You want to know if you are hearing God, and honestly, you can’t tell. Is this thought from God? Was the advice my friend gave me from God? Was that dream from God? Was that “vision” and prophetic “word” someone gave me actually God, or was it just them?
How can we know?
Here is a simple filter that will quickly put you on the right track. Ask this Question.
Is this Biblical, Unbiblical, or Non-biblical?
#1. Is this Biblical?
THE #1 BEST FILTER to know God’s voice is scripture. Scripture is the inerrant word of God. It is God-breathed, God-written, and the Holy Spirit will never contradict His word in scripture.
That is why we must grow in knowing the word of God because then we have a stronger filter system in our life. (For best tips on reading the Bible read this).
But what does it mean for something to be “Biblical”?
“Biblical” means that you can find it directly in the Bible.
For example, if the thought pops into your head, “I love you,” And you wonder, “Was that my random thought, or was that God?”
Or if someone walks up to you and says, “God wants you to know He loves you.”
You can look into the Bible and see verses like
1 John 3: 1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
That verse and many others tell us that GOD LOVES US!
When you run the “I love you” principle through this Bible filter, it goes through and still comes out the other side because it is a Biblical truth.
You can rest knowing, “This is a God thought because God says it is true in His word.”
Once when I was buying a movie ticket at the theater, the moment the ticketer handed me my ticket, the thought popped into my head, “Tell her that I love her and see her.”
In faith, I leaned in toward the glass window and said through the cutout that she handed me the ticket through. “I feel like God wants to tell you that He sees and loves you.”
“How did you know?” she said as she began to tear up. “I just prayed moments ago asking God to show me if he still sees me and is with me.”
Because this “I love you” word is clearly found in the Bible, I could rest knowing it was from God, and so stepped out in faith to share it.
#2. Is this Unbiblical?
Unbiblical means anything that directly contradicts the Bible.
This is what is dangerous and what we must look out for.
As an extreme example, the Bible says, “Do not murder!” If you ever get a thought that says, “Go murder that person,” You can quickly know that thought is not from God because it contradicts what the Bible says.
But what about one that is a little less obvious?
I met a Christian last week who said, “I can never forgive my ex-boyfriend for what he did to me.”
But does attitude align with scripture?
The Bible clearly states,
“But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:15
According to Jesus, if we want to be forgiven, we must forgive others!
That tells us that the thought “I don’t need to forgive him” was not from God because it contradicted the Bible!
I then explained the difference between forgiveness and trust and how she had to forgive him and give judgment over to God, but she did not need to give him access to her life and could still have boundaries.
(Forgiveness is one of the hardest things! That’s why I wrote a whole post about it. If you struggle with forgiveness, read this.)
The most challenging things to decipher are when a thought or statement is non-biblical.
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#3. Is this non-biblical?
Non-biblical means “not Biblical.” This is something that cannot be found in the Bible. Many people panic and state, “OH NO! I can’t find it in the Bible. It must not be from God!”
Before you panic, you can rest assured that most of your life is not found in the Bible.
For example, coffee is not in the Bible. *GASP!* Airplanes, trains, and cars are not in the Bible. Internet, email, and television are nowhere to be found in God’s word.
Does this mean coffee, airplanes, and the internet is evil? No Way! Just because something is not found in the Bible does not make it wrong. It is only bad when it CONTRADICTS something found in the Bible.
Non-biblical ideas and opinions need to be weighed and tested to see if they hold a Biblical truth inside of them or not.
What should we do if we have a thought we can’t find a direct Bible verse for? Can it still be from God?
Yes, it could still be from God. But it also may not be from God.
We must test it.
For example, someone prayed for me once and said, “I see a picture of an ocean, and you are in it, and rocks fell from you into the ocean’s depths. The ocean was God’s love, the rocks are your sin, and your sin was washed away in God’s love and forever removed from you.”
I don’t know of any verses that clearly say, “God’s love is an ocean, and your sins are rocks, and a rock falling into the ocean symbolizes his forgiveness.”
So should I throw out this vision since I can’t find it word for word in the Bible?
Stop and run it through the filter.
Is it a Biblical Truth that God’s love is never-ending like the ocean?
Yes!
Lamentations 3:22 “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.”
Is it true that He removed my sins like the weighty rocks taken off of me?
Yes!
Psalm 103:12 “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
I can conclude that this picture had Biblical truth behind it, so it could be a picture from God, given to me in a way I can easily understand.
This person didn’t know I used to write my sins on rocks and throw them into the ocean to symbolize giving them to God!
What a beautiful confirmation that God saw those moments in my life and used the same language I used to remind me of my forgiveness!
What if it is not from God?
What about an example of when a thought or statement is given to me that isn’t from God?
One time I was ministering somewhere, and someone stated that it was ok for them to smoke weed for fun because God created the plant, so it was ok.
This is tricky because there is nowhere in the Bible that says, “Thou shall not smoke weed.”
Weed is Non-biblical. It is not mentioned in the Bible. But does that mean it is ok to smoke?
We must test it.
We run it through the filter and ask, “Is this a Biblical or Unbiblical concept?”
The Bible says,
“1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful.”
It also says that getting drunk and intoxicated is a sin.
“Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18
If I can see that the Bible tells me to stay sober, not get intoxicated, and if marijuana takes away a sober mind, alters reality, and intoxicates me. I can reasonably infer that it is not a good idea to smoke marijuana, either.
Using Biblical principles, we can filter our lives and begin to discern what prophetic words, dreams, advice, and thoughts are from the Lord or not!
Learning to Hear God’s Voice is one of the most important things we can do! That is why I created a Bible Study course that covers 12 different ways to Hear God’s Voice. This is a month long devotional style course with over 20 lessons and lots of bonus materials. Check out the He Speaks Course Here
If you haven’t yet, download my free pdf Guide on Biblical Ways to Hear God’s Voice here.
Absolutely brilliant, Taylor! I’ve learned the same over many years.
Something that helps is when I think I’ve got a word from God, and I submit it to someone discerning- especially my pastor – and ask what he thinks. So he ponders and then either confirms it or says “wait for God to confirm that it’s Him speaking to you.” (Often this happens when I get something for the church.)
As you say, it must align with the Word and God’s character.
Today I received a word when reading the Bible, and felt enormous peace.
Sorry, another reply! I ask Him that if a dream is from Him, which it often is, will He keep it clear in my mind when I wake up? He definitely does.
Dreams that aren’t from Him are forgotten when I wake up. Then I ask Him to confirm it, which He does.
So yes, the Word, dreams, visions, random thoughts, are all ways He speaks to me.
If someone else gets a prophetic word then I do ask Him to confirm it, which He does or doesn’t.