Distinguishing When God Speaks

[SonsOfCaleb]

"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, oh God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I come and appear before God" (Psalm 42:1-2).

This post is not about how to know when God speaks. There are many books and articles on that that can help people learn to know when and how God is speaking to them. This post is about recognizing which Member of the Godhead is speaking or relating to you.

There are different beliefs everywhere. Some people believe God is just 'one person'; some believe it's just Jesus and the Father; and some believe there is a Trinity. This post isn't written to invite arguments and disagreements. It's written for people whose hearts yearn for God and who want to know Him more. As Jesus said:

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).

God doesn't give more of Himself to people because of their sex, status, or station in life; He gives according to a person's hunger or desire to know Him. This alone explains why Jesus knew and understood God more at the age of 12 than men who were theological scholars, normally would've known more than He did, and were far older than He was. That's because God's giving is based on hunger, not on merit.

When I had my first encounter with God, I decided I wanted to know God in a personal way. While the people around me were saying, "I want to know [God]," I was saying, "I want to know [God] and who He is." God is no respecter of persons and respected my desire, so He gave me the ability to distinguish which Member of the Godhead is relating to or talking to me at any given moment: the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. I only realized I was able to do this because most people weren't. I began to notice myself saying things like, "God told me" and immediately after, "The Lord (Jesus) said..." and then shortly after, "The Holy Spirit spoke..."

I began to realize that the 3 Members of the Godhead relate to me slightly differently and talk to me about slightly different things:

1.) The Father. When God talks to me, what He says centers around protection, purpose, and provision. That means if I need God's protection, the Father will take the lead; He leads in talking to me about my purpose and identity; and He leads in talking to me about provision. One day in 2013 when I asked why I constantly came out unscathed from bad situations, He gave me Psalm 34:7. He's the One who told me to cast off my false identity and to walk in my real one. And if I was to ask for a job, car, career, anything centered around provision, He's the One to take the lead. He's the One who protects and speaks to me about everything that concerns my future wife. His voice or tone is like that of a loving and gracious father, but He often gets right to the point and often targets the very foundation of anything He speaks about. I'm sure He's the One who was doing the "Let there be" at Creation and that everything sprang up right as He called them into existence. He doesn't seem like He 'wastes time'.

2.) Jesus. When Jesus talks to me, what He says centers around what the Father has already told me. Jesus is the One who will 'walk it out' with me. If God tells me He wants me to be in this fellowship or to have this career or whatever it is, Jesus is the One who will walk me into or through it. He is also the One who takes the identity from God and puts a 'name' on it as regards ministry. Eg. if God gave me a purpose to win souls, then Jesus will put the name 'evangelist' on it. He gives life or action to the purpose. He's the One whose feet touch earth so to speak. One day I met a man who said he was an apostle, but he didn't strike me as one, so I asked God (ie. Godhead) if he was indeed an apostle. Jesus answered this one, and rather than telling me plainly that the man wasn't an apostle, He told me a few qualities by which I would know if I met a genuine apostle. The man had none of these qualities. (If the Father had responded, He most of the time would've been direct and told me the man wasn't a true apostle rather than saying it in a round-about way.) Jesus takes from what God says and repeats it but in a different way. His voice or tone is like that of a considerate ten-year-old brother when he's talking to a two-year-old little sister. He's very patient and gentle. No wonder God will eternally reject anyone who rejects Him.

3.) The Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit talks to me, what He says centers around what Jesus has told me. So, it's hard to explain how this works. The Father 'gives the command' or 'states His will'; Jesus then takes what He said and 'molds it' so I can receive it (so to speak); then the Holy Spirit takes what Jesus has 'molded' and breathes life into it. Hard to explain. So, the Father gave me a calling; Jesus spoke it to me; and the Holy Spirit unfolds it to me. When I ask God a question, one of the Three will usually take responsibility for responding. Several years ago, the Father was the One who explained to me why I kissed my then-pastor's spiritual daughter (provision: intimacy) and showed me my dad's calling on two different occasions (purpose). Not long after, Jesus explained twice (two weeks apart) why He wants me to be connected to sincere believers (ie. God's will for me). The Holy Spirit, however, is the One who talks to me about ministry (the Father never talks to me about this though Jesus sometimes does) and is usually explaining how Jesus's will is to be worked out in my life (the Holy Spirit doesn't really explain things that don't pertain to ministry like kissing girls or discovering a cure for some frustrating disease; that's usually the Father). The Holy Spirit's voice or tone is like that of a caring mother. He often gets right to the point like the Father and sounds like the Father more than He sounds like Jesus, but His voice is noticeably more tender.

I shared this for anyone who wants a deeper and living relationship with God. You can ask Him to give you discernment (really, the gift of 'distinguishing between spirits') to help you recognize His voice or/and to help you distinguish which Member of the Godhead is relating to or speaking to you. They never contradict. It's a perfect union. It can be fascinating, but it also creates even more reverence and awe for God. I believe the generation that desires to know God more intimately will benefit from truths like these.

 

[Runningman]

"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, oh God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I come and appear before God" (Psalm 42:1-2).

This post is not about how to know when God speaks. There are many books and articles on that that can help people learn to know when and how God is speaking to them. This post is about recognizing which Member of the Godhead is speaking or relating to you.

There are different beliefs everywhere. Some people believe God is just 'one person'; some believe it's just Jesus and the Father; and some believe there is a Trinity. This post isn't written to invite arguments and disagreements. It's written for people whose hearts yearn for God and who want to know Him more. As Jesus said:

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).

God doesn't give more of Himself to people because of their sex, status, or station in life; He gives according to a person's hunger or desire to know Him. This alone explains why Jesus knew and understood God more at the age of 12 than men who were theological scholars, normally would've known more than He did, and were far older than He was. That's because God's giving is based on hunger, not on merit.

When I had my first encounter with God, I decided I wanted to know God in a personal way. While the people around me were saying, "I want to know [God]," I was saying, "I want to know [God] and who He is." God is no respecter of persons and respected my desire, so He gave me the ability to distinguish which Member of the Godhead is relating to or talking to me at any given moment: the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. I only realized I was able to do this because most people weren't. I began to notice myself saying things like, "God told me" and immediately after, "The Lord (Jesus) said..." and then shortly after, "The Holy Spirit spoke..."

I began to realize that the 3 Members of the Godhead relate to me slightly differently and talk to me about slightly different things:

1.) The Father. When God talks to me, what He says centers around protection, purpose, and provision. That means if I need God's protection, the Father will take the lead; He leads in talking to me about my purpose and identity; and He leads in talking to me about provision. One day in 2013 when I asked why I constantly came out unscathed from bad situations, He gave me Psalm 34:7. He's the One who told me to cast off my false identity and to walk in my real one. And if I was to ask for a job, car, career, anything centered around provision, He's the One to take the lead. He's the One who protects and speaks to me about everything that concerns my future wife. His voice or tone is like that of a loving and gracious father, but He often gets right to the point and often targets the very foundation of anything He speaks about. I'm sure He's the One who was doing the "Let there be" at Creation and that everything sprang up right as He called them into existence. He doesn't seem like He 'wastes time'.

2.) Jesus. When Jesus talks to me, what He says centers around what the Father has already told me. Jesus is the One who will 'walk it out' with me. If God tells me He wants me to be in this fellowship or to have this career or whatever it is, Jesus is the One who will walk me into or through it. He is also the One who takes the identity from God and puts a 'name' on it as regards ministry. Eg. if God gave me a purpose to win souls, then Jesus will put the name 'evangelist' on it. He gives life or action to the purpose. He's the One whose feet touch earth so to speak. One day I met a man who said he was an apostle, but he didn't strike me as one, so I asked God (ie. Godhead) if he was indeed an apostle. Jesus answered this one, and rather than telling me plainly that the man wasn't an apostle, He told me a few qualities by which I would know if I met a genuine apostle. The man had none of these qualities. (If the Father had responded, He most of the time would've been direct and told me the man wasn't a true apostle rather than saying it in a round-about way.) Jesus takes from what God says and repeats it but in a different way. His voice or tone is like that of a considerate ten-year-old brother when he's talking to a two-year-old little sister. He's very patient and gentle. No wonder God will eternally reject anyone who rejects Him.

3.) The Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit talks to me, what He says centers around what Jesus has told me. So, it's hard to explain how this works. The Father 'gives the command' or 'states His will'; Jesus then takes what He said and 'molds it' so I can receive it (so to speak); then the Holy Spirit takes what Jesus has 'molded' and breathes life into it. Hard to explain. So, the Father gave me a calling; Jesus spoke it to me; and the Holy Spirit unfolds it to me. When I ask God a question, one of the Three will usually take responsibility for responding. Several years ago, the Father was the One who explained to me why I kissed my then-pastor's spiritual daughter (provision: intimacy) and showed me my dad's calling on two different occasions (purpose). Not long after, Jesus explained twice (two weeks apart) why He wants me to be connected to sincere believers (ie. God's will for me). The Holy Spirit, however, is the One who talks to me about ministry (the Father never talks to me about this though Jesus sometimes does) and is usually explaining how Jesus's will is to be worked out in my life (the Holy Spirit doesn't really explain things that don't pertain to ministry like kissing girls or discovering a cure for some frustrating disease; that's usually the Father). The Holy Spirit's voice or tone is like that of a caring mother. He often gets right to the point like the Father and sounds like the Father more than He sounds like Jesus, but His voice is noticeably more tender.

I shared this for anyone who wants a deeper and living relationship with God. You can ask Him to give you discernment (really, the gift of 'distinguishing between spirits') to help you recognize His voice or/and to help you distinguish which Member of the Godhead is relating to or speaking to you. They never contradict. It's a perfect union. It can be fascinating, but it also creates even more reverence and awe for God. I believe the generation that desires to know God more intimately will benefit from truths like these.

What you’re saying is my experience too. I see that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all work together. My experience with the Father is like yours, a loving and protective Father who can be stern if necessary. God disciplines the one He loves and I’ve experienced that because He isn’t afraid to do it. The Father also loves bragging about Jesus and His glorious sacrifice. He loves Jesus so much.

Jesus often says many of the things He said in the Bible. One thing I am often reminded of is to not worry. For me that’s quite comforting because I worry.

The Holy Spirit i feel is often telling me what I should do next. Like reminding me to let go of my pain, to pray, or what book and chapter I should read in the Bible.

My discerning of spirits doesn’t seem to be as good as yours so it’s possible I could have mixed them up a little bit.

I can ask God about people and He’ll tell me about them. Nothing particularly in depth about them most of the time, but just what kind of person they are. God seems more likely to point out to me when someone is His son or daughter rather than when they aren’t. I’ve also been warned to avoid certain situations because of the people who were there. Who knows what would have happened otherwise.

Glory to God

 

[Shepherd]

When God speaks He never contradicts His Word.

 

[SonsOfCaleb]

What you’re saying is my experience too. I see that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all work together. My experience with the Father is like yours, a loving and protective Father who can be stern if necessary. God disciplines the one He loves and I’ve experienced that because He isn’t afraid to do it. The Father also loves bragging about Jesus and His glorious sacrifice. He loves Jesus so much.

Jesus often says many of the things He said in the Bible. One thing I am often reminded of is to not worry. For me that’s quite comforting because I worry.

The Holy Spirit i feel is often telling me what I should do next. Like reminding me to let go of my pain, to pray, or what book and chapter I should read in the Bible.

My discerning of spirits doesn’t seem to be as good as yours so it’s possible I could have mixed them up a little bit.

I can ask God about people and He’ll tell me about them. Nothing particularly in depth about them most of the time, but just what kind of person they are. God seems more likely to point out to me when someone is His son or daughter rather than when they aren’t. I’ve also been warned to avoid certain situations because of the people who were there. Who knows what would have happened otherwise.

Glory to God

You said, "God disciplines the one He loves and I’ve experienced that because He isn’t afraid to do it." Haha. He sure isn't scared to do it. He speaks His mind and does His deed.

Sometimes They will bring you a Scripture; other times, they will speak it. Some years ago, God told me a truth that I wasn't aware of. He then brought me (rather than spoke to me) a verse to confirm what He said. A year later, as I turned to walk into a church, Jesus expressly told me to leave the institutional churches which don't let Him be Lord, that He would lead me (literally, 'walk me') to a fellowship where believers actually follow Him as Lord. A few months later, I decided to return to an institutional church. On my way there, Jesus brought me this verse: "Why do you seek the Living among the dead?" This was what the two angels said to the women who went to Jesus's tomb looking for Him when He had already risen as He said He would (Luke 24:245). Jesus was telling me that He (the Living) was not in the institutional churches (the dead) and so if I'm seeking Him, I can't seek Him there.

Well, it's really 'distinguishing between spirits'. There are different types of discernment and that's one of them. You can discern spirits and that's good. And you can distinguish between spirits (or attitudes, people's secret thoughts, mindsets, etc.). Discerning spirits has more to do with the presence of a spirit and the type of spirit it is (this works only on spirits, both human and non-human). Distinguishing between spirits is about being able to distinguish what 'spirit' (ie. what) is at work in any given situation. Here are examples:

1. Discerning [of] Spirits. The term 'spirit' is used interchangeably a lot in the Bible. The issue is that the Bible doesn't tell us when the meaning has changed from one sentence to another. So for this example, you have discerning of spirits and are called to be in a session where someone in a church needs deliverance from demons, so you go. When you come in, you might sense the Holy Spirit or Jesus in the room; you might sense some of the demons in the room or/and in the person; you might discern what types of demons are there; you might even discern if an angel or two from God are there. A human spirit might show up or be trapped in the person needing deliverance, and you might also pick up on that. These are all spirit entities (or whole persons) you are discerning or picking up on.

2. Distinguishing between Spirits. This gift isn't only about and doesn't major in detecting spirit entities or whole persons. Whereas the discerning of spirits focuses on detecting the IDENTITY of a thing, distinguishing between spirits focuses on detecting the ORIGIN of a thing. The latter gift (distinguishing) allows you to detect not only whole persons but also bits and pieces of persons (human and non-human). This is where you're able to detect the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, attitudes of a person's heart; you can also detect those things in God's heart as well. So, if you stand a person who has this gift and a person who doesn't next to each other and then the Holy Spirit manifests in the room, the person with this gift will be able to detect God's Nature, character, what God hates and likes, etc., while the other person probably will only detect God's presence. So, this gift distinguishes between even very close or similar things and can detect when the words or attitudes coming from one person are actually coming from someone else (eg. a person from a religious cult who is parroting what he was programmed to believe; it's not coming from him but from the programming or his leader, etc.). Discerning of spirits deals in recognizing the spirit entity. Distinguishing between spirits deals in recognizing the origin of the entity, thought, attitude, etc. The former is more about quantity; the latter is more about quality.

There are different facets of all the gifts, so it's not so much one isn't as good as the other but often one person's is different from another person's (eg. "gifts of healings"). Some people with the word of wisdom gift receive only words of wisdom. Others with the same gift might also receive the ability to interpret dreams and visions which is one of many gifts not listed in 1Cor. 12 because the nine gifts listed cover all the other gifts that are not specifically listed. Being warned to avoid situations is like the natural gift of the instinct and the intuition and is more tied to the spiritual gift of the word of knowledge than to the spiritual gifts of discerning or distinguishing both of which are different facets of the one and same gift listed in 1Cor. 12:10-- sometimes called discerning of spirits and sometimes called distinguishing between spirits but the same gift with two different faces or facets (one face for entities that are spirit and the other facet for things that are immaterial-- both spirits and ideas or thoughts or feelings or beliefs or attitudes or the character/nature of a person, an animal, God, angels, evil spirits, etc.). The Bible hides things like this in every page. It's fun 'digging them out'. It's a good thing you've been able to have the same experience. It adds zest and body to life, doesn't it?

 

[SonsOfCaleb]

When God speaks He never contradicts His Word.

True. But do you have a specific reason you said that?

 

[TheNarrowPath]

I was actually thinking about this a few days ago, either on here or YT the Trinity was discussed and I realised that I had said to someone here that "God told me" Now Im rethinking that.