Discernment

Do not hastily ascribe things to God. Do not easily suppose dreams, voices, impressions, visions or revelations to be from God. They may be from Him. They may be from nature. They may be from the Devil. - John Wesley as quoted by J.K. Johnston in Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, p. 102.

I have a friend who is reading a book called Hearing God: Developing A Conversational Relationship With God by Dallas Willard. I really must borrow this book from him when he is done. Perhaps Willard can shed some light on how we discern the voice of God from the other voices. It is a great challenge. So many voices compete for our attention. We have access to so much information that often our heads are full of a cacophony of voices, statistics, and words. And yet, I truly want to hear from God. I want to hear the voice of truth. I want to hang on every word He says. I want to hear and then act upon those words.

I'm looking past the shadows in my mind into the truth and I'm,
Trying to identify the voices in my head.
God which one's you?
Let me feel one more time what it feels like to feel alive,
And break these calluses off of me,
One more time.

'Cause I am hanging on every word you say and,
Even if you don't want to speak tonight that's alright,
Alright with me.
'Cause I want nothing more than to sit outside your door and listen to you breathing,
Is where I want to be.
Yeah. - LifeHouse, "Breathing"