Hearing the voice of the Lord is a bit of an acquired skill. The Lord will speak to us in stages at the start, allowing our “ears” to develop until we know his voice without question.

Likewise, the Lord has been accelerating this process as he has brought many into the ranks of the overcomers. There is no longer the benefit of years to grow in the Lord.

There is now mere moments, and those are ticking away.

As it was with the last hour workers in the field, the Lord will continue to reach and develop new overcomers right down to the sounding of the last trump.

It has a heavy emphasis on false teachers, as the Lord gave this to me originally for that purpose. However, it contains tremendous insights for distinguishing the voice of the Lord from your own, and from that of Satan.

This is the word the Lord gave to me on hearing His voice:

Sometimes, all of the things you’re going through really are the judgments of the Lord.

If you have asked yourself “is God judging me” recently, you may want to take a few minutes and read this.

We all have times of trouble. As believers, Satan is always searching for the upper hand. He employs many methods to pull us from the witness of the Gospel. Sometimes, however, our times of trouble are a bit more self-inflicted.

There is a great deal of false doctrine out there these days. If you can think it, it probably exists somewhere in a church. As the end draws closer it seems that believers have begun to run to every possible deception that Satan can throw out there. The Holy Spirit is ever faithful, yet sometimes we just won’t listen. How are we to know that we have not fallen to deception?

One of the greatest and most undeniable evidences of a true walk with Christ is joy.

The believer that truly seeks Christ will know a joy and wholeness that is not possible through anything else. They will have rough days to be sure. They will have days that Satan comes against them. However, when they truly seek Christ first, the victory ALWAYS comes.

Joy unspeakable, and full of Glory.

Have you ever experienced such joy? Is there are constant joy and heartfelt praise in your life? Do you have days were the wonder and majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ leave you in a constant state of praise? Has Jesus truly become the Son of the Most High God to you? Does he really have all power in heaven and earth? Do you believe that he can step in at any time he so choses at literally release true power to any end he desires? Is your heart truly whole? Do you see the miracles of the Lord in your life?

When the word and will of Jesus Christ are first in your life – truly first, to the point where you don’t care what the answers are, so long as they are the Lord’s, these things will be present in every step of your walk. Every minute of every day there will be a wholeness in your heart. An unmistakable, undeniable wholeness – that Satan cannot counterfeit.

Does he answers your questions? Does he speak to you?

This brings up an interesting point. How does the Lord actually speak to us? There are several ways he can get our attention. Sometimes it is through dreams. Other times, he fills our head with a bulk “understanding” of the subject at hand. Still, he will use others to speak to us.

We might turn on the TV at just the right time, over hear a conversation that simply cannot be a coincidence, or even stumble across the perfect book, magazine or article.

Usually, the things listed above deal with believers that are in right standing with the Lord. They bring greater revelation and glory to the Lord. However, the Lord also speaks directly to believers. This is the most common form of communication with the Lord for obvious reasons. It is direct and to the point. Also, this happens with believers regardless of whether they are in the Lord’s will or not.

Let’s take a look at how the Lord speaks directly to us, and exactly what that sounds like. We will discuss this from the standpoint of believers in general, as well as believers that have fallen from the will of the Lord.

The voice of the Lord will always sound the same as yours, yet with several subtle differences. It will be just a bit more intense. It will have a bit more volume, a bit more sharpness and be a bit more “forward”. We can think of it as more magnitude.  It will sound like your own voice – it will simply be “more” though.

Here is a major characteristic of the Lord’s voice. It must be answered. Here is what that means. With our own thoughts and voice, we can roll through a thousand different thoughts at any given moment. Most of the time we simply roll right on through, never giving a second thought to what we just considered. This is simply not possible with the voice of the Lord.

It must be acknowledged. Most of the time, this occurs when you hit the “pause” button, followed by an active consideration of what just popped into your head. The voice of the Lord rolls through your mind, and you quickly follow that with a “wait a minute” pause. At that time, the words replay in your own voice as now you have the revelation. You then process what was said accordingly.

There is another characteristic that must be acknowledged. The words of the Lord will always register in your heart. It is a slight sensation usually, accomplished by the quickening of the Holy Spirit. Now, this will occur consistent with the message the Lord is trying to convey.

***It should be noted that the quickening of the Holy Spirit can be extremely intense if a critical confirmation is needed. You will know this when it happens. It is a sensation unlike any other, and it cannot be duplicated or counterfeited. It will always be accompanied with a peace and strength that will leave you with a joy that you have never known before. ***

If you are receiving the word of the Lord, and you are already in obedience to his word, then it will be a “confirming” that registers in your heart. You will be strengthened and edified. Your relationship with the Lord will grow because of it.

However, if you are out of the Lord’s will – well, not so much. When the word of the Lord comes to chasten and correct you, there will usually be a momentary sensation, ranging from discomfort to dread – depending on the degree of correction.

And depending on the level of investment Satan has in your deception or failure.

When the latter is the case, Satan will be quick to react when you go to acknowledge the word of the Lord. It looks something like this:

“What you’re teaching here is wrong.”

You – “Uh oh.” – This is accompanied by that instantaneous flutter in your heart that makes you squirm.

Satan, in your voice – “no, that’s just Satan trying to lead you astray”.

You – “I don’t know – maybe. . .”

You were finished at maybe. The damage is done. When the Lord spoke to you, it felt as though your heart was about to stop. There was a fear, dread or discomfort that came over you. You knew something was wrong. Then, just as fast as possible, Satan swoops in with the save.

While this brought some relief to the discomfort of what you just learned, it does not alleviate it completely. You will be able to move forward in your deception, but the words of the Lord will continue to nag at you.

So it is with the believer that has fallen into deceptions and false doctrines. The Lord will come to them. Yet, Satan will always be quick to respond with a reason that the voice of the Lord is not actually the voice of the Lord. He will convince you that Lord’s voice – is actually Satan!

After enough times of hearing and rejecting the Lord, this will stop. This is when the trouble really starts. Now, the Lord will allow things in your life to start going wrong. This will occur at a frequency and level that you cannot immediately dismiss. It will occur in a manner that forces you to realize that “things just keep happening to me”. You will take note of the incredible string of bad luck you seem to be encountering.

Once you realize that you are not experiencing the normal run of life’s troubles, the voice of the Lord will come back.

“Is the Lord trying to tell me something?”

Now, Satan will jump on top of this immediately. However, the things that have happened are making an impression beyond what he can disguise. Here comes the flurry of denials and justifications. He will speak as fast as he can. Its bad luck, it happens to everybody – it’s a test designed to strengthen you. All of these will make sense to you of course. Now the ball is in your court.

“No, it’s not the Lord. I know better than that. It’s. . .”

Wrong play.

Now you have real problems. There will be one of two things that happens. If your deceptions are affecting you alone, the Lord will let your drown for a while. He will let you have the fruits of your deception. He will wait for the taste to bitter in your life. Remember, open deception to the Lord has consequences. Once the consequences have begun to sow havoc in your life the Lord will return. Usually, the havoc of a false doctrine or deception hits those closest to you the most. If you are a believer that refuses to hear the Lord, it will come crashing down on those you love. There is no way around this. Understand, this is not the same as, let’s say, a non-believer and a believer being married. Clearly that has its own complications aside from the judgments of the Lord. When the false doctrine of a believer comes crashing in, it will be a spirit of rebellion, hatred, distance – something that stabs at the heart of the believer personally.

When this discord has a chance to register, the Lord will return once more. It will be the same thing all over again. If you refuse yet again, you head directly to jail.

Now, a moment ago we said that two things can happen. “Jail” is the second thing. The Lord will bypass what we just covered in the last two paragraphs if warranted. Here is the question – what warrants bypassing the fruits stage and heading straight to jail?

If your false doctrine affects the salvation others you can speed up the process. Understand, this is not your typical doctrinal differences that can occur between denominations. Arguing about something such as Saturday or Sunday as the Sabbath is not a salvation breaker. Tongues or no tongues – not going to keep others from finding salvation.

What moves you the head of the line is teaching critical false doctrine. Remember, to whom much is given, much is expected. If you are a believer that was given the gifts to speak, the knowledge of the truth – yet you fall into false doctrine and teach it:

You will be sent straight to jail.

That would be the judgments of God.

Now, you are reaping the direct consequences of what you have done. The Lord has tried to reach you, yet you would not listen. Now, you are dragging others down the path of destruction also. That cannot be allowed to stand.

The Lord will keep trying to reach you. He will now send multiple messages and warnings. If you hear the Lord the judgments will stop. You will be led to seek those that can help guide you back to righteousness. The process of forgiveness and correction will begin. The healing will start and restoration will follow. The Lord will build you back up and set you back on the path of winning souls for the kingdom.

However, if you still will not hear the Lord the judgments become unbearable. They include all of the very worst possibilities for your life. If necessary – they will mean unthinkable loses.

Understand – whether it is the easy way or the hard way – the Lord will stop a critically deceived false teacher from reaching others and subverting the Gospel. The manner in which this is achieved is always in the hands of the believer.

Note – our definition of false doctrine does not always fit the definition of the Lord.  Also, just because you cannot see the hand of the Lord moving against a false teacher it does not mean that it is not there.

This brings us to one of the true tragedies in this.

The single greatest deception that Satan sows in the deceived believer is that they are suffering “for the Gospel”. Now, many do indeed suffer for the sake of the Gospel. Take a look at the Middle East. Christians are being persecuted in untold numbers. However, their plight demonstrates the difference in suffering for the Lord and the deception of suffering for the Lord.

When you suffer for the Lord, your belief in Jesus Christ is at the direct heart of the suffering, with the goal of forcing believers to COMPLETELY abandon the Gospel and renounce Christ. To the contrary, the deception of suffering for the Gospel seeks to raise you up in your own flesh. It praises you for “staying the course” when the world is against you. It takes arguments on social media, and it elevates them to the level of “the whole world turning against you”. Woe is you, for you are truly persecuted!

In the deception of suffering for Christ, you are not forced to renounce Christ. You are deceived into replacing Christ – with yourself!

Though the whole world is against what you teach, you shall persevere!

Soon, you begin to see yourself as a lone crusader. Before you know it, you alone seem to have the true Gospel. You become a modern John the Baptist in your own mind. You become the lone “voice crying in the wilderness”.

Before you know it, you have become proud of your sufferings. They become a uniform for you. These “Holy sufferings” are the proof that you are righteous!

In truth, we all go through trials in our walk with Christ. They are designed to build and strengthen us. The times of trial come for a season, but then the rain ends. We emerge with victory and a greater walk with Christ. There is a critical key here that cannot be missed:

The true trials of the Lord always conclude and always bring victory. Always.

The judgments of the Lord will continue until you learn – or until you are destroyed.

The true trials of the Lord edify those around you in the body.

The judgments of the Lord fall as your deception destroys everything – and everyone – around you.

So, you literally wallow in a self-righteousness that deafens you to the word of the Lord. The more judgment comes, the more you “double down on stupid”, embracing the same deceptions that have brought judgment in the first place. Only now, it is much worse.

“I suffer for the Lord as I am truly the righteous!”

Then comes the final nail in your coffin.

“Surely, the Lord MUST be pleased with me – look at all that I am enduring in his name!”

From here it is a downhill slide – fast. Satan fires one deception after another, just as fast as you will swallow them.

Soon, any believer that is not miserable, suffering and despondent must surely be under deception. If they were as righteous as you, they would certainly be suffering for the Lord, the same as you!

Soon, every believer that is not beholden to the same deception that consumes you faces the wrath and judgment of God. You see the walking damned everywhere you go!

Sometimes, you really are under the judgment of God.

In the name of our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.