How Do You Know....?

 In the days of the prophets, it was often said, "The word of the Lord came to me, saying...."  Today, among believers, we often hear, "The Lord spoke to me...."  

I can understand the skepticism of those who have not heard the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking within them.  How would you know it was the Lord speaking and not your own interior voice?  After all, I think most of us would admit that we talk to ourselves all the time.  So how then do we have the arrogance to say that the Holy Spirit is speaking to us?

I will tell you this, that those of us who have learned to hear His voice did not trust it at first, either.  "Is this me, or is it the Holy Spirit speaking to me?" is the most common response initially.  Later, after many experiences, we gradually come to trust that Jesus spoke truly when He said, "...his sheep follow him because they know his voice" (John 10).  

Maybe it would help to say that Christ's direction is not always a "voice" per se, but often a leading, a kind of knowing, though rarely, it is definitely a voice within.

Many years ago, when I first began learning the ways of the Spirit, I started hearing the Shepherd's voice at the most unexpected times and place.  In fact, one of the ways we learn to know that Voice is that it is often unexpected and un-looked-for.  After I began working full time, I would come home exhausted and prepare dinner for the family, while my husband came home after work and read the paper.  Having not yet learned to yield to the Holy Spirit, I found resentment building within me night after night.  One night, talking to myself as usual, I said, "Where is it written that when both people are working, the wife comes home and prepares dinner and the husband comes home and reads the paper?"  Immediately, cutting across my fuming thoughts, came a strong Voice within me:  "I'll show you where it is written that the greatest among you should be the servant of all the rest!"  What a calm and powerful statement in the midst of my anger!  While it did not bring me to my knees, it stopped me in my tracks.  

I had to think about it for a few moments before yielding to "the word of the Lord."  I had to make a choice at that moment: continue in my resentment or bow to the command of Christ.  I chose to yield, and what a difference it made not only in my life but for the future!  Many years later, my teenage daughter asked why I came home and prepared dinner while Dad came home and read the paper.  My simple answer at that time was, "Dad does a lot of things that I can't do or don't want to do.  He maintains the vehicles and all the finances, so I don't mind fixing dinner every day."  

I will say this:  every time "the Lord has spoken to me," it has changed the direction of my thoughts and feelings at the time.  It has definitely not been my self-talk, reinforcing my own passions and feelings of the moment.  It has always brought peace, not disturbance.  And when I listen and obey, it has changed the direction of my life.  As I gradually grew more certain of His leading, it was not so much a Voice speaking to me, but rather a knowing, an understanding, a soft whisper in my soul.  And I learned to trust it.

"My sheep know My Voice," says the Lord, "and they will not follow another."  I suspect He speaks more than we trust and want to admit, but if we can only learn to listen, we will learn to rejoice in His leading.