6. Don't Talk About Your Word Too Soon I wish I had known this one a bit earlier in my life! I think the dreamer Joseph might have wished he had heard this one too! Waiting helps us avoid not-so-obvious pitfalls. When God tells us something, it's as if He is sharing a secret with a trusted friend.  We should consider asking permission before opening wide our mouth and repeating everything we supposedly know.
Here are four traps I have discovered: The Trap of Pride Just because we've heard the Lord doesn't mean that we have developed the character to carry out the action. We might think, Man, am I a hotshot! I heard God today. We center more around ourselves and our gifts instead of the Master and His ways, becoming prideful. The Trap of Presumption Presumption makes us act as if we know it all. After all, we've heard God! Could it be that we heard only part of what God wanted to say? One portion could be coming through some life experiences and another part through other people. We need to pray for the word we hear to be informed by a living understanding of how and when to act. We should stay humble, remembering that even though we are special to God, we aren't the only spokespeople He has. The Trap of Missed Timing There is a kairos moment (perfect timing) for all things. If we talk about our word too soon, we might miss the Savior's timing and end up attempting to fulfill our word with second-rate results. We should remember what happened to Abraham and not birth an Ishmael because we just couldn't wait for an Isaac. The Trap of Confusion "God is not the author of confusion" (1 Corinthians 14:33 nkjv). Premature public chatting about all we have heard in private can result in confusion for ourselves as well as for others. To avoid the trap of confusion, we can set a guard over our heart and mouth and speak only those things that build up our hearers. Oftentimes, God does tell us something ahead of time, before it comes into being. His word comes to prepare us and to change us to be the vessel qualified to do what has been spoken. We all seem to need to learn the hard way not to talk out of turn. 7. Know That God Will Confirm What He's Telling You God will give us our own stuff—there is plenty to go around, but we can depend on the fact that God does use others to confirm His word. It's a part of His safety net of protection (2 Corinthians 13:1: "Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses"). If it really is God speaking, He will speak the same or similar thing more than once. I sigh with relief over that one. It helps to take the pressure off. In other words, you and I don't have to try to figure out what to do with a one-time word! If it really is from God, it will be confirmed. We can rest in that fact. We can trust that the Lord will speak through those in authority over us. If we are children living with our parents, we should pray for them. We can pray for our elders and pastors and those who are over them. A married woman should pray for her husband to have wisdom. Everyone should pray for those with whom they are going to take counsel. We need to bathe each situation in prayer. We can ask the Lord for trusted channels of authority in our life by which we can receive correction, encouragement, admonition and confirmation of what we believe God is saying. God will confirm His word to us through others. There is safety in many counselors (see Proverbs 15:22). 8. Beware of Counterfeits  Satan loves to counterfeit. He is not the Creator, so he has no originality; he's just a copycat!
Think about what a counterfeit means. It implies that there's something authentic and real out there, something worth copying. There is counterfeit money because there's real money, and it has power. The enemy counterfeits God's voice and he counterfeits experiences, even rare supernatural experiences. Why are the psychic hotlines so popular? Why does the New Age movement seem to have so much influence? People turn to psychics and New Age thinking because they so hungrily want to encounter the supernatural. People want guidance. People are born with a void that only the voice of God can fill. You want to hear His voice, or you wouldn't be reading this book. But beware of counterfeits from the dark side. Our vigilance is an important part of our equipment. While we remain vigilant, we can find reassurance in the fact that the very existence of counterfeit guidance proves that the Lord of hosts, who has the real power, also has the real thing: the real voice, the real dreams, myriad real angels and the true guidance system. 9. Practice Hearing God's Voice Yes, practice hearing the voice of God, and it will become easier. It's like picking up the phone and recognizing the voice of a friend, whose voice you know because you've heard it so many times. Years ago, I learned a lesson about this the hard way. I am the youngest of three children. My oldest sister is six years older than I, and by the time I was in high school, she was long gone out of the home. Naturally, I did not know her very well. Later, when I was at college, the phone rang one night and I went out into the dorm hallway to answer it. There was an unfamiliar woman's voice on the other end of the phone: "Well hello, James. How are you?" "I'm fine. Uh, who is this?" It was the voice of my older sister, Sandra, but I did not recognize it. I think it might have hurt her a bit that I did not recognize the voice of a member of my own family. I determined that I needed to get to know her voice before she called again! If I want to know the voice of the Holy Spirit, I've got to spend some time with Him. When I said, "Uh, who is this?" I felt a tiny bit of what the Holy Dove of God so often feels when He is overlooked and unrecognized. I want the voice of the Holy Spirit to become lovely to me. I never want to grieve Him. (By the way, I have a wonderful relationship with my older sister now because I know her dear voice and the heart with which she speaks.) Get to know the voice of your Master by spending time with Him. Practice makes perfect. 10. Cultivate an Intimate Relationship From God's perspective, the most important reason for hearing the voice of God is not so that we will know the right things to do but so that we will know Him, the source of the guidance. True guidance involves getting closer to the Guide. We grow to know the Lord better as He speaks to us. As we listen to Him and obey His Word, our relationship with Him goes far beyond information, guidance, dreams, visions, angels and all the other wonderful supernatural stuff. The gifts of the Spirit are appetizers to whet our desire for more of God Himself. The voice of God creates a deeper hunger within us so that we might come into closer communion with Him. The primary reason we need to hear His voice is really simple: to cultivate the intimate relationship with our Abba Father that He wants us to have. Our Daddy wants to commune with us even more than we want to commune with Him. Draw near, for He draws near to us. Hearing and Following God's Voice! James W. Goll | 
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