Q: I’ve been praying and trying to get closer to God. But sometimes I don’t know if what I’m thinking is actually God’s voice or if it is just my own thoughts. Is there any way that I can tell?
A: This is a fantastic question. We know that the secret of holiness is not found in doing remarkable tasks or accomplishing phenomenal feats for God. The secret of holiness is found in simply doing God’s will. And God’s will might be something extreme, but most likely God’s will is simple and doable. Another way to say it is that God’s will is most often “local” — you rarely have to leave home in order to carry it out. St. Mother Teresa said it like this: “Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right where you are — in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools.”
If this is the case, then God most likely wants you to be a saint right where you are. In other words, you can find God’s will right here and right now.
First, we have to remember that there are many voices in our lives. Scripture would even identify some of the deceptive voices (or temptations) in our lives as coming from one of three sources: the world, the flesh, and the devil. We know that there is “common sense,” which can often be helpful. But there is also “the wisdom of the world,” which does not often see things the way God sees them. For example, the wisdom of the world might look at someone with severe medical issues and conclude that the most “compassionate” thing to do for that person would be to prematurely end their life and “spare” them further suffering. This would be evil and wrong. The wisdom of God reveals that every life matters, no matter the suffering. The wisdom of God reveals that power can be found in uniting our suffering to Christ’s. Because of this, we need to be wary of the voice of the world.
There is also “the flesh.” When Scripture talks about “the flesh,” it is referring to our fallen human nature. It is referring to the fact that, because of Original Sin, we have all inherited a broken heart; there is something in us that is drawn towards what we know is bad for us. Since this is the case, I cannot simply trust my desires. In fact, it would be wise to examine them before acting on them.
And there is the devil. We know that God made purely spiritual beings that we call angels. And we know that a certain number of these angels chose to rebel against God and seek to lead all those whom God loves away from him. God’s angels are in our lives and guard and intercede for us, but the fallen angels invade our lives and try to mislead and confuse us. Theirs is a voice that we need to be aware of, as well.
That being said, your question is still valid. How do you know if some thought or inspiration to act is from God or is just your own idea? There are a number of questions to ask and at least one thing to do in order to really know.
First, we need to ask if this “voice” goes against God’s Word in Scripture. If God has already revealed his will and his heart in a particular area, then he will not contradict himself. The example I always come back to is that a married person does not have to “discern” whether or not God is calling them to pursue a romantic relationship with anyone other than their spouse. God has spoken, therefore we already know what he would say on that particular topic.
The next question is closely connected to the first. We also ask if this “voice” opposes the teaching of the Catholic Church. Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church and promised to guide the church through the Holy Spirit into all truth. Jesus promised that He would never abandon the Catholic Church and that those “who hear you [the Apostles] hear me.” We know that the Catholic Church has sacred authority to teach definitively and unerringly in the name of Jesus. Therefore, any “voice” that we hear must be consistent with the church’s teaching.
Another question we can ask is a bit more personal and subjective. I invite folks who are discerning the source of a voice to ask, “Who does that voice sound like?” There are many times when the voice we are hearing in our lives sounds an awful lot like people who have not had our best interests at heart. Think about some of the more painful accusations that you hear throughout the day. Many times, these are things that someone once said that stuck with us for some reason. They are often harsh words of accusation that might have had a hint of truth but were mostly destructive. Those words can have power in our lives and we can be tempted to believe them. If the “voice” you are hearing in prayer sounds like those voices from your past, they may not be from God at all.
We can also bring our prayer to trusted counselors in order to ask their assistance in navigating the foggy waters of discernment. When doing this, it is important to remember that we are not approaching these people as gurus but as guides.
Ultimately, the only way to know whether or not a certain impulse or idea or “voice” in prayer is from God is to act on it. We will never truly know what God is asking of us unless we are willing to actually move. We Christians can get pretty cerebral and abstract in our discernment. Sometimes, we just need to get out of our heads and move our feet. And then you may know. You acted, and then realized that that voice guided you well (or vice versa), and now you are better equipped to discern that voice in the future.
