Ways to discern God's voice from other voices

Summary:

A voice heard can have 3 main possible sources:

- The subject themselves. 

- Demons.

- God.

It is possible for anyone to hear any of these voices. 

For more information:

Is it possible for someone in the new covenant to hear another voice than God?:
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A voice can be perceived externally, but also internally, as a thought.  

For more information:

Basic ways to perceive and recognize the voice of God:
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Because several possible sources can exist for a voice that was heard, it can be profitable to be able to discern between them. 

There are 2 steps to discern that a voice heard was from God:

1) Discerning that it was not the subject's own voice.

2) Discerning if the voice is demonic. 

Someone can deduce from step 1 that a voice heard wasn't the subject's own voice, and from step 2 that there is no evidence that it was demonic, and thus: it can be REASONABLY INFERRED that the voice may LIKELY be God's voice.

It may not necessarily be CERTAIN from these steps that a voice is from God, but as long as it is OVERALL MORE LIKELY than not, a response in that direction by faith can be REASONABLY JUSTIFIED. God is also able to intervene afterward one way or another to prevent any genuine error. 

Now if the information heard was GENUINELY NOT SUFFICIENT to determine if it is one source or another, and that multiple sources would still be EQUALLY LIKELY based on the evidence (not more or less likely but genuinely equally likely), then several practical solutions can be applied.

You can find more details below:

Ways to discern that it is not the subject themselves: 

Ways to discern that a voice heard was NOT the SUBJECT's own voice can include:

- Veridical information that the subject could not have possibly known.

- Information that is way too complex or wise for someone's mind to have come up with. 

- Information that the subject may have heard in distinct parts and forgotten the earlier parts after recording them, but when looking at all the recorded parts together in the end they all fit together in a consistent way that would have required too much working memory capacity for the subject to have tracked their consistency.  

Furthermore, there can also be CLUES to INFER that a voice heard may NOT LIKELY be the SUBJECT's own voice, which can include:

- Information that does not match the subject's cognitive predisposition toward the topic.

- Information that does not match how the subject would have projected or imagined God to communicate on the topic. 

- Veridical information that is not the only necessary logical deduction of the available data known by the subject. 

➜ MULTIPLE of those elements would increase the likelihood that the voice heard was not the subject's own voice. 

The source would likely be external to the subject.

This ALONE would not determine that the source is therefore from God, as the source could still also be from demons, so this needs to be COMBINED with ways to discern that a voice is NOT from demons. 

Ways to discern if it is demonic: 

Ways to discern that a voice heard was DEMONIC (if determined to not already be the subject's own voice) can include:

- It is NOT FULLY CONSISTENT with what Jesus and His apostles taught (either partially consistent or not at all). 

- It is NOT CONSISTENT with GOD'S CHARACTER in the Bible. 

- The information is NOT VERIDICAL.

➜ MULTIPLE of those elements would increase the likelihood that the voice heard was DEMONIC (if determined to not already be the subject's own voice). 

If NONE of those elements appear, then there is no concrete evidence that it may have been demonic, and it might be evidence that it may likely not be demonic.

This ALONE would not determine that the source is therefore most likely to be from God, as the source could still also be from the subject themselves, so this needs to be COMBINED with ways to discern that a voice is NOT from the subject themselves. 

What to do after discerning that it is more likely to be from God?: 

There are 2 steps to discern that a voice heard was from God:

1) Discerning that it was not the subject's own voice.

2) Discerning if the voice might be demonic.

Someone can deduce from step 1 that a voice heard wasn't the subject's own voice, and from step 2 that there is no evidence that it was demonic, and thus: it can be REASONABLY INFERRED that the voice may LIKELY be God's voice.

It may not necessarily be CERTAIN from these steps that a voice is from God, but as long as it is OVERALL MORE LIKELY than not, a response in that direction by faith can be REASONABLY JUSTIFIED. 

God is also able to intervene afterward one way or another to prevent any genuine direction that He may not intend for someone, so a person OUGHT TO ALWAYS REMAIN OPEN FOR GOD TO LEAD THEM even if they already made the most reasonable choice at a certain point in time based on the available evidence at that time.  

God can INTERVENE if we take a reasonable direction that is not what He wants, as for example Paul wanted to do some things, as it is written about "Timothy" (Acts 16:1) that "Paul wanted this (one) TO-GO-FORTH with him" (Acts 16:3) and "they-went-through the Phrygian and Galatian region, HAVING-BEEN-FORBIDDEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT to-speak the word in Asia. And having-come opposite Mysia, THEY-WERE-TRYING TO-PROCEED INTO BITHYNIA and THE SPIRIT (OF) JESUS DID NOT ALLOW THEM. And having-passed-by Mysia, THEY-CAME-DOWN TO TROAS" (Acts 16:6-8).

Here when Paul wanted to go forth somewhere specific, but God INTERVENED in some cases to not allow Paul to go where he intended to go. 

What if multiple sources remain equally likely after discerning?: 

If the information heard was GENUINELY NOT SUFFICIENT to determine if it is one source or another, and that multiple sources would still be EQUALLY LIKELY based on the evidence (not more or less likely but genuinely equally likely), then several practical solutions can be applied:

- If a voice has been determined to not have any evidence to come from demons, and that the LIKELIHOOD that it comes from the subject or from God REMAINS EQUAL based on the available evidence, and that its information concerns MORAL BEHAVIOUR, then someone could still consider this as a thought that would be ALIGNED with the MORAL TEACHINGS laid out in the Bible and respond to it by faith. 

- God can STILL COMMUNICATE to someone in many different ways if the information is not GENUINELY YET leaning more toward one way or another based on the available evidence. 

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