WE ARE LIVE!!!!!!

The first thing I would tell you is don’t make this more mysterious than it has to be. When people say “test and weigh it,” they simply mean that we should not automatically assume that every thought, impression, dream, feeling, or spiritual experience is God. The Bible actually tells us to do this. 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21 says, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.” Then 1 Corinthians 14:29 says, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.” So testing what you hear is not a lack of faith. It is actually biblical maturity. The first way I test something is against the Word of God. I think sometimes we make the “will of God” more mysterious than it actually is. The will of God is first revealed in the Word of God. God has already told us how He wants us to live, how He wants us to love, what holiness looks like, how we should treat people, what kind of character we should have, etc. So before I ask, “Did God tell me this?” I ask, “Does this agree with what God has already said?” God is not going to give you a revelation that requires you to contradict His Word. Your revelation does not correct Scripture; Scripture corrects your revelation. Then I test the spirit and character behind what I’m hearing. 1 John 4:1 tells us not to believe every spirit, but to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” Does what I’m hearing reflect the character of God? Is it leading me toward love, truth, holiness, humility, obedience and sacrifice? Or is it feeding my ego, fear, bitterness, pride, lust, revenge or selfish ambition? James 3:17 says that wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruit. In other words, the wisdom of God has a certain character to it. But you also have to learn how to test yourself, because not everything you hear internally is God or the devil. Sometimes it’s just you. Sometimes it’s something you want. Sometimes it’s fear. Sometimes it’s your imagination. Sometimes we can want something so badly that we begin interpreting our own desire as divine direction. One of the questions I ask myself is, “If God told me the opposite of what I want, would I still obey Him?” That question will expose a lot.