“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

John 16:13

Everyone hears voices. It’s a perfectly normal occurrence.

In fact, there are dozens upon dozens of voices out there competing for our attention. For example:

1) The voice of our conscience shaped by our upbringing. Much like a certain famous cartoon cricket, our conscience is that voice tells us what is right and wrong based on our family beliefs, community values, and the traditions of our heritage.

2) The voice of law and policy. Like a tiny judge, this voice tells us what is right and wrong based on federal, state, and local laws as well as our societal interpretation of which laws must be followed and which laws should be followed and which laws can be generally ignored.

3) The voice of Hollywood. All glitz and glamour, this voice tells us what is right and wrong, what is desirable based on what sells tickets and merchandise or increases popularity ratings.

4) The voice of the media. Not nearly as objective as we might hope, this voice keeps us abreast of daily events and tells us what news is a priority and what news is not – seemingly based upon what will sell the most ads or stir up the most interest in reading or watching and thus increase ratings.

5) The voice of the flesh, which some call “id”. This voice tells us to just do what feels good in the moment, what makes us happy regardless of how it affects others or even how it affects our future selves.

These are the 5 voices that most everyone encounters daily. There are others like the voices of fear, doubt, or pride, but they tend to speak to us more personally than these five which everyone encounters (unless you don’t watch tv or read news or look at social media in which case you have at least two fewer voices than others).

The more we hear them, the more we internalize these voices…the more we begin to repeat what they have said, to build our lives around what they promote. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, all of these voices talking at once is overwhelming. They contradict each other often. Sometimes one or more of them contradict themselves.

With so many voices out there competing for our attention and our allegiance, how do we know what is right, what is best?

The solution is simple, but not necessarily easy:

We tune out all five of those voices (and any personal voices) and we look to the only voice of pure truth – God.

When Christ returned to Heaven, He knew we’d need more help here on earth to maintain what He taught us, to keep striving to do the Father’s will as He did. To help us, He gave the Holy Spirit a mission:

for all who believe on Christ to receive the Holy Spirit who lives within.

John 14:16

The Holy Spirit is a guide, a bringer of truth, a comforter, a teacher, and more. When the Holy Spirit speaks to us, it is with God’s words and in God’s way. The Spirit never tells us anything that contradicts God. Everything that comes from the Spirit is of God and glorifies God. When we listen to the Spirit more closely, those other five voices flare up at first to distract us, but over time, they fade away, overcome by our attentiveness to God’s voice.

That’s not to say it’s always simple. Many times God’s truth contradicts what society tells us is acceptable or right and this may cause some internal struggle between our desire to follow Christ and our worldly desire for personal gain, popularity, or conflict avoidance. God knew this struggle would happen too and so He gave us access to the same Spirit that rose Jesus from the grave, the same power that parted the Red Sea and caused the lame to walk again (2 Timothy 1:7). We have the power to overcome the world. To live in alignment with God and have peace in our daily walk in this world; we are able to be in this world but not of it.

Other voices come and go. They steer us right sometimes, but many times they steer us to heartache and trouble for us or for someone close to us. The Voice of Truth though never steers us wrong because God’s plans for us are always good (Jeremiah 29:11). I’m so thankful for my parents who raised me to stand on God’s truth, and for my church family and my friends in the faith because they remind me to seek the Voice of Truth and together we work to help it be heard above the noise around us.

If you’re seeking God’s voice and having trouble hearing it, I encourage you to first limit the access other voices have to your mind. Unplug from television. Switch your radio to Christian music. Reduce your media intake to no more than 15-20 minutes a day and stick to the objective news (sounds or reads like a sports announcer and not a sports commentator). Limit your social media to uplifting posts and scroll on by or hide those posts that would lead you astray. If you need a partner in seeking God’s voice, I welcome the extra help on this journey too. I’d love to pray for and encourage you! We can walk closer to God together!