Episode #21: Decision-Making in Hard Seasons: Did I really hear from God or is that just me?

We conclude this decision-making series by walking through how to discern our voice from God’s voice and our enemy’s voice. Because — if you’re anything like me — you pray, believe you hear an answer and then wonder, “Was that God or me?”

So if you’ve ever asked yourself, “Did I hear God right?”

Or “Maybe that was just my will sneaking in as God’s voice.”

Or “How can I know???!?”

This podcast episode is for you.

So in the next 20 minutes, we’re going to break down:

What God speaks
How He speaks
What methods He uses
How you feel after being spoken to
What’s going on when you doubt

So what does God say?

God always speaks the truth. He is incapable of lying. And what He says is always consistent with His Word. God-in-your-ear will never contradict God-in-His-Word. His words of truth are based on love, care, and concern for you.

The big takeaway here is: God speaks truth. Your enemy speaks lies.

But it’s not just the content that’s important. How God speaks is just as important as what He says.

When God speaks, He speaks to you as a good Father would: with authority, kindness, grace, and hope. He reminds you who you are in Him. His voice is calm and steady. He never rushes you. He is persistent in His pursuit of you knowing Him.

Your enemy sounds condemning. He’s loud, urgent, and noisy. He loves to make you hurry. He calls you names or at least gives you labels like “bad mom” or “lazy” or “not good enough.”

The big takeaway here is: God’s tone is firm, gentle and kind. The enemy’s tone is hurry, hustle, and hatred.

So what methods does God use to speak to you?

A better question may be: What will He NOT use to talk to you? God will speak to you in a way that He knows you will hear. He speaks to you as the individual you are, in a way you know you can hear and understand. He is persistent so if you don’t hear Him the first time, He won’t stop trying to get through to you. God wants you to hear Him, and He won’t give up on you because you are His girl.

Your enemy seems to weasel his way into every conversation or thought or plan. Yet, your enemy is not omniscient or omnipresent like your God.

The big takeaway here is: God will use whatever method you need to hear and understand and He won’t stop until you get it. Your enemy is also persistent, but not all that powerful.

When God speaks to you, you feel like you’re being led.

You feel loved and known. You feel confident. You feel a desire for holiness and not despair. You feel a sense of wonder and awe. Sometimes you just know in your knower. Sometimes the peace you feel is so unmistakable there’s no other option, choice, or discussion. It just feels sure and right.

But when our enemy talks to us, we feel discouraged. We lack peace. We feel guilty and sometimes just comfortable.

The big takeaway here is: When God talks to us we feel sure and steadfast. When our enemy talks, we feel hurried and hassled.

So friends, even as we know this, we wonder: But did I really hear God’s voice?

As women who love Jesus, we never want to label our own desires, plans, hopes, and dreams as “God’s voice.” But is it really God’s voice we doubt or is it His character we call into question? Remember God:

Wants you to pursue Him, not chase suffering
Is a Father and has a father’s heart
Can do the impossible, that He finds nothing hard.

But so often, God answers our questions about what to do with a question of His own:

What do you want?

Friend, you want to make the right choices and to obey God’s voice without mistaking it for your own. Give yourself grace as you make decisions.

Grace to ask hard questions.

Grace to make the space to listen.

Grace to not hear because the time isn’t right for God to share.

Grace to hear, be nervous, but obey anyway.

Grace to know that your God wants to talk with you, that He doesn’t want you to miss out, and that He’ll keep talking to you until you get it.

Key Quotes

Perhaps the very thing we want is the very thing He planted in us to come out of us to shine His light around us.
Yes, there is suffering in following Christ, but we are not chasing suffering. We are chasing Jesus.
God wants you to hear Him, and He won’t give up on you because you are His girl.
God-in-your-ear will never contradict God-in-His-Word.