How can I tell if I am hearing God's voice?

 So....

We don't want our own imaginations, or another spirit with unhelpful ulterior motives to be leading us off track.

 How can we be certain we are hearing the voice of God through the person of His Holy Spirit?

One easy sign is if we hear words that our human spirit resists strongly, it is probably God asking us to do something our flesh doesn't want to do!

When I was at Bible college we were taught helpful words beginning with the letter "C" as a good initial checklist concerning what we heard in our minds when listening to God's voice.

I can't guarantee these are exactly the same as I was taught, because it has been a few decades, and I have also found a few others to add to a list.

In no particular order;

CLEAN 

If what we are hearing has anything evil, dirty, unpleasant or disturbing within the words it is not from God.

CLEAR

God is not the author of confusion, so if the words or ideas are muddled or chaotic they are not from God. 

CONCISE

Humans are great at waffling. When God speaks, He does not waffle, ramble, use loads of words when a few will do, use excessive repetition (He can repeat sometimes for emphasis), lose His train of thought or stop mid sentence.

CALM

God will never rush us with an idea, be manipulative concerning our response, never shout at us, or cause us 'to leap before we look' as it were. His words will not be urgent or stressed, driving us to do something.

CONVICTING

There is a huge gulf between conviction (a gentle prompting bringing awareness of sin, leading to repentance, and drawing a person closer to God) and condemnation (a harsh overwhelming sense of shame, driving a person away from God). God will never move to the condemnation side with His words. That is the territory of the enemy and his kingdom, and we can be pretty good at self condemnation with our own thoughts too. God doesn't go there.

CONSISTENT

God will never use contradictory language or ideas. Again another thing humans are great at especially in today's world. God doesn't change, and neither will His Word, or His truth, much to the upset of many who would desire to alter things to their particular preference. His words always make sense logically.

COMFORTING

The Holy Spirit is described as the Comforter, and so this attribute will come through what we are hearing. If we are troubled, distressed, or tormented by what we hear, it is not from God.

Jesus says in John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."

Let's practice hearing His voice for five minutes each day. 

It could change our lives for good.