“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23 NLT

 You want to be and do all that God has for you, right? Me too. That means that we want to do what God is saying, right? But how can I tell the difference between what God is saying to me and what I am saying to myself? Sometimes God’s voice is very clear. Like the holy highlighter on the pages of Scripture. But other times…

Learning to recognize the voice of God takes practice, but it really isn’t rocket science. As I learn to pay attention to the ways that God brings things to my awareness through His word, my thoughts, and circumstances I become more in tune with just how active God is in communicating with me on a regular basis. When I notice ideas that I recognize are not part of my normal train of thought I recognize the Holy Spirit at work. How awesome that the God of the universe takes the time to speak to me!

But, if you are like me, you may find yourself trying to rationalize what you are hearing. How can I be sure that is God? What if that is just my own self speaking and masquerading as the Holy Spirit? What if it isn’t God at all and I act on it?

I have learned that the best way to evaluate these thoughts is to consider: What’s my heart condition right now? Is God the one I am most looking to please or am I more concerned about making myself look good? Hard questions. Self-reflection isn’t popular or pretty!

At the core of obeying God is not the perfection of the task, but the perfecting of my heart. Yes, God wants you and me to obey when He speaks, but we tend to think of obedience as simply an action. The action becomes obedience when it is the outworking of an inward desire to please God above all else. This is the really tricky part. In our performance-oriented, productivity-driven society we run the risk of making obedience an item to check off on our task list. But obedience is less about what we do and more about why we do it. 

So, here is another hard question to ask myself and let the Holy Spirit shine the light on truth: Is my heart purely pointed toward loving God by loving others? Only the Holy Spirit can make that clear to me. You and I are not capable of discerning our own motivations objectively. I may think that my motivation is purely to please God, but if I allow Him, the Holy Spirit might make me aware that the desire to please others may take a higher priority than I like to think. Or maybe I’ve convinced myself that I want to please God but find that pleasing myself is really at the root of an idea. I have had those moments with God as I bring a situation before Him. Ouch!

Obedience is a heart condition more than it is an objective to be accomplished. Part of learning to hear God is learning to recognize when the Holy Spirit wants to reveal ourselves to ourselves. How incredibly wonderful that the God who knows you and me intimately cares enough to point out the attitudes that need to change!

When I let the Holy Spirit reveal the condition of my heart, I become able to truly be and do all that God has for me. That’s my goal. What about you?

Key Question: What is my heart condition right now?

A Scripture to Consider: “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23 NLT

A YES Challenge: Are you brave enough to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your own heart condition right now?  Take some time to sit in silence with Him and be willing to hear whatever He says.

Prayer: Lord, I really do want to be and do all that You have for me, but I struggle to know when I am hearing Your voice. I don’t want my heart condition to get in the way of fulfilling Your will for me. Help me to hear the Holy Spirit as He reveals my motivations to me. Help me to truly obey for Your glory above all else. Amen.