Listening to Voices…

“The day has come where you do not have to fear the words of people Aaron…You don’t have to worry about how people evaluate you and talk to you…”

That is a quote from a man whose ministry was very instrumental in my progress during one of the darkest seasons of my life.  (Thanks Dr. Sandy Kulkin)  Recently, I have replayed over and over and over those words that he spoke to me a few years ago as he encouraged and spoke into me some valuable wisdom and direction from God…

Today, paralleling the quote above, I have been considering the subject of “voices”.  There are so many “voices” speaking into our lives at any given time.  And it amazes me how the voices often influence our perspective and outlook (sometimes even years down the road)…

Some of us have had the negative voices of parental figures bombarding our existence and still manipulating and molding us… “You are NOT,You will NEVER, You are ONLY…” Sometimes, even from the grave they degrade and belittle, and we can’t seem to shake the feelings that maybe the voices were right and “I am what they said I am…”

Others of us have had the picture perfect parental affirmation but still hear the cruel taunts of classmates that so tormented us during such formative years…And now, even years down the road, we still struggle with the insecurities that were birthed in a season long passed… “Fat,Ugly, Stupid, Nerd, Unpopular, Dork, Sissy, Panzee…”

Still others have been the perfect student, with wonderful life memories of School and family dinners and Christmas mornings…But there was an abusive spouse or relationship that blindsided us and robbed us of security and self-worth over months and years of abuse… “Worthless, Unlovable,Unworthy, Disgusting…”  It happens in some capacity to nearly ALL of us at some point in life!

People, words, intimidation, manipulation,hatefulness…Voices that still reverberate in our mind as if we were hearing them for the first time… Words that cut us to the soul and left a scar that is seemingly always just a thought away from resurfacing… Voices…

It’s amazing the damage that can be done when we buy into what the negative “voices” are telling us and accept it as our reality!

Over the past few years, I’ve also had to deal with, what”seemed like” my OWN voice in my mind telling me things that no one has ever said but that I felt about myself… “Failure, Failure, Failure, Failure, Worthless, Failure…”  I struggled with feelings and insecurities (voices) that I would have never assumed would be an issue in my life a few years ago. Yet, there they were!  I was out of work, my family was struggling financially, my wife was going to work every day while I stayed home with my infant son…The voices said,  “I wasn’t the provider that I should be… I wasn’t the man of my house… I was failing my wife and my family… I wasn’t fulfilling my place as the priest in my home…I was a sucky husband, I was a loser…” Over and over, day after day, these were where my thoughts would dwell if I even allowed them to wander for a moment…and the voices wore on me…ultimately leaving me to feel more than inadequate.

How does this kind of thing happen to a guy who had such confidence a few years before?  The faith preacher…?  The SWAT officer…?  How does one go from one end of the scale to the other…?  I’ll tell ya… I listened to the wrong VOICES!  I bought in to a LIE!

Yes, the voices that I was listening to confirmed what SEEMED to be my present reality… but what seemed to be my present reality did not make it the TRUTH!  Life is full of issues that look one way from one perspective only to be contradicted when presented with a different angle or element of REAL truth!  When light shines on a previously unilluminated or at least poorly illuminated surface the perspective changes as the light reveals what may have been previously hidden or masked in the darkness…

I had to make a determination…Whose voice was I going to listen to?  Was I going to listen to the voices of the critics who called me everything from an “anti-christ” to a “false prophet” (because of my stand on the love of God and redemption)?  Was I going to listen to the voices of some peers who didn’t “believe” in me?  Was I going to listen to the negative voices in my own head (which I understand were not MY voice but simply a lie from the enemy that I was choosing to listen to).  Was I going to listen to the voices of the ones who I know Love me and want what is best for me? Or was I going to listen to God, who ultimately has the absolute perspective of what “Truth” is for my life because He is the one who has ordained my destiny?

I had to make a choice!  I came to realize that the voices of conflict and contradiction will ALWAYS be there but their power to influence rests in our willingness to buy the lie or pursue the truth!  There is a place where we MUST decide that we will pursue the Voice of TRUTH at all cost! Because, ultimately, if we don’t, it may cost ALL!

With so many Voices speaking over us… We have to determine that there is ONE voice that we will listen to above ALL others!  That Voice is the Voice of God and can be heard in many different ways but is most easily discerned through the Voice of His Word…

When we want to know what God says about us…How He feels about us… Where we stand with Him…Who we are to Him…Who He created us to be… We can find that Voice so clearly spoken in the bible! I’ve heard it said, “Your life is moving in the direction of your dominant thoughts..”  I find it interesting, from my own experience that the voices that contradicted the Word of God got louder and more dominant in my thoughts when I did not meditate on His Word and His Voice…If I did not make the bible a primary voice and a part of my thought process…the other voices dominated…and my life mirrored my thoughts…

This is an example of why Psalm 119:105 says “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path…”  In times of darkness, there will definitely be voices calling our focus away from the light… but it is the Word of God that illuminates the path and confirms our direction.

I determined, in my own life, that God’s Word is TRUTH and the final authority…Understanding that TRUTH and applying it to my life was and is ultimately the catalyst for my freedom!  (John 8:32) …You shall know the TRUTH and the TRUTH shall make you free!

I have come to the realization that Jesus IS the Way, the TRUTH and the LIFE (John 14:6)  I have accepted and applied that TRUTH and His Voice is the ULTIMATE authority in my life!

The voices that speak and contradict what I know to be the TRUTH are lies… The bible is clear on the fact that the Devil is the father of lies!  So when we are listening to voices that contradict what we discover in the Word to be TRUTH, then we can be confident that the source is not credible because the one speaking is a known, unreliable, LIAR!

Yes, I am implying that it is the Devil at the root of the lies, guilt and condemnation that we so often feel and buy in to… I’m convinced of it!  He will reiterate the voices and accusations from your past…He will use the insecurities and feelings of failures to speak to your mind and attempt to distract you from what will ultimately cause you to progress, succeed and SET YOU FREE if you will grasp it (TRUTH)…He will even attempt to make you think it is YOU who are thinking it!  I intentionally used the words earlier, “Seemed like my own voice in my mind”, because, sometimes I believe that the Devil plants thoughts and voices in our minds and it seems like a perspective of truth from our own subconscious…but it only SEEMS that way until held to the light of the TRUTH which reveals the fallibility of the presented argument that comes from a lying, deceiving, and manipulating enemy who is hellbent on your destruction.  DON’TBUY THE LIE!

With all the “voices” coming from every direction…Commit your focus to the ONE that loves you! There is a Voice of Truth and that Voice speaks Life and will set you FREE!

If you can dig it…Say Word!