The Word of God tells us there are several sources from which these voices or ideas come from. First of course is our own voice or thoughts from within our own mind. Our minds are an incredibly sophisticated 'computer'. We store thoughts and ideas, and use a kind of random access memory to retrieve them. Our voice, known also as the voice of self is an easy concept to grasp. We either 'hear' our thoughts in our head or speak and hear our thoughts come to life. "The manager thought to himself, 'Now what? I'm through here, and I don't have the strength to go out and dig ditches, and I'm too proud to beg." - Luke 16:3 That's the voice of SELF.
A second voice is the voice of man. When I say man, I mean any audible voice spoken by any human being, man, woman or child. This voice is sometimes interwoven with the voice of self, the world and/or God. Our thoughts "take shape and walk right out" of our heads as Bono would say. But more than that, the voice of man is what OTHERS say. This voice can be good, when its a word of encouragement or knowledge we need. But more often than not its words we don't need to hear and are untrue. The voice of man could also be called the voice of the world. "Didn't we tell you never again to teach in this man's name?" the high priest demanded. "Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about Jesus, and you intend to blame us for his death!" 29 But Peter and the apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than human authority. 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by crucifying him' - Acts 5:28-30 Here the priest may be speaking for Satan or from self and Peter is definitely speaking for God, we hear their audible voices. That's the voice of MAN/WORLD.
The third, and perhaps the most controversial, is the voice of Satan. Yeah, I know, people don't want to talk about him, even Christians. But the fact is, if you believe in God, you have to acknowledge the enemy is real as well. We CANNOT pretend he doesn't exist and doesn't operate in the world today. The belief he doesn't exist and isn't effective today is his biggest weapon. He even effects the behavior of the saints. Don't believe me? Then go look up these verses, James 4:7, Acts 5:1-11, Matt 16:23. There are more, perhaps in another blog entry I'll visit that topic. Anyway, we ALL have random thoughts, not good thoughts, but evil, sinful thoughts. Where do they come from? Sure, some do come from our own mind and fleshly desires, some do not. By reading and studying the verses above, its clear Satan is able to INFLUENCE our actions. Now don't get me wrong, he and his minions cannot take possession of a believer or even force us to do anything against our will. The old saying ' the Devil made me do it', doesn't apply to Christians. However, sometimes there are audible voices connected with the Devil. These voices emanate from those in his service, either willingly or unwillingly. Again, that could be another blog, perhaps on another day. Suffice as to say, Satan is real and does operate to influence our world today. Again there is an overlap in the voice of man/world and Satan. Satan is the ruler of this world, temporarily. Ultimately God is in control, but He has allowed Satan dominion over our world. The voice of Satan is mostly heard through our 'modern worldview', which says anything goes. That's the voice of SATAN.
And I saved the best for last, the voice of God. The voice of God is also the voice of truth. But how can we know the voice of God? Does He speak to us today, as in times past? You bet he does. In the past the voice of God is describe as being like thunder, as well as like a whisper. Does He speak in thunder today? Maybe, but He speaks to me in a whisper, that still small voice. While I cannot say I have ever heard an audible voice of God, His Spirit has spoken MANY times to my heart. Jesus tells us in the book of John "The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they recognize his voice. 5 They won't follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don't recognize his voice." - John 10:3-5 and then in verse 27, "My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me." A friend of mine raises sheep. It's really cool to see him call the sheep. "Here sheep, sheep, sheep.", he sings, and they come running like Pavlov's dog. But here's the thing, if anyone else was to call the sheep, even using the same words and voice inflections, they wouldn't come. They respond to the Sheppard's voice alone. We are to verify the voice that we think is from God. Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. - 1 John 1. We are given the assurance, that as followers of Christ, we can and will know His voice. His written Word will NEVER, under ANY circumstances, be contradicted by His spoken Word. That's the voice of God!
Who will you listen to? Will you listen to THE VOICE OF TRUTH?
