Latest / Divine515 Podcast / How to Discern God’s Voice from Your Own Thoughts|Walking in Spiritual Discernment Series

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How to Discern God’s Voice from Your Own Thoughts|Walking in Spiritual Discernment Series · Divine515 Podcast

• 0:13
  - Welcome to the divine five one five pod
• 0:16
  - podcast. Here is this week's devotional.
• 0:22
  - Hello and welcome to
• 0:24
  - daily prayer with Val Rocham.
• 0:28
  - I'd like to welcome all of you to
• 0:31
  - July's
• 0:32
  - series entitled walking in spiritual discernment,
• 0:35
  - recognizing God's direction in everyday life.
• 0:38
  - This month's key scripture comes from Proverbs three
• 0:42
  - five through six
• 0:43
  - and says, trust in the Lord with all
• 0:45
  - your heart and lean not to your own
• 0:47
  - understanding.
• 0:48
  - In all your ways, submit to him and
• 0:50
  - he will make your paths straight.
• 0:53
  - Now many believers desire God's direction, but struggle
• 0:56
  - to recognize it. The problem is often not
• 0:59
  - God's willingness to lead, but rather our ability
• 1:02
  - to discern his voice amid competing voices, emotions,
• 1:06
  - circumstances,
• 1:06
  - and the big culprit,
• 1:08
  - distractions.
• 1:09
  - This series
• 1:11
  - helps us develop practical spiritual discernment that can
• 1:15
  - be applied to everyday life.
• 1:17
  - Now we wanna kick off week number one,
• 1:20
  - talking about how to discern God's voice from
• 1:23
  - our own thoughts.
• 1:25
  - One of the biggest challenges believers face today
• 1:28
  - is determining whether
• 1:29
  - a thought comes from God, their own desires,
• 1:33
  - their fears, or outside
• 1:35
  - influences.
• 1:37
  - Many people miss God's direction
• 1:39
  - because they either overthink his guidance or doubt
• 1:42
  - his voice when he speaks.
• 1:45
  - Now God's voice will always align with his
• 1:48
  - word.
• 1:49
  - It will produce peace rather than confusion,
• 1:52
  - and it will draw us closer
• 1:54
  - to him.
• 1:56
  - Discernment grows through prayer,
• 1:58
  - scripture, and consistent relationship with God.
• 2:03
  - Now John ten twenty seven tells us that
• 2:06
  - my sheep listen to my voice.
• 2:08
  - I know them and they follow me.
• 2:11
  - Now I wanna share a little bit of
• 2:13
  - a interesting backstory
• 2:15
  - about shepherds.
• 2:18
  - In The Middle East, they still do as
• 2:20
  - in biblical times,
• 2:22
  - shepherd,
• 2:24
  - sheep or goats or what have you.
• 2:26
  - And
• 2:28
  - every now and then, the shepherd will cross
• 2:30
  - another shepherd and maybe exchange some pleasantries and
• 2:34
  - and and see how things are going.
• 2:37
  - Now the fascinating thing here is that
• 2:40
  - while the shepherds are conversing,
• 2:42
  - the sheep often do what they do, which
• 2:44
  - is to mingle around together.
• 2:47
  - And
• 2:49
  - when the shepherds part ways,
• 2:52
  - there's always a call or a song or,
• 2:56
  - some way that the that shepherd's sheep,
• 3:00
  - identify
• 3:01
  - with that shepherd. And so when the shepherd
• 3:03
  - gets ready to go, they give their their
• 3:05
  - sheep whatever that call is, whether it's a
• 3:07
  - song or a word or what have you,
• 3:10
  - and their sheep will follow them.
• 3:13
  - The other shepherd's sheep
• 3:15
  - will not.
• 3:17
  - I find that this is fascinating because
• 3:21
  - what it says is
• 3:23
  - that the shepherd has invested
• 3:26
  - time
• 3:27
  - and energy
• 3:29
  - into building a relationship
• 3:32
  - with
• 3:33
  - his or her sheep.
• 3:37
  - Many people assume hearing gods is reserved for
• 3:40
  - spiritual giants like,
• 3:42
  - a pastor or,
• 3:44
  - a leader.
• 3:45
  - But actually,
• 3:47
  - Jesus tells us something comforting.
• 3:50
  - He says, my sheep know
• 3:52
  - my voice.
• 3:55
  - It's you and I, everyday people doing everyday
• 3:59
  - things.
• 4:01
  - And the key isn't about trying harder to
• 4:03
  - hear, but rather going closer to the shepherd.
• 4:08
  - The more time we spend with God,
• 4:10
  - the more familiar
• 4:12
  - his voice becomes.
• 4:14
  - Just as we recognize the voice of someone
• 4:16
  - we love, like when we were little, our
• 4:18
  - parents spent a lot of time telling us
• 4:20
  - what to do, and we could tell the
• 4:22
  - tone and the pitch of when they,
• 4:25
  - were giving us something comforting to listen to,
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  - by by,
• 4:30
  - soothing when we had failed or or had
• 4:33
  - a bad day or when we had got
• 4:34
  - ourselves into trouble and they needed to use
• 4:37
  - that tone. Right?
• 4:39
  - We learn to recognize
• 4:41
  - God's leading through
• 4:42
  - relationship.
• 4:44
  - His voice often comes through scripture,
• 4:48
  - conviction,
• 4:49
  - wisdom, and peace
• 4:51
  - rather than dramatic signs.
• 4:55
  - Discernment isn't about becoming mystical,
• 4:58
  - but rather it's about becoming familiar with the
• 5:01
  - heart of God.
• 5:04
  - That being said,
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  - let's pray.
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  - Heavenly father, help us to recognize
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  - your voice above every
• 5:14
  - competing voice in our lives.
• 5:18
  - Teach us to discern
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  - your wisdom from our own desires and fears.
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  - Draw us closer to you so your voice
• 5:28
  - becomes increasingly
• 5:30
  - familiar, and we will bless you in Jesus'
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  - name. Amen.
• 5:35
  - If you're ready to strengthen your spiritual discernment,
• 5:39
  - hit follow so you don't miss the next
• 5:41
  - episode in this series.