How to Recognize the Voice of God

How to Recognize the Voice of God

By Apostle Felix

8  All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
9  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

John 10: 8 – 10

27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

John 10: 27

In John chapter ten verse ten, the thief identified in that passage is not satan, but false teachers and prophets whose aim is to mislead the people of God from the truth. The challenge the church has is the erroneous teachings that have invaded the church at an alarming scale. The worst enemy of the church is a false teacher, worse than a false prophet. When the church is taught right then it cannot follow a false prophet. Jesus’ worst opposers were the teachers of the law. These were voices the people were following in Jesus’ day.

1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

2 Peter 2: 1

False teachings validate the wrong practices of false prophets. As I have mentioned before that falsehood cannot be overcome by prayer alone, but by rightly dividing the word of truth. It is not just mere teaching of the bible, but rightly dividing the word of truth. The voice of God is located in rightly dividing the word of truth.

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2: 15

It is possible to wrongly divide the word of God and misrepresent Jesus Christ to the people. When the word of God is wrongly divided, a voice of a stranger is introduced and the people will end up following a stranger. In John chapter ten, Jesus was addressing the problem of people following the stranger’s voice. He then made a claim that Him alone is the good shepherd because He came to lay down His life for the sheep. He also claimed that He is the door, and He who enters in by the door is the shepherd. There are many other doors but the door that is of the truth is Jesus.

How then can we recognize the voice of God? The measuring rod of anything taught and preached is the revelation of Christ. There is no other measuring rod, but Christ.

14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 

Ephesians 4: 14, 15

The voice of God can be recognized by its proclamation of Christ and His finished work. The voice of God in the Old Testament was foretelling the coming of Christ. The purpose of the law and the prophets was to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. It is the shadow of the New Testament. The law gives the typology of Christ, while the prophets were foretelling His coming. Christ is no longer a typology or someone who is yet to come, He is our reality now. He is the substance the people of old were looking forward to manifest. Therefore, the voice of God will not sound like Moses or Elijah. Moses lived in the shadow, and that was why he wrote Psalm 91: 1,  He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. This scripture is not for the New Testament saints because we are no longer under the shadow of the Almighty but we are in Him, Christ the Lord.

10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 

Ephesians 2: 10

The voice of God brings clarity of who Christ is and what He has does for man. It explains that the typologies of Jesus are the means to an end, who is Christ, our reallity. The voice of God announces the reality of Christ. For He came to fulfill the law and prophets. Therefore, you will know which is not the voice of God by its emphasis on the things Jesus has already fulfilled. The strength of strangers’ voices is the echo of the voices Jesus already fulfilled. Apostle Paul was angry with the church at Galatia because it reverted to practices the church was set free from.

1  O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Galatians 3: 1