In this lesson, Pastor Dmitriy Leo shared which ways of seeking answers from God are dangerous. “How to Hear the Voice of God” School.
Lesson 2. Which Ways of Seeking Answers from God Are Dangerous?
Previously, we discussed that there are 10 main ways God speaks.
God speaks:
- in dreams and visions
- through an audible voice
- within a person
- through the Bible
- through people
- through events
- through the plant and animal world
- through the Holy Spirit
- through angels
- through signs
All of this is enough to learn to hear from God and receive from Him. However, many people look for easy ways, wanting to learn to hear God without making any effort. As a result, they begin hearing other voices and get into trouble.
I have had to deal with various situations in which people followed false voices, thinking that the word had come from God. And unfortunately, as a result, some of them saw their health, family, ministry, and so on destroyed.
Let us examine how we should not—and sometimes dangerously—seek answers from God.
Do not tempt God or demand an answer from Him!
Manipulating God may look like this:
“God, if You do not answer, I will leave the ministry (the church)!”
“God, I need an answer either now or never!”
“Lord, if You love me, then tell me…”
Do not try to force God to answer you on your terms! This is called tempting God.
Even in ancient times, God gave people the commandment: “Do not tempt the Lord your God”—that is, do not test Him. Through this, God wanted to warn people that manipulation is not His language, nor is it the language of heaven, and that He will not answer such prayers.
Moreover, if you pray by making demands of God, another “god”—with horns and a tail—may come and lead you astray. So forget addressing God with a “You must” attitude, and do not tempt the Lord! He is the Creator and Sustainer of all, who gives everything breath and life, and He owes nothing to anyone!
Do Not Seek an Answer Through Logical Reasoning
How often I hear people make such conclusions regarding the will of God:
“If the bank gives me a loan, then this deal is from God. If they do not, then it is not from God.”
“If I catch the minibus, then it is God's will for me to attend the service today. If I miss it, then it is not God's will.”
“If this sister comes up to me after the service, then she is my future wife. If she does not, then she is not the one for me.”
“If I am offered a ministry position, then this is my church. If I am not, then it is not my church.”
You know, sometimes God can speak through circumstances—He can use anything!—but if you have not received leading from the Lord, then you are operating at the level of “fortune-telling.” In the Bible, we are given at least 10 historically tested ways of hearing God that still work today. But looking at signs and coincidences and seeking God in each of them is not wise!
Not everything that seems positive to you comes from God. And not everything that seems negative is from Satan. The Bible contains many examples of things happening exactly the other way around. So do not waste your time trying to find signs from God where there are none. There are better ways to seek God!
Do not guess Bible verses!
Many people receive answers from God through passages of Scripture. How can we discern where our own guessing ends and where God is speaking to us through Scripture?
You are simply praying or listening to the voice of God. When the flow of the Holy Spirit comes, you hear inside: “Open this passage of Scripture.” You open it, and suddenly illumination comes, a sermon is born within you, revelation comes, and you can no longer sleep—you are overflowing with emotion! That is how God speaks, you understand?!
But sometimes it happens differently: you take the Bible and beg God, “Come on, give me a passage of Scripture, give me one, give me…” And thoughts begin crawling through your mind: one, a second… a fifth. You open one passage of Scripture—it is not right; another—there is no such chapter at all! If this happens to you, believe me, it is not from God!
Take my advice: stop “guessing” from the Bible, because the risk of receiving a counterfeit is too great!
Do not seek an answer through people living in sin
I have heard people say, “Yes, I know this person is living in sin, but God speaks through him!” Of course, in rare cases God speaks even through sinners and through donkeys, but it is better not to risk listening to such people, because that is playing with fire!
1 Timothy 4:1: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith… (Notice that the premise for deception is that people depart from the faith, that is, stop holding to sound doctrine. In the New Testament, the phrases “held to the faith” and “walked in the way of faith” specifically imply following the doctrine of Christ and the apostles.)…giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” The Bible warns that people will depart from sound teaching and heed deceiving demons and demonic doctrines.
The issue is not that God cannot use believers who have fallen into sin, but that they may speak under the direction of Satan himself. Such people should be called to repentance for their sins, rather than sitting around them with open mouths and asking them, “Prophesy to us, prophesy, speak to us!”
I want to tell you that our spiritual mentors are more reliable than certain super-prophets. Do you know why? We see how they live, how they enjoy life, and how they endure hardships. And we can trust them.
2 Corinthians 6:14 clearly says: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?”
When we listen to people living in sin as disciples listen to a teacher, we are letting them know: “Guys, everything is fine with you, and we accept you. Prophesy to us, speak to us!” But it says here that this must not be so. We need to come and rebuke them so that they change, stop sinning, and restore their relationship with God. This is how the Church should respond to sinners—not by surrounding them with attention, care, and applause. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5 that it must not be so, because a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Do not seek an answer from people with a spirit of divination
A spirit of divination can speak the truth, which is why it is easy to get hooked by it.
This well-known story is described in Acts 16:16–17: “Once, when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit of divination and earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’”
Notice: this spirit spoke the truth quite clearly through the woman concerning God’s people. Thus, a spirit of divination does not necessarily speak lies; it can predict something or name what is already happening. The unclean spirit in the woman saw what the apostles were doing and simply repeated it: “(They) are telling us the way of salvation.”
How does the prophetic gift differ from a spirit of divination?
The first sign:
Money is involved along with the gift. There is a biblical principle: “Freely you have received; freely give.” Therefore, if you see people predicting the future or prophesying, while money is involved either indirectly or directly, this is a signal—a “red light” for you. A person of God always makes sure to “give freely.” It is very important to test everyone who prophesies in this way!
Once, a millionaire’s daughter who was dying of cancer was healed during an Oral Roberts service. Her father came to the minister and said, “I want to donate one million dollars to your ministry.” “Oh, great!” Roberts rejoiced, but then God told him, “Don’t even think about taking that money, or your ministry will come to an end!” So he refused the donation, telling the millionaire, “God did this; I had nothing to do with it.”
For this reason, the prophet T. B. Joshua also did not accept money from people when he held crusades. When his assistants traveled around the world (they came to us as well), they paid for everything themselves, refusing donations. This is a higher level of faith—and a safe level.
The second sign:
The Holy Spirit knows everything, and when He speaks, He does not need any additional tools. A spirit of divination, however, is limited; it is not omnipresent and does not know everything. Therefore, it has to connect to a network of other demonic spirits (they have their own intelligence network) to obtain information about a particular person.
Therefore, spirits of divination usually ask through their “operator” (the person they use) to be allowed to touch objects associated with a particular person (a watch, photographs, etc.). So if someone tells you, “I will prophesy to you, but first give me your watch (photograph),” be careful! This is how mediums who sit in tents and predict the future operate. Never seek an answer through such people!
The Bible says: “Therefore let the one who thinks he stands watch out that he does not fall.” In other words, you need to pray for your protection, stay watchful, and learn to hear God. Our school will help you with this.
Let us pray:
“Lord, I humbly ask: remove everything that was sown into my life that did not come from You! I do not want to be led by lies; I want to follow Your voice. God, I do not hold on to revelations that are not from You, but I hold on to Your Word. Therefore, let everything that is not from You be removed from me in the name of Jesus!
May only the truth guide me. May only the Holy Spirit speak to me. And may the Word of the Lord be clear to me. Amen!”
Text prepared by Marina Serkova
