This is the hardest thing for almost every believer.
When I started hearing about God. I believed every voice I heard in me was from God. And I believed that its only me and Holy Spirit having the conversation. For me the Satan is some creature busy in hell. Who doesn’t mind my work and only enjoys when I sin. There were only 2 options all the time. Either to hear God or do as I wished. Doing a good deed makes God Happy and when i fail that makes Devil Happy. It took me almost a decade to understand that the accuser had a very good control on my decisions. It was a shock. It was a revelation. But I thought I could easily defeat him by denying his words. Its not that easy. This is a lifelong warfare.
Let’s see it with the Holy Bible s perspective. We usually believe all God’s words, verses, scriptures, motivational messages comes directly from God. And whatever it says will be the decision we take. Yes… but… Satan can manipulate the same scriptures to manipulate, misdirect us. Here is an example.
Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.'” Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.'” Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.” “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'” Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.
Jesus was the Son of the Almighty God. He had strength and wisdom to understand the difference.
What about mere us?
To differentiate, let’s first hear the voice. If it encourage us to feed the flesh we can be sure that its not from God. Even if it sounded nice, encourage us or we get the goosebumps when it perfectly matches our situations. Think once. If we did it, will it take our peace? Or it ll make anyone lose their peace. Or will it sow a seed of hatred in someone’s heart or in ours. Better we can change thoughts and sit still. Its much better to do nothing than to do something that we might repent later.
Secondly to be a deaf to devil. Its hard… too hard. The more we try, more the devil ll lie. The war will get tougher and tougher.. Devil doesn’t knows to give up. Being a believer is facing harder battles everyday. And we do have a reward for facing all these trials. We can silence devil by feeding the spirit.
There is also an easier way. As taken from Amplified Bible
James 4:7 So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.
Step 1
Be subject to God – Submit yourself to God.
Completely submitting ourself to God. We must admit that we can’t do it on our own. We must acknowledge who he is. We must believe in his strength.
Step 2
Resist the Devil – Stand firm against him. Its easy to say no to devil once. But it doesn’t stop him from coming back. We must be firm on our stand.
He will flee from you. Yes he will.
As a believer we can win few times and fail few times. That doesn’t make us a failure. In God’s eyes. He cherishes every victory. Let it be a small one. Still that ll make our Father in heaven proud
How to differentiate the voice of Holy Spirit and Devil
Answer: If the voice encourages feeding the spirit it is from Holy Spirit. If it encourage us to feed the flesh it is from the Accuser
-Shalom-
*Verses taken from New Living Translation and Amplified Bible