Voices

     What voice do you listen to?  I don't mean like when someone claims to hear voices in their heads and hearing those voices gets them out of punishment for a crime.  Or maybe I do.  At least in a sense.
     A few months ago I saw a picture on twitter that compared God's voice to Satan's voice.  It went something like this:
                          God's Voice                                           Satan's Voice
                           Stills you                                               Rushes you
                           Leads you                                              Pushes you
                           Reassures you                                       Frightens you
                           Enlightens you                                      Confuses you
                           Encourages you                                     Discourages you
                           Comforts you                                        Worries you
                           Calms you                                             Obsesses you
                           Convicts you                                         Condemns you

     This made such an impact on me that I now have it displayed in my home so that I see it every day.  I think about it.   It sends me to the Word for confirmation that it is right.  Many of the passages I've read recently relate to this.  2 Corinthians 10:5 speaks of taking every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.  How do we take every thought captive?  By listening to the voice of God and not allowing confusion to enter our minds.
     We decide which voice we will listen to.  That voice we listen to, the voice we host in our hearts, our minds.....that voice becomes our pulse.  Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.  Not half our hearts.  Not just a corner of our minds.  But with all we are.  Letting the enemy get even a small part of our minds reduces our strength, our ability, our faith.  And if the enemy can make us doubt even the least little bit, he can make us worry and frightened. 
      I Peter 5:8-9 reminds us that the devil is prowling about, trying to get in our heads.  He uses his voice to frighten us, to confuse us, to discourage us, to paralyze us.  While life may be difficult, we must resist him.  Allowing his voice in our minds brings destruction.  But trusting the Lord with our whole heart brings peace....and usually the bonus of a good night's sleep!
     Quite a few years ago a comedian named Flip Wilson had a TV show.  In one of his skits he would proudly announce "the devil made me do it".  Every time he said it, we laughed.  But the truth is that the devil doesn't make us do anything.  We choose if we are going to listen to his voice.  And his voice NEVER brings ANYTHING good!  It may look good for a while.  But if the voice we listen to isn't telling us something we confirm in the Word, it's definitely the wrong voice.
     Life is not always great.  God has reasons for allowing us to experience difficulties.  The enemy will use anyone and anything he can come up with to drag us down.   He will even try to convince us that God doesn't love us or we wouldn't have difficulties.  Any little confusing thought he can sneak into our minds he will do it. He knows doubt takes root and grows quickly.  He counts on that. 
     Awwww.....but the Voice of Truth has been telling me Philippians 4:8 ' Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things.'  Think about such things!!!!  The devil will tell us that because our spouse doesn't call at a certain time that we can't trust them.  He will sneak in our minds with doubts.  He will tell us our kids will never amount to anything because they made a mistake or two.  He will try to get us to believe we just can't take anymore.  He will encourage us to give up.  The enemy will try every trick he's got in order to bring us defeat even while trying to convince us that it's for our best.  But....but.....BUT THE VOICE OF TRUTH  tells us a different story as the song says.  It tells us to not be afraid.  The Voice of Truth will never lead us into anything that is not for good or anything that will be in contrast to the Word. 
     Psalm 29:4 says 'The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic'.  The voice of the Lord is powerful!  Is His voice the voice will you listen to?  I choose the voice of the Lord.  Hope you do too.