A Dangerous Mistake That Will Make You Miss God’s Voice

We need to be careful that we don’t miss God’s voice. This dangerous mistake will cause you to mistake Satan’s voice for God’s. {This is part of A Biblical Foundation to Hear God’s Voice series.}

I like to follow my husband’s advice and not give too much attention to Satan. Sometimes we can focus too much on how Satan can deceive us, and it takes away from bringing glory to God. Don’t get me wrong, I know we need to be aware of his devices. Which is why today I want to share a caution with you. There’s something that will cause you to miss God’s voice— mistake Satan’s voice for God’s, actually. That’s a dangerous place to be! It happened to me once…

When Satan Tried to Make Me Miss God’s Voice

I was in my last year of high school, dually enrolled in community college, trying to be independent while still living under my parent’s roof. At the time I wanted something for my life that my parents did not approve. God was making it clear primarily through them that what I wanted was not His will either. We’ll call it “my fancy,” since I don’t want to disclose it here.

There was a trusted man in our church, old enough to be my father, who was an old friend of the family’s. But weird things started happening. He began to talk to me about my life, desires, and choices. He was trying to mentor me, but here and there he would contradict what my parents had taught me or disregard their decisions in the midst of our brief conversations to get me to agree with him. My parents said no on my fancy, yet this man brought division between my parents and me regarding it. This man had issues of which I was unaware at the time and was frightfully deceived himself.

He began to make statements that he felt it was God’s will for me to follow through with this fancy and my parents were missing God and deceived about many things. He even offered his home to me if ever I wanted to move there because of the “problems” with my parents! What??

Satan Knows the Bible

This man was feeding my flesh, and I was ignorant. I began to doubt my parents’ (who were also my pastors at the time) ability to hear from God and believed this man instead.

I started feeling incredibly troubled inside; my peace was gone.

I turned to my Bible and said, “God, if this man is right and my parents are wrong, let me know NOW!” I flipped my Bible open, and it fell open to this:

Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house. Psalm 45:10 NKJV

The devil knows the Bible probably better than we do, and he is sly. I thought the verse had a literal application at the time. (It’s actually a Messianic Psalm that means for His bride to come to Him the same way a woman leaves her father and mother when married and the two become one flesh. See Ephesians 5:31.)

I started bawling. I felt horrible. Hopeless.

I didn’t want to sever everything with my parents over this fancy or even the advice of this man. And I told God so. Suddenly, with every breath, the words “Obey your parents in the Lord” and “Honor your father and mother” repeated in my mind (Ephesians 6:1-2). Still blindsided by the attack of the enemy, I pushed back the spirit of the Lord and was confused. Extremely confused.

Satan Tried Harder to Deceive Me

The next morning I went downstairs to leave for school. I tried to avoid my parents, but they wanted to talk to me and find out what this man had said to me. They were very concerned and knew something wasn’t right with him but hadn’t shared all that with me. I tried to make my way to the door. They stepped between me and the door, and that’s when I saw it.

I saw their eyes change as quick as a flash of lightning and it was gone again. They looked evil.

I freaked and bolted. But on the way to school, the enemy kept whispering lies that my parents were evil. It seemed I couldn’t get away from his tormenting whispers.

I prayed all day for God to show me what was really up. After school I found that man waiting for me beside my car. I felt incredibly uncomfortable that he was there. I made the mistake of telling him about the scene at home just before school, and he seemed almost happy about it. Okay, wow. He offered me a job as a live-in nanny. Say what?

All at once I knew I needed to get away from this man. Each time I was around him, my peace decreased to the point of disappearing. I decided to go home and tell my parents everything!

They explained how he had been bringing division by speaking against my dad; he wanted people to leave our church and follow him instead. I had no idea. They prayed for me and took authority over evil spirits that had been harassing and deceiving me, and I repented. At the end of that prayer, everything was crystal clear.

What Made Me Miss God’s Voice

An independent spirit ruled me in those days since I hadn’t thoroughly learned to submit myself to my God-placed authorities. My rebellion was an open door for the enemy to come in rightfully.

God doesn’t give us our authorities to lord over us or control us, but to be guided and protected by their wisdom. Naysayers will protest, “What about the perversion of people in authority?” Sometimes it happens, but that doesn’t mean we throw out the good with the bad. My parents always shared the wisdom with me that if I prayed and asked God to show me if I was being deceived, then He would.

From this experience, I was reminded that Satan is real, and he’s always trying to bring deception. I learned the importance of knowing God’s voice and how to discern it more effectively.

How might Satan be trying to bring deception into your life?

Less than a minute to pin it!

Want to encourage others in their walk with God? Use the icons below to share this post!