that everyone has a conscience.
There are some people we meet that we’ll wonder if they have a conscience at all.Yet, we know that
since God gave everyone a conscience, something must have happened to theirs. People who don’t
believe in Jesus as their Savior are lost; however, they’re without excuse, for the simple reason that God
has made His presence known to them through creation (Romans 1:20). In all societies, people know
that rape and murder are wrong.We all know that lying, stealing, and adultery are wrong, because our
conscience has written it in us all.Yet, once people begin to violate their conscience, something begins
to erode inside of them—their heart becomes darkened and their conscience becomes dull.
3 You can dull your conscience to the point it doesn’t bother you anymore.
When the conscience speaks and the person ignores it, it’s like taking a knife and dulling the edges.
It becomes ineffective.That’s why people throughout the centuries have worshiped all kind of things.
What’s happening is their belief system has disappeared, because in order to quiet their conscience
they’ve changed the way they think.They’ve deliberately chosen to exchange the truth of God for a
lie (Romans 1:21-25).They no longer acknowledge God and do as they please. However, no one is
going to get away with that. God will allow their heart to be given over to darkness.
Summary:
Scriptural Principles:
up red flags when we’re about to do something
wrong. If we ignore it and reject the truth, we will
make a shipwreck of our life (1 Timothy 1:18-20)—
which means that we will have a disaster of a
Christian life.That is when we are most vulnerable
to false doctrines and sin.
Supporting Scripture: Genesis 3:7-8; 1 Samuel
24:5; Romans 1:18-28; 2:14-15.
Key Passage: 1 Timothy 1:18-20
A Good Conscience
Part 1: A Gift from God
LIFE PRINCIPLES NOTES | LP070107
4 From depraved conscience to seared conscience.
The person who ignores their conscience forms a depraved mind, which is a mind that can no longer
form right judgments.The person can sin and completely ignore the voice of God. Eventually, that person
will have a completely seared or burned conscience. It is like taking a piece of waxed paper and putting a
hot iron on it—it’s gone! Although God warned them repeatedly, they absolutely refused to listen. So God
turns them over to their sin and they begin to suffer judgment.
5 The limits of free will.
Although, God will allow people to be given over to their sin, there are certain divine restraints. God
isn’t going to allow anyone to have absolute free will.There will come a day when people will reap the
destruction they’ve chosen for themselves—total separation from God.Whoever violates the laws of God
will suffer the consequences.That is why God gave us the Ten Commandments—in order to reveal His
standard. First, we are to worship Him, and second, we are to be rightly related to each other.Though
some people believe that there are no consequences when they violate the Ten Commandments—always
remember that we reap what we sow, more than we sow, later than we sow.
6 The Holy Spirit and your conscience.
Now, the Holy Spirit isn’t your conscience. Every person has a conscience, though only those who’ve
received Jesus as their Savior have the Holy Spirit.The Holy Spirit works in conjunction with your
conscience.That is why there are people who know right from wrong, even though they aren’t Christians.
God has written it within us. However, we must not just know right from wrong, we must also be obedient
to God—which is what the Holy Spirit guides us to do.The Holy Spirit works in us to strengthen us
and teach us the truth. Also, the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to sharpen our conscience.
7 Can your conscience be your guide?
Is it safe, then, to let our conscience be our guide? Not really. It all depends upon how our conscience
has been programmed.Has it been programmed with the Word of God? When the Word of God becomes the grid
of truth that protects our conscience, then we know we can respond in the right way.The Holy Spirit
enables us to understand the truth and will guide us to do the right thing.The Holy Spirit brings spiritual
principles to mind to show us how we should act. He reminds us to act in a manner befitting who we
are as children of God.
8 How to program your conscience to honor God.
We know we can dull our conscience, but the good news is that we can also make it stronger. From
birth, we should tell our children about God and about salvation through Jesus.We should tell them how
important it is to obey God, and how God loves them and wants what’s best for them.We should program
ourselves with the absolute truth of God’s Word. God’s way is the best way—it’s the only way to find
happiness, peace, joy, and eternal security.We must have His Word and His Spirit as our defense.
Are you going to take heed of your conscience?
Are you going to listen to what God is saying to
you? Or are you going to do it your way?
Your conscience is a gift of God to protect
you, so you should take good care of it.
Therefore, get into the Word of God.
Obey the leading of the Spirit. Make sure you
program your grid system based on God’s truth.
Strengthen your conscience by seeking God.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus as your Savior,
ask Him to forgive you of your sin.Tell Him you
want Him to clean up your conscience and guide
you in the truth and teach your conscience to
honor God. Surrender your life to Christ today,
and watch what wonderful work He does through you.