-- © GodSpeak International 1998 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <ts@godspeak.org> --
Acknowledgements
Contributing Resources: GodSpeak International http://www.godspeak.org
Christian International Network of Prophetic Ministries http://www.cimn.net
Contributing Authors: Donna Cox, Gary Cox, Jane Fitz-Gibbon, Sally Miller, Ira Milligan, Chris Poole, Teresa Seputis, David White, Jim Wies
Editor: Al Vesper

Prophetic School Training 101

Week 5 - Teaching

How Do I Know That is Really God's Voice?

(or Ministering from "the Mind of Christ")

A comment frequently heard among those who "study (the prophetic) to show themselves approved" is, "When I listen for the Voice of the Lord, I am not always sure what I am listening to - whether it is my own mind, God, or at times, the enemy".

Just about everyone who moves in the prophetic has asked themselves this question at one time or another .. because we all desire to minister from God's Spirit -- and we want to know how to discern when it really is God speaking to us and when it is not.

From Romans 8:16, we know that God's Spirit interacts with our human spirit. Some people have termed this as "Spirit-to-spirit communication". But our spirits do not control our mouths or our actions. Our spirit must translate what it has received from God into something our minds can understand. This is how we receive and process what God would speak to us. It is a two step process:

  1. God's Spirit communicates to our spirit
  2. Our spirit communicates to our mind

Thus, our mind plays an important role in our ability to operate in the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. So it is important to renew our minds (Eph 4:23) and to take on the Mind of Christ. This makes it easier for us to discern God's voice when He is speaking to us or moving us to minister in the supernatural gifts.

So, let's examine the mindset we need to have to move effectively in spiritual gifts. Afterwards, we will explore some of the mindsets that hinder us from moving with God in these gifts and what scripture has to say about it. This will better equip us to recognize the differences in these various types of minds so we can know and recognize which type of mind we are operating out of at any given point in time.

Our goal, of course, is operate out of the spiritual mind.

The Spiritual Mind

This is the mindset we will have when we allow our normal thinking to be transformed (Romans 12:2) by the renewing effect of the Word of God and by the Holy Spirit resident within us. The Bible says that God has given us the "mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16 NIV). This means that if you are a born again believer in submission to God, He is transforming your mind to be more like Jesus.

Look at Phil 2:5:

"Your attitude (mind [KJV]) should be the same as that of Christ Jesus"...

Verses 6 - 8 go on to describe the nature and attitudes of Christ, admonishing us to be like Him. As we stated before, none of us start out with a spiritual mind but as we allow the Word to continually renew our minds according to Romans 12:2, we gain more of the mind of Christ.

As our minds are transformed, we find that:

  1. God's principles prevail in us. We start desiring to do things His way and truly want to obey and please Him (John 14:15, John 15:14).

  2. We find our desires turning away from carnal and ungodly things to that which is pure and godly (Philippians 4:8). This is not to say that we are never tempted, but that we are not tempted as frequently by the worldly things that once ensnared us. We find ourselves naturally more comfortable when we line our thinking up with God's principles and guidelines. Our thoughts turn naturally more towards what is good than towards what is evil (Romans 16:19).

  3. The fruit of the Spirit begins to manifest in our lives and thinking, as per Gal. 5:22-23. This is not because we somehow work this fruit up in ourselves, but because the indwelling Holy Spirit transforms us into His character -- and the fruit of the Spirit is evidence of His character in our lives. We find that righteous or spiritual thinking leads to joy in our day to day lives (Heb 1:9)... in other words, we are truly happy and satisfied as we walk and think in His righteousness and as we evidence the fruit of the spirit in our lives.

  4. We find ourselves motivated to act and minister out of love (1 Cor 13) instead of for selfish reasons. We stop looking for how we can benefit ourselves. We become less selfish in our motives for serving God and interacting with others. We begin sincerely to care about others and desire to minister to them. Our love for both God and for other people grows and increases and we genuinely desire God's best for them.

  5. We become capable of recognizing and receiving thoughts and impressions that are divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. An important part of the Holy Spirit's "job" is to tell us the words Jesus would say to us and to reveal what Jesus desires to reveal to us (John 16:12-15). Through the spiritual mind, we are able to hear Him when He speaks to us and to receive what He has to say to us.

Our goal becomes to capture as much as possible from that portion of the mind of Christ within us as we take a snapshot of the thoughts and impressions we receive for others as well as ourselves.

The way to achieve a spiritual mind is to consciously choose to obey God and give Him lordship in our everyday lives; and then to spend time with God -- time in His word, time in prayer, time in worship.

The Natural Mind

We are all acquainted with our natural minds. With our natural mind, we carry on our daily existence. We use it continually in almost every situation to accomplish normal decisions such as what to do, how to do it, where to go, how to get there, etc. It also functions as the anatomical center of our central nervous system and enables our bodies to carry on normal function. It is not considered good or bad but rather necessary to our everyday function.

In fact, God has given us our minds to use to develop skills and talents for natural things, such as the computer programmer who learns to write and debug software or the gardener who learns the landscaping business. In fact, Jesus used His natural mind to learn how to be a carpenter.

(There is NOT a problem in having and using our natural minds -- in fact, God created us this way on purpose. Gen 2:7 says "And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed life into his nostrils; and man became a living soul." God created us with a soul, which includes our mind, will and emotions. We simply mention the natural mind here to acknowledge it exists. It is not an issue in this teaching).

Three Mindsets To Avoid Ministering From

As stated above, our goal is to operate in the spiritual mind. This will allow us to hear God's voice more clearly and flow with the Holy Spirit. There are other mindsets that can interfere with this process. Let's examine them briefly, with the intent to avoid these mindsets.

Now let's look at another type of mind that can exist in a believer but keeps us from the intimate place we desire to be.

As we continue this course, let us focus our attention on allowing time in the word (scriptures) and time with The Word (the Lord) to bring about that continual renewing of our minds so that we may be better equipped to receive thoughts, impressions, and words out of our spiritual minds rather than the others.


Each lesson is accompanied by an activation exercise, or workshop, designed to help you more fully develop your prophetic gifting. These activations start simple, and each week's activation builds on the previous ones. To see the activation for this week's lesson, click here.


-- © GodSpeak International 1998 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <ts@godspeak.org> --