Live in God’s Peace

Do you hear God’s voice clearly? How do you know whether what you are hearing is God or just your own mind, will, or emotions?

The Word of God clearly states that God’s sheep hear His voice. They know or recognize His voice and will not follow a stranger (John 10:4-5,14, and 27). Yet many young and immature Christians have told me they heard something from God that doesn’t line up with the Word of God at all.

For example, a man I will call Tom from our church once told me he was called to minister to one of the Native American tribes in New Mexico. He believed he was supposed to move there, but his wife didn’t agree because he had no ability to provide for her and their children if he moved. I counseled Tom to treat his desire to minister to this particular tribe as a mission ministry. He could go there from time to time on short trips but then return home to care for his family. Rather than moving to New Mexico, I suggested he make North Texas his home base. I let Tom know that if the Lord was truly speaking to him to move to New Mexico, things would open up and the finances would come in, allowing his entire family to move there. I advised him to wait on the Lord before making any major moves. 

Tom didn’t like or heed my counsel at all. He came back to me and said the Lord told him to leave his wife and children so that he could fulfill the call of God on his life. He used some verses from Mark 10 to justify his decision. But I told Tom he had taken those verses out of context and completely neglected other passages of Scripture that tell us to care for our families. Let me show you what I mean: 

“Then Peter began to say to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You.’ So Jesus answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time–houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions– and in the age to come, eternal life.’” (Mark 10:28-30). 

These verses in Mark do not instruct us to leave our families in order to follow Jesus. In the beginning of Mark 10, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees who wanted to use the law to leave their wives and trade them in for new models. The context of these verses is to not be frivolous regarding our family commitments. Jesus was simply responding to Peter to assure him that anything he and the disciples lost in their pursuit of Him would be restored. I told Tom there was no way what he planned to do was from God because it violated Scripture. Look at this other instruction about our responsibility to take care of our families. It cannot be clearer! 

“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever,” (1 Timothy 5:8).

God wasn’t asking Tom to leave his family or sacrifice them on the altar of ministry. Unfortunately, Tom persisted. He left his wife and family to move to New Mexico, and he and his wife eventually divorced. I don’t doubt God gave Tom a desire to minister to that Native American tribe, but how Tom went about it was wrong. What Tom said God told him to do to fulfill his call did not line up with the Word. 

Here’s the truth my friends: 

The Holy Spirit will never tell you to do something that violates the written Word of God! And what God says to do will always be accompanied with peace, not confusion, emotional drama, turmoil, or strife.

“But the wisdom that is from above is…peaceable,” (James 3:17).

“Happy is the man who finds wisdom…Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace,” (Proverbs 3:13, 17).

There is a strong connection between God’s wisdom and peace. In fact, all the paths of wisdom are peace. Wow! The reason that some believers do not hear God clearly or walk in wisdom consistently in their decision making is they don’t know and value the written Word of God. They expect God to speak to them in some supernatural way, and they place greater value on the way God speaks than on making sure what they hear lines up with His Word and is accompanied by peace. 

Elijah fell into this trap after Jezebel threatened to kill him. Emotionally overwrought, he fled to the wilderness to hide. After several days an angel of the Lord appeared to Elijah and fed him. Elijah then fled to Mount Horeb where God spoke to him. 

“Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice,” (1 Kings 19:11-12).

After seeing fire fall from heaven to consume his burnt offering on Mount Carmel, Elijah was looking to hear from God in another supernatural and spectacular way. But God needed to teach Elijah about the primary way He speaks. God spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice. 

If you want to walk in wisdom and make good decisions in your life on a consistent basis, choose to value the Word of God. Choose to follow the peace of God above any other supernatural means of confirmation. The primary way God speaks to us is with an inward witness or, as First Kings calls it, the “still, small voice.” This “voice” originates inside us. It is not a spectacular outward demonstration of power.

In my experience and walk with the Lord, the still, small voice of God typically comes to me in the form of a strong inward impression or desire the Lord plants in my heart. It is a much more reliable way of recognizing and following God’s voice than waiting for an opened or closed door. It’s more consistent than someone giving you a prophetic word or you receiving a vision or dream.

While I pastored the church in Decatur, Texas, we had saved money for several years in preparation for building on twenty acres of land that we had purchased. We had not yet started to build on this property because changes to our plans, increased building costs, and city code issues had doubled the cost of our original bid. At the time, we were not comfortable borrowing that much money. While seeking God about what to do (build a smaller initial building that could be expanded upon or commit to borrowing more money), a real estate broker came to us with an offer to purchase our remaining twenty acres. The offer: 

$1.8 million. Wow! What an increase! Our property value had appreciated over 8 times what we paid for it eight years previously. 

So, the dilemma presented to our leadership team was, “Do we sell this land now? Or keep it to build on later?” You would think that would be an easy decision, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t our property. That land belonged to the Lord and His church; we were simply the stewards of it. Our leadership team discussed the options. They said they would pray and seek God with me about this decision, but they also said they felt strongly that the Lord would speak to me about what to do.

I was thankful for their trust in me, but making a 1.8-million- dollar decision was not something we could afford to miss God’s leading on. Since we were supposed to respond to the real estate broker within seven days, I felt the weight of this decision looming. So, I did what I knew to do. I spent that time seeking the Lord and delighting myself in Him. I set aside my own preferences so that I could hear His will. I spent extra time in the Word, positioning myself to allow His Word to make a distinction between the desires in my spirit and those in my soul (Heb. 4:12). I sought godly counsel from other pastors and leaders I trusted. And I spent a lot of time praying in the Spirit. But I sensed no clear-cut direction from the Lord. 

The day before we were to let the real estate broker know of our decision, I scheduled a meeting with our elders. That morning I drove to our twenty acres, parked my car in an adjacent parking lot, and prayed. I poured my heart out to the Lord. During the silence I heard the Lord ask me several questions. 

He said, “Son, have you been seeking and delighting yourself in Me by setting aside your personal preference about this decision?” 

“Yes, Lord,” I answered Him. “You know I have.” 

“Have you spent time in My Word,” He asked, “to position yourself to allow My Word to separate the desires of your soul from the desires in your spirit?”

“Yes, Lord,” I responded. “You know I have.” 

He went on to ask, “Have you spent time praying in the Spirit to draw My wisdom out of your spirit and into your mind?” 

I responded again, “Yes, Father, You know I have.” “Have you sought godly counsel about this decision?” “Yes, Lord, You know I have,” I said again. 

“Have you heard anything from Me about this decision?” He asked. 

“No, Lord,” I said. “You know I haven’t!” Yet He was speaking to me at the time, presenting me with all those questions. 

And then God spoke something so clearly to my heart. He said, “Son, when you seek Me, set aside your personal preferences, spend time in My Word, pray in the Spirit, and seek godly counsel and you still haven’t heard anything specific from Me, it’s because you don’t have to. You already have My mind on the matter. Go with the strongest desire in your heart and let peace be your umpire in the process. I trust you to make this decision.” 

That was so powerful! I’d never heard anything so life changing in my pursuit of God’s will. It brought such freedom that day to my understanding of hearing God’s voice and following His will more accurately. “Really?” I responded. “You mean I don’t have to hear something supernatural to confirm that what’s in my heart is the right thing to do? Since I already have the mind of Christ, I just need to trust that and go with what I feel best about? It’s ok to follow my strongest desire? And know that is your will?” 

“Yes,” He said. “And know that I have given you My peace to confirm it.” 

At that moment, I started praising God because I knew what I wanted to do. We sold the property, tithed on the profit to several other ministries, and paid off the $600,000 debt on our youth building. Then we purchased nineteen acres on a major highway with the remainder of the money, and our church came out debt free! 

God helped us receive this amazing deal by teaching me to trust the desires He planted in my heart just as if He spoke audibly or in some other supernatural way to me. Since that time, I have discovered this inward witness or “knowing” is the primary way God speaks to and leads each of us.

“And let the peace of God rule [umpire] in your hearts,” (Colossians 3:15).

The word “rule” in this verse means to govern, decide, arbitrate, direct and to be an umpire. In baseball, the umpire rules. The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, tells us that peace is our umpire in finding and following God’s will. We can use peace to monitor whether we are safe or heading out of bounds, in or out of the will of God. Have you ever been in a place you knew you weren’t supposed to be? Have you ever been with an individual or group of people you didn’t have peace about? That is wisdom calling out to you. That is God directing you through peace. 

Adapted from Greg Mohr’s Book, Walking in Wisdom