Testing What You Hear
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." — 1 Thessalonians 5:21
The Fear That Keeps People Silent
Many believers are frightened of talking with God and hearing Him speak, and the reason is always the same: they are afraid of being deceived. Afraid they will accept as God's voice something that came from their own imagination, or from somewhere worse.
That fear is reasonable. It should not, however, be decisive — because the alternative is worse.
Four Safeguards
First: the Bible. The Lord will never tell you anything inconsistent with His word. This is absolute and it is the primary filter. If what you believe you heard contradicts Scripture, it did not come from God, however strongly you felt it and however much you want it to be true.
Second: the check in your spirit. Learn to be sensitive to the hesitation the Holy Spirit gives. Never be impulsive. If you have any doubt at all, or do not feel a complete peace, wait before acting.
Third: silent prayer. The enemy cannot read your mind. If you are praying silently, he cannot insert thoughts that fit the context of what you are praying about. The Holy Spirit knows every thought and can answer within your train of thought. A response that fits exactly what you were silently thinking is significant.
Fourth — and this is the one most people skip: unity with others.
The Principle of Unity
Jesus sent His disciples out two by two, and He still works that way.
One ministry operated on this rule: they never went on a speaking engagement or made a major decision until all three of them — two partners and a brother providing spiritual covering — were in complete unity. If even one did not have complete peace, they did nothing until all of them did.
The results were striking. Twice they were invited to minister somewhere; twice one of the three lacked peace; twice they declined. Both times, going would have been disastrous. On the occasions when all three had immediate peace, they went and God blessed greatly.
Once, invited to help with a deliverance on twenty-four hours' notice, one had peace and the other did not. With no time to seek further, they declined on the grounds that they were not in unity. Those people later told them it had been a set-up designed to destroy them.
It is much more difficult for the enemy to deceive two or three than one.
Especially in Marriage
This applies with particular force to married believers.
If you are married to a Christian, understand that your spouse has been given to you as a partner. It may dent your ego to wait on them in decisions. It will also be a safeguard against deception.
A wife is to be a help-mate, not a doormat. And wives must recognize God's ordering in the marriage and not run ahead of their husbands.
One of the great failures among pastors today is precisely the neglect of this working relationship with their wives — and the constant temptation that follows, to look outside the marriage for a partner in the Lord's work. Many doors are opened and many men fall through disobedience to this principle.
If you feel your spouse is not up to this kind of spiritual partnership, then your house is not in order, and you had better spend time in prayer and with your spouse until it is.
Point to Ponder
It is much harder to deceive two or three than one. That is why He sent them out two by two.
Verse to Remember
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." — 1 Thessalonians 5:21
Question to Consider
Who is my second witness — and do I actually wait for them?
Today's Practice
Build the safeguards deliberately.
Establish your standard. Write out, and commit to, the rule: nothing I believe I have heard from God will be acted upon if it contradicts Scripture. Ever, regardless of how strongly I feel it.
Identify your partner. Who is your second witness? A spouse, a mature believer, a pastor. If you do not have one, that is the most urgent item in this lesson. Ask God for one this week and then actually ask a person.
Agree on the rule together. That you will not proceed on significant decisions unless you are in genuine unity — and that either of you may say I do not have peace without having to justify it.
Test it on something current. Take a decision you are facing and put it through all four safeguards: Scripture, the check in your spirit, silent prayer, and unity.
If you lack peace, do not move. There is almost never a genuine reason that a decision cannot wait for that.
Prayer
Father, I have been afraid of deception, and my fear has kept me from listening at all. That is not the safety I thought it was.
Teach me to test what I hear. Fix Your word in me as the standard that never bends, however strongly I feel something.
Make me sensitive to the check in my spirit. Take away my impulsiveness — I have moved fast on things that needed waiting and called it faith.
Give me a partner. Someone honest enough to tell me they lack peace and secure enough not to need to justify it. And make me that kind of partner for someone else.
And where I have not been in unity with my own household, put my house in order before I go anywhere else.
Prove all things in me. Let me hold fast only what is good. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Twice they declined because one of three lacked peace. Both times, going would have been a disaster.