How to discern the Holy Spirit from other thoughts?

I agree. The Bible says that unbelievers see the Bible as foolishness, though.
This is True Mr Juk AND the truth is hidden from the world as well, But wait there is more. The truth in Gods written word is also Hidden from those who are carnal minded as well and these folks also accuse servants of GOD as being fakes and false teacherrs because they them selves have not ever reveived any revelation on whats being taught and they wont as long as they stay carnal minded..... ;)
 
Sheep know their master's voice. I am not a shepherd, but I'd guess it takes time. I would guess that you may be the same.

I only know you from your posts but it seems you want to be spiritually strong and do what God wants. When I was young, I too wished to be wise and knowledgeable and have a close and powerful walk with God. There were others, some younger in age, that were spiritually more mature than I.

You need to let that relationship grow over time. No one starts out mature in the spirit. Keep asking questions and reading Gods word for the answers. Ask other Christians for help understanding as you do here.

Do not be impatient for the maturity that will come.
 
Okay, I'm going to put the cat amongst the pigeons here.
AS far as hearing something and not knowing where it comes from.
Something about the devil, he is not omnipresent like our Yeshua. The devil is just an old serpent, with a broken wing and all, so he is very slow to getting around - and I do not care if someone go tell him I said this either.
So the chance of the old serpent whispering things in your ear is rather small, but he has principalities and many demons of different ranks doing his dirty. Sole objection of course is your and my destruction - clue one. He has no love lost for us, and that is in his plan. Demons are what we deal with mostly, principalities are above your run of the mill demons, and much more powerful.

I am also of the believe that a demon and the Holy Spirit cannot hold the same house at the same time - you and me being the house - so if God lives in you through the Holy Spirit, then those other critters will be outside - there is only place for one strong man in the house you see. This does not mean that these critters will do their best to bring you down - they will try to oppress. So two roles - demon possession and demon oppression. Demon oppression happens from the outside, but make sure your gates are locked, since God(Holy Spirit) is inside, they cannot be inside.
If the demon is inside he is the strong man and will have to be removed, the house cleaned, before the Holy Spirit can take residence.

I also had this issue after being born again, and believe me sometimes still do - I hear something and go... was that just me or was that the Holy Spirit. Now many others here gave good advice to you.
I say - do it anyway, if you are wrong and it's your thought, you have lost nothing, but may have been a blessing to someone else, if it came from the Holy Spirit, you and the person affected won the intended prize.
 
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Okay, I'm going to put the cat amongst the pigeons here.
AS far as hearing something and not knowing where it comes from.
Something about the devil, he is not omnipresent like our Yeshua. The devil is just an old serpent, with a broken wing and all, so he is very slow to getting around - and I do not care if someone go tell him I said this either.
So the chance of the old serpent whispering things in your ear is rather small, but he has principalities and many demons of different ranks doing his dirty. Sole objection of course is your and my destruction - clue one. He has no love lost for us, and that is in his plan. Demons are what we deal with mostly, principalities are above your run of the mill demons, and much more powerful.

I am also of the believe that a demon and the Holy Spirit cannot hold the same house at the same time - you and me being the house - so if God lives in you through the Holy Spirit, then those other critters will be outside - there is only place for one strong man in the house you see. This does not mean that these critters will do their best to bring you down - they will try to oppress. So two roles - demon possession and demon oppression. Demon oppression happens from the outside, but make sure your gates are locked, since God(Holy Spirit) is inside, they cannot be inside.
If the demon is inside he is the strong man and will have to be removed, the house cleaned, before the Holy Spirit can take residence.

I also had this issue after being born again, and believe me sometimes still do - I hear something and go... was that just me or was that the Holy Spirit. Now many others here gave good advice to you.
I say - do it anyway, if you are wrong and it's your thought, you have lost nothing, but may have been a blessing to someone else, if it came from the Holy Spirit, you and the person affected won the intended prize.
I also sometimes ask myself if a thought was from myself or the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Holy Spirit talked to me once. I was told to get my mom her shoes. But the difference between that thought and a regular thought was that it kinda paralyzed me, and put a crazy feeling in my stomach. I concluded that it must have been the Holy Spirit. But it has not happened since, and that was near mid February.
 
I also sometimes ask myself if a thought was from myself or the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Holy Spirit talked to me once. I was told to get my mom her shoes. But the difference between that thought and a regular thought was that it kinda paralyzed me, and put a crazy feeling in my stomach. I concluded that it must have been the Holy Spirit. But it has not happened since, and that was near mid February.

Mr. Juk, remember that every person has to have a ruler over their spirit. So either your thoughts are coming from the devil (who can put thoughts in our minds) or from God. Man is not sovereign unto themselves.
Blessings!
 
Okay, I'm going to put the cat amongst the pigeons here.
AS far as hearing something and not knowing where it comes from.
Something about the devil, he is not omnipresent like our Yeshua. The devil is just an old serpent, with a broken wing and all, so he is very slow to getting around - and I do not care if someone go tell him I said this either.
So the chance of the old serpent whispering things in your ear is rather small, but he has principalities and many demons of different ranks doing his dirty. Sole objection of course is your and my destruction - clue one. He has no love lost for us, and that is in his plan. Demons are what we deal with mostly, principalities are above your run of the mill demons, and much more powerful.

I am also of the believe that a demon and the Holy Spirit cannot hold the same house at the same time - you and me being the house - so if God lives in you through the Holy Spirit, then those other critters will be outside - there is only place for one strong man in the house you see. This does not mean that these critters will do their best to bring you down - they will try to oppress. So two roles - demon possession and demon oppression. Demon oppression happens from the outside, but make sure your gates are locked, since God(Holy Spirit) is inside, they cannot be inside.
If the demon is inside he is the strong man and will have to be removed, the house cleaned, before the Holy Spirit can take residence.


Brother Arrie, and @Juk
Welcome To CFS and I hope your time here is blessed and love filled as mine has been.
Now then...................Here is a quote of yours that you gave to this brother.....we are going to have a little talk you and me.....

YOU SAID...((( I also had this issue after being born again, and believe me sometimes still do - I hear something and go... was that just me or was that the Holy Spirit. Now many others here gave good advice to you.
I say - do it anyway, if you are wrong and it's your thought, you have lost nothing, but may have been a blessing to someone else, if it came from the Holy Spirit, you and the person affected won the intended prize. )))

Brother that is some very BAD advise to give to Juk or any one. In no way should any Born again Believer just move on any voice or thought that comes to them especially when it is in question...........That is a very good way to get out side of the Blessing of the Lord and get your self in Big trouble or Killed..........

Scripture tells us to take every thought captive........2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV
....Casting down imaginations or reasonings and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity EVERY THOUGTHT to the OBEDIENCE of Christ.....

I hope you can see what I am saying here.
Have a wonderful and blessed week
Jim
 
Yes, you are right. Maybe I should have explained better, if you receive a sudden voice to pray for someone, to talk to someone or do good for them, do it, if it was your own thought, it's good and you will likely bless the other person regardless, if it is from Holy Spirit, you both well benefit. Now the preceding piece to that statement I put down is also very important, as there I talk about who lives in your house, the point being of it is Holy Spirit, the voice to do something will be a good one, and to do good. If you have a voice to do bad, you have a problem, as the wrong strong man is on your house. Holly Spirit will never tell you to do bad against anyone. Your scripture quoted is a good one. It talks about any thing exalting itself against God. That will never be the Holy Spirit, as He is not against YHWH God. So, as a bit again Christian, if you receive a bad voice, you should know, the enemy is busy oppressing you, so get ready for battle for your own good. If you have a voice to do good to someone else, it could be you, or Holy Spirit. It's not always easy to say this way or that way when a young believer, but if good, do it anyway. Who looses if you sit on it?
 
Read :
Ephesians 6:12-13
Romans 12:21
Luke 10:19
Isaiah 54:17
Romans 8:37
Joshua 1:9
Psalm 91:5
Psalm 119:114
Mark 16:17
Leviticus 26:8
Deuteronomy 28:7
1 John 4:4
Corinthians 15:57
Proverbs 21:31

A brother gave me these scriptures this morning. Let's overcome and know only Him.
 
Yes, you are right. Maybe I should have explained better, if you receive a sudden voice to pray for someone, to talk to someone or do good for them, do it, if it was your own thought, it's good and you will likely bless the other person regardless, if it is from Holy Spirit, you both well benefit. Now the preceding piece to that statement I put down is also very important, as there I talk about who lives in your house, the point being of it is Holy Spirit, the voice to do something will be a good one, and to do good. If you have a voice to do bad, you have a problem, as the wrong strong man is on your house. Holly Spirit will never tell you to do bad against anyone. Your scripture quoted is a good one. It talks about any thing exalting itself against God. That will never be the Holy Spirit, as He is not against YHWH God. So, as a bit again Christian, if you receive a bad voice, you should know, the enemy is busy oppressing you, so get ready for battle for your own good. If you have a voice to do good to someone else, it could be you, or Holy Spirit. It's not always easy to say this way or that way when a young believer, but if good, do it anyway. Who looses if you sit on it?

However, Even if it a thought comes to do something good it needs to be prayed over for many reasons. God may not want you stepping in so to save the day and the enemy will whisper thoughts that sound good or may even be good but not what God wants. The enemy the devil tries to move a person one thought at a time. They are NOT always going to sound bad or evil or wrong...........

You may be born again but if you are not living life under the blessing or another words doing what Gods word says to be doing, you may have a hard time hearing anything from God. His voice or what He says may not make sense to you or even seem right but He knows best.....Many delays in your life are because God is trying to keep you from something and when you get all frustrated and blame others or the devil and push on you can get hurt, killed or just plain miss an opertunity God wanted for you.

This young man of God is seeking and learning to discern the voice of God. It is vital that he is told correctly and in such a way that it does not lead to more guessing....
I am not trying to argue with you at all, just trying to show something to you and Juk.

Thanks Brother for replying
Love and Blessings
Jim
 
Read :
Ephesians 6:12-13
Romans 12:21
Luke 10:19
Isaiah 54:17
Romans 8:37
Joshua 1:9
Psalm 91:5
Psalm 119:114
Mark 16:17
Leviticus 26:8
Deuteronomy 28:7
1 John 4:4
Corinthians 15:57
Proverbs 21:31

A brother gave me these scriptures this morning. Let's overcome and know only Him.

Good verses! Is Corinthians 1 or 2? Thanks
 
Mr. Juk, remember that every person has to have a ruler over their spirit. So either your thoughts are coming from the devil (who can put thoughts in our minds) or from God. Man is not sovereign unto themselves.
Blessings!
My thoughts are not usually bad, but they are at times. I think that the age of 12 is a vulnerable time for children, including me.
 
My thoughts are not usually bad, but they are at times. I think that the age of 12 is a vulnerable time for children, including me.
Learn how to have peace. When a thought comes to mind that's saying to act on something, no matter the intention, seek whether you have peace or not. If no peace, the thought is not yours, nor God's. If you have peace, then the Lord is dealing with you. Seek peace in all matters. It is how your faith with grow on how to know what's right and what's wrong.

Here's an example: you see someone in need of money, you think "Give him $50." You think "WOW! Cool! I'll do that." If you stop and ask the Lord if there is peace to do it, you may find that there is no peace. Why? You don't know, but it could be any of a myriad of reasons: he could be a drug addict; he could go to a bar; he could just be scamming you and you'd be the 30th person to give him $50 that day and now he's going home with $1500! Now if the Lord gives you peace, he may be repenting for his sins and has ask the Lord if He were real, to have someone give him $50 to get home to his family; or he needs $50 to pay for something he needs for his family, or himself, like medicine.

My point is, if you don't check the thought through the Holy Spirit, you could do more damage. Also dismissing thoughts that seem outlandish can be equally damaging. If you see this dirty guy who seems drunk (but only needs his medicine) and you think "Why bother! He's just going to get more booze!" In everything you do, seek the Lord's guidance and the more faithful in obedience you are to Him, the more He can trust you with very important things. It's part of growing up in Christ.

Hang in there. You're doing great! Remember what I said a while ago: just because He's silent doesn't mean He's upset with you, but seeing how much you want Him!
 
Learn how to have peace. When a thought comes to mind that's saying to act on something, no matter the intention, seek whether you have peace or not. If no peace, the thought is not yours, nor God's. If you have peace, then the Lord is dealing with you. Seek peace in all matters. It is how your faith with grow on how to know what's right and what's wrong.

Here's an example: you see someone in need of money, you think "Give him $50." You think "WOW! Cool! I'll do that." If you stop and ask the Lord if there is peace to do it, you may find that there is no peace. Why? You don't know, but it could be any of a myriad of reasons: he could be a drug addict; he could go to a bar; he could just be scamming you and you'd be the 30th person to give him $50 that day and now he's going home with $1500! Now if the Lord gives you peace, he may be repenting for his sins and has ask the Lord if He were real, to have someone give him $50 to get home to his family; or he needs $50 to pay for something he needs for his family, or himself, like medicine.

My point is, if you don't check the thought through the Holy Spirit, you could do more damage. Also dismissing thoughts that seem outlandish can be equally damaging. If you see this dirty guy who seems drunk (but only needs his medicine) and you think "Why bother! He's just going to get more booze!" In everything you do, seek the Lord's guidance and the more faithful in obedience you are to Him, the more He can trust you with very important things. It's part of growing up in Christ.

Hang in there. You're doing great! Remember what I said a while ago: just because He's silent doesn't mean He's upset with you, but seeing how much you want Him!
So I should run every thought that I have through God?
 
So I should run every thought that I have through God?
It's not as time consuming as it sounds... learn to live in His peace and as your day goes by the Lord will prompt you. Ask where is it coming from. The Lord will make you uneasy sometimes so you can stop and pray, yet you'll still have peace about it. I find when someone's name pops into my mind, without thinking about them or anything related to them, it's the Lord asking me to pray for them. Everything you do should be filtered through the Lord. Remember what I said, ask like He's right there with you (because He is) so you can be aware of Him. Remember the part about the movie? (y)
 
It's not as time consuming as it sounds... learn to live in His peace and as your day goes by the Lord will prompt you. Ask where is it coming from. The Lord will make you uneasy sometimes so you can stop and pray, yet you'll still have peace about it. I find when someone's name pops into my mind, without thinking about them or anything related to them, it's the Lord asking me to pray for them. Everything you do should be filtered through the Lord. Remember what I said, ask like He's right there with you (because He is) so you can be aware of Him. Remember the part about the movie? (y)
That situation has actually happened to me many times, when someone would just pop into my head, and I would pray for them. But what about conversations? What do I do then?
 
Sheep know their master's voice. I am not a shepherd, but I'd guess it takes time. I would guess that you may be the same.

I only know you from your posts but it seems you want to be spiritually strong and do what God wants. When I was young, I too wished to be wise and knowledgeable and have a close and powerful walk with God. There were others, some younger in age, that were spiritually more mature than I.

You need to let that relationship grow over time. No one starts out mature in the spirit. Keep asking questions and reading Gods word for the answers. Ask other Christians for help understanding as you do here.

Do not be impatient for the maturity that will come.

I completely agree, but wanted to add to this.
27"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
I used to get really annoyed when older christians quoted this. I tried for all my worth but still never heard God speak.

Then one day, I realised something that broke the log jam. Sheep most certainly can recognise their master's voice, but they also most certainly don't have a clue what he is saying.
Many years after this revelation, I had the privilege of keeping a flock of sheep and learned the reality of this. All of my sheep were amazingly stupid and never comprehended a thing I said to them.

So what does the scripture mean? Is it really possible to hear God's voice?
Surprisingly, every single man woman and child who comes to God has already answered that and proven himself able to hear that voice!
Does anyone seriously think that their intellect worked it all out when they surrendered to Christ, when they came from death into life?
Trying to understand God via intellectual ability is contradictory to scripture, which states clearly that to an unregenerate man (ie. with a dead spirit), the story of the cross is foolishness. In other words your human intellect alone cannot possibly comprehend it.
The one and only reason that anyone comes to the Lord is because the Holy Spirit convicted him. The Holy Spirit called to his spirit, not his mind. He heard the master's voice, and like a sheep he followed.

Jesus's sheep allusion refers to the sound of the master's voice, not the content. That sound is a sound of peace.
Many here have focused on the content, saying that the voice of the spirit only points to Jesus, or agrees with scripture, etc. Yet we know that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Light is another word for truth. In other words, Satan can come bearing what we believe to be truth, even biblical truth. Satan is a past master at quoting scriptures so simply matching the words to the bible can be disastrous, and many believers have been deceived by it.

We must therefore come back to recognising the master's voice. That can only come by practice, and one of the best indicators of that voice is the peace that it gives deep within. That peace is not just an intellectual peace, but a spiritual peace that even those unschooled in scripture can receive.

Back to the sheep. Today sheep are left penned in a field isolated from people so they tend to flee at the sight of any humans. If we want to move them we drive them using sheepdogs or even an off road vehicle. Rather than knowing the master's voice, they are very fearful of it, just like many christians! This makes understanding the scripture very difficult.
In contrast, historically the shepherd would be out in the hills living with the sheep. He smelt like one of them and they knew and trusted him. He would have his own calls or whistles so that when he wanted to move to new pastures all he had to do was call and they would follow.

I experienced this in a very small measure when we had to bottle feed about five orphan lambs several times a day for months until they were sufficiently strong and weaned to release into the flock and into the hands of my other workers. Whilst they were with us, these lambs would happily run into the house if the door was left open.

One day many months after they had been returned to the flock, I had occasion to walk through the field. As usual, the whole flock ran to the far corner of the field. Suddenly, there was a loud bleating as five of them detached from the fleeing flock and charged back to me, all jumping at once just like when they were lambs. I was completely flattened under the weight of five fully grown sheep wanting to lick me.
Yes, sheep can recognise their master's voice, shape, sound smell etc.
Strangely, when I asked them to get off, they didn't take a blind bit of notice!
 
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I completely agree, but wanted to add to this.
27"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
I used to get really annoyed when older christians quoted this. I tried for all my worth but still never heard God speak.

Then one day, I realised something that broke the log jam. Sheep most certainly can recognise their master's voice, but they also most certainly don't have a clue what he is saying.
Many years after this revelation, I had the privilege of keeping a flock of sheep and learned the reality of this. All of my sheep were amazingly stupid and never comprehended a thing I said to them. ...

As I was reading through this thread, I was going to post the John 10 verse, but you just beat me to it! :)

On a related note, here's a devotional on this very topic I wrote about 16 years ago that I think will help...

Hearing His Voice

It's amazing how God designed the human brain to be able to pick out individual voices in a crowd. There could be any number of people talking all at once in a crowded room and you could mentally focus on one conversation and then another without having to move around in the room or tilt your head to hear better. The brain uses the different characteristics of each voice to give it something to focus on. This makes for an interesting experiment (and powerful sermon illustration).

Suppose several people were in a room all speaking at once. The room is totally dark so you can't see them. To make things worse, you don't know any of these people. If I told you one of the voices was "John's" voice and I asked you to tell me what he was saying, you would not be able to. He could be speaking just as clearly as the others, but because you don't know what his voice sounds like, you could not know for sure which voice is his. Your mind would focus on one voice, and then another, and maybe even John's voice for a time. You could make a guess, but most probably it would be wrong.

However, if I introduced you to John and you had a short conversation with him, then you would be able to pick out his voice in a crowd because you would know what his voice sounds like. I could ask you what he is saying and, with a little concentration, you would be able to tell me. Sure, it wouldn't be as easy as hearing his voice alone, but you could do it. You wouldn't mistake someone else's voice for his.

The world is a lot like that crowded dark room. There are a lot of "conversations" going on at once: ideas, philosophies, and other distractions that make it hard to concentrate on God’s voice. What makes it harder is that many of those other voices are impersonating God. We see this in the news when someone says they committed some crime because God told them to.

Jesus said in John 10:

When he has put forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. But they will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they know not the voice of strangers.
- John 10:4-5 (JND)

As Christians, we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading, but we also need to be aware that the enemy is out there trying to lead us astray.

How do you know when God is speaking to you? You can't unless you're familiar with His voice. Now I'm not talking about some audible quality. He doesn't usually speak to people that way. I'm talking about the things He says. God is not going to tell you to do something that is contrary to what He has already spoken in the Bible. There is safety in knowing God, recognizing His voice, and following Him. We can't do that unless we become familiar with His voice. To do that, spend time meditating on God's word. Then you won't be fooled by impostors.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

- - - - -
I actually did do the sermon illustration for this when I preached on this topic years ago. I put together an audio recording of three different voices quoting different verses from the Bible. I then asked the audience to tell me what "Steve" said, and nobody knew. I then played a sample of Steve's voice by itself saying something else. Then I played the original mix again, and everyone was easily able to pick out his voice and tell me what he said. This is how we know Jesus' and the Holy Spirit's voice: we get familiar with what He has already said in the Bible.
 
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