BY: MEGAN GILMORE
I love how God works in my life. He uses small moments to teach me profound lessons in my life. I have learned over the years to listen and lean in to hear His voice closely.
I recently had a moment where God revealed a very important lesson through a simple phone call with a friend. We were talking on the phone when all of the sudden I was hearing other voices over the phone line. At first, I just thought my friend was watching TV, however, when I asked I found out they were in a quiet room. These voices were still over the phone line, but not coming from my friend. I was so confused because I was clearly hearing voices and those voices were getting louder than my friend’s voice.
I knew I was missing important pieces of information from them, but I was attuning my listening to figure out who these voices were and where they were coming from. My friend could not hear these voices, only I could. It was so distracting and taking my attention away from an important conversation. Finally, I realized that Instagram was still open and playing in the background of my phone. I quickly closed the app and the voices disappeared.
Later that day I heard God calling me to lean in because He had something to ask me. As I sat there He whispered a question to my soul, “Megan, what voice are you listening to?” Over the past few months, I have felt Him calling me to go deeper but I was listening to other voices in my head.
Our minds are a battlefield. The enemy is shooting fiery darts at us. Those fiery darts are lies about ourselves and lies about who God is. I do not know about you but some of the voices I have heard are, voices of doubt, voices of discouragement, voices of negative self-worth, and so many more. Again, I do not know about you but sometimes these voices have been a part of me for so long that I do not realize they are from the enemy. They have distracted me and taken my attention from the One True Voice I should be listening to.
2 Corinthians 10:5 gives us advice on how we can combat these voices, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ”
Take thoughts captive. Every thought. Y’all...every thought...that is a lot of thoughts to be taken captive. This also tells us that not every thought we have is a good thought or a thought from God. We must destroy the argument and lies that the enemy is shooting our way.
I know this can seem like a daunting task, but God also gives us instruction in Phillipians 4:8 He tells us, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
When our thoughts begin to take us down a negative path...change the path. Think about the goodness of God. Think about how much He loves you. Sometimes, I will begin to list all the things I am grateful for. When I begin to do that I am taking thoughts captive. I am asking God to renew my mind and fill it with His thoughts. Romans 12:2 tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Another way to renew our minds and take thoughts captive is to fix your eyes on Jesus. I know that the other voices can be so loud at times. God’s word can be louder. When I have had a difficult time taking thoughts captive and difficulties with renewing my mind I will speak scripture out loud.
One I find myself going back to often this year is in Isaiah 26:3-4, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”
He will keep you in perfect peace when your mind is on Him. The more I say that scripture to myself the more I can feel my mind settle and tune in closely to His voice. The doubt, the worry, and the anxiety fade away. It begins to shut down the other voices and open my ears to hear just His voice speaking to me.
The past few months have been challenging for all of us. It has become a time where the enemy can easily slip in and begin to whisper lies to us. Voices will begin to play in your mind and it can affect you deeply. I know because I have been there. I have listened to the other voices in my mind and it led me down a dark path.
Beautiful friend, take a deep breath, quiet yourself, and begin to renew your mind. Get quiet so you can hear His voice. Let His truth be loud and let Him bring His peace.
It is time to ask yourself this question...what voice are you listening to?
Refreshing! Just the Truth I needed to be reminded of! ❤️