Choosing the Right Voice

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:9 (NLT)

There are days….days when I feel like I am no good. I rehearse in my head the words I said in a conversation that may have come across negatively when I didn’t intend it to. Or I hear the voices tell me I can’t accomplish what I want or that I don’t know what I am doing or that I am not good enough for God to use me. Ever have those days? Those voices, they are not from God. How do I know? God’s voice will definitely put me in my place when I do something I shouldn’t. He’s interested in growing my character to be more like his so he will reprimand me when needed. But his voice will not demean or belittle me. For example, if I said something to someone that was not nice God’s voice would say “How do you think that made her feel?” or “Was that a kind response?” Satan’s voice will say “You are mean. You don’t know how to be kind. You can’t be a Christian. God can’t use you.” You see the difference? When you are hearing voices, listen for the tone. If the tone is correcting but kind, if the tone sets you straight but does it with positive intent, that is God’s voice. Follow that one. Pray through and ignore the other. He’s only trying to distract you.

–Elaine Kapetanakis