God’s Voice, Truth	Lies
Stills you	Rush you
Leads you	Push you
Reassures, comforts & calms you	Frighten, obsess & worry you
Enlightens you	Confuse you
is Clear	can be Obscure & Contradictory
Encourages you	Discourage you
Convicts you	Condemn you
Frees you	Hurt you
Focus on God’s strength	Focus on your weakness
Loves you	Hate

table above adapted from online sources (just google God’s voice vs. satan’s voice)

Beloved brothers and sisters,

Often we hear that we need to be seeking God’s voice and will for our lives. However, I have found in my life this can go awry. Why? Because I keep worrying about whether I’m doing God’s will in the smallest little things, and seeking His voice in them, and ‘hearing’ one thought in my brain first and another the next… It’s psychologically damaging, and not how God wants to relate to me. He does not want me to approach Him from insecurity but of love. Unfortunately, this habit of trying to seek God’s voice in the smallest things is hard for me to break. Perhaps you have similar problems. By the way I just want to emphasise that it can be very good and enriching to seek God’s voice, but doing it in an OCD manner, as above, is not helpful.

But we don’t have to stress about hearing from Him, and worry about decisions. God wants us to live in freedom.

Recently I was praying about it, and I  felt God was pointing me toward love. I realised that rather than worrying about right and wrong, I need to be making decisions out of love. In Philippians 1:10, it says: And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best – Philippians 1:10 As we understand more about God’s love for us and for others, and what this really means, we are able to better make decisions. Right now, I understand this as follows: Firstly, I need to realise that God loves me outrageously and doesn’t condemn me. I need to know that my standing with Him won’t change, even if I mess up. Secondly, I can ask: How can I help and serve others? How can I use my talents to help? How can I love God? How can I respect myself as a beloved child of God? 

Perhaps we over-emphasise making ‘right’ decisions when there are multiple ‘right’ things we can do. Remember that you are loved and forgiven, and that is your identity, not someone who makes ‘correct’ decisions or never fails. Now one thing never fails however, and that is love (1 Corinthians 13). God’s love doesn’t fail, and He will forgive again and again. And as we seek more to make decisions out of love, that will also stand us in more stead than moving around on a sea of doubt and worries (e.g. James 1:6). This love will be an anchor for our soul, and keep us steady. 

In the table above, you can see that the fundamental attitude God has when He speaks to us is one of love, peace and patience (all fruits of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22).

This is the first on a series of posts about discerning truth, and God’s voice from lies.

It scares me to think how well I am able to formulate all of this and how little I yet put into practice. But maybe in this post is God is already giving me the gift of wisdom to change my misguided habits!