The Shepherd’s Voice vs. The Strangers Voice: Whose Voice Are You Heeding?
“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
-John 10:1-5
There are proper channels of spiritual communication along with illegitimate lines of exchanging information within the spirit realm. We are to commune with the Father and Son through the Holy Spirit.
Many Believers have inadvertently fallen into the realm of soothsaying and divination as a result of opening themselves up to the spiritual realm APART from the Holy Spirit.
When you stop, silence yourself and listen, a spirit will speak. However, it may not be the HOLY SPIRIT.
Look at what transpired with Job’s friend Eliphaz. He was sure that he had heard from God and was using the wisdom he attained by “a spirit” to counsel Job.
“This truth was given to me in secret, as though whispered in my ear. It came to me in a disturbing vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep. Fear gripped me, and my bones trembled. A spirit swept past my face, and my hair stood on end. The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape. There was a form before my eyes. In the silence I heard a voice say, ‘Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’” – Job 4:12-17
Catch the imagery here: “It came to me in a disturbing vision…”, “Fear gripped me, and my bones trembled.” God does not manifest Himself in these ways. This was a demonic encounter.
“The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape. There was a form before my eyes.”
Look at all the passages in scripture where God brings a message, He always identifies Himself, whether through His angels, His prophets, in dreams, visions or in an audible voice. Here this spirit is elusive and secretive about his identity. This was a demon!
We must know God’s true voice. The enemy would deceive us with wisdom from the world disguised as wisdom from the Holy Spirit. In the case of the Job 4 passage, we have a voice speaking accusation. Additionally, we can point out the fallacy of this “wisdom”.
“Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator? – Job 4:17
The Lord had a plan to send His Son so that all mortals could be made innocent and pure before their Creator. (Isaiah 1:18, Psalm 51:7, 1 John 1:9, Titus 2:14) This was a double lie sent by Satan to confuse and lead Job off the path of Holiness.
If all of the above doesn’t convince us that the voice that Job’s confidant heard was demonic, the Lord’s rebuke should make it clear. Eliphaz was not hearing the voice of God. Eliphaz had opened the doors of communication with demons.
“After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.”
⁃ Job 42:7
Eliphaz did not speak accurately about God. He did not hear the Lord’s voice, nor did he present the Lord’s wisdom. He was repeating the twisted words of demons. This passage in Job not only illustrates how easily we can fail to recognize the voice of God but reveals to us that there are spiritual entities who are on mission against us to confuse, sabotage, and damage our lives. These demons will mimic the voice of Christ and as result will have us function in the realm of witchcraft rather than in the ways of the Holy Spirit.
Friends, we need to know the Shepherd’s voice!
“…the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.” – John 10:3-5
Make no mistake, the enemy has a voice. He and his demons will speak to you if you lay yourself bare in silence without discernment.
Whose voice is answering when you make your requests known to God?
Do you know the voice of Jesus?
I am sad to say that within many of our churches we have cultivated a culture of openness without discernment. We have set the table and have sat down in prayer with the doors of communication wide open. We foolishly believe that no strangers will come in to sit at our prayer meetings. They can and do. Regardless of motive, (most are not willingly welcoming the demonic to speak) these dedicated times of corporate, public prayer facilitate openness to the spiritual realm. Without discernment we inadvertently open doors to unclean spirits to speak. Many have heeded the enemy’s voice for years believing it was that of the Lord. These voices have directed whole churches, denominations and movements for decades.
In 1 Timothy 4 Paul warns this will happen,
“Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.”
1 Timothy 4:1
This is how the enemy operates, he loves to twist the truth to lead people into deception.
Remember how Satan used scripture when tempting Jesus in the wilderness.
People are so enthralled with words given by “the spirit” that they do not stop to ask, “By what spirit does the person giving the word speak?” (For more on this take a look at Matthew 7:22-23.)
We are living in a time when the ears of many of those gathered with us every Sunday are so accustomed to the voices of unclean spirits that they no longer recognize the Shepherd’s voice.
This is what I hear the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord say:
“There is a deep entrenchment in the Body of Christ. The ground has been long furrowed by the waters of deceptive and persuasive speech. My people do not know My voice! When I speak they do not listen, when I answer them they do not hear Me!”
We need biblical perimeters, we need biblical teaching, we need Spirit-filled leaders, we need discernment.
We need humility to break down the walls we have created so that we can get back on track by returning to the sheep-gate. We have ventured far down the path believing that we were following the Holy Spirit, only to find it was Satan disguised “as an angel of light” leading us off a cliff to our deaths. (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)
Those with eyes to see, turn around and flee! Return to the safety of the Shepherd! Return to the sheep-gate!
The Spirit of the Lord calls out, “Return to the place of surrender and of forging!”
Submit yourself again to a place of learning and discipleship so that you can relearn the voice of Jesus.
Pride must be struck down.
Beloved, you must examine that which you believe you know. You may be entrenched in grave error. Things need to be broken in us so that Jesus may begin a rebuilding process from within. He wishes to place His hands upon your ears and open them afresh. For others, Jesus wishes to open ears for the first time to His voice.
We must not be satisfied with this “roll of the dice” in hearing His voice:
“It may be the Holy Spirit, it may not be. I guess time will tell.”
The Lord Jesus is not satisfied with you waiting five to ten years for things to go south before you come back to revaluate the word that “he”gave to you. We must, as the People of God, know His voice, have discernment, and walk forward in His will.
The enemy has robbed us of years and years of Kingdom advancement with his lying spirits of manipulation.
The lying voice that brought you down that broken road was not Jesus!
Jesus will rescue you out but He did not bring you in. Satan masquerades as an angel of light! We break these lies in Jesus name! Jesus did not tell you to go there. He did not lie to you to bring you to a place of suffering, “for your character”. Christ works on your character because He loves you.
Jesus does not lie to us to bring us through sanctification. If you feel you have been lied to by the voice of God, rest assured that was not the voice of Jesus speaking but another spirit. It was the devil. He is a liar and the father of all lies. (John 8:44) Jesus is the truth and the life! (John 14:6)
We break these lies in Jesus name. Be set free!
The Sovereign Lord says:
“Be ‘rebooted’! Be ‘rebooted’ and brought back to My loving arms. Be ‘rebooted’ so that the enemy’s lies will be washed away. Be ‘rebooted’ so you will gain spiritual ears to hear My Voice and the stranger’s you will no longer follow.”
Jesus is reclaiming your lost years. What you lost will all be restored. He is the conquering King. He will not allow Satan to take what belongs to God alone.
You belong to King Jesus!
However, you need to come to Him and “lay your ears down at His feet” (what you think the voice of God sounds like, the words you felt you received, how you hear Him, some of the things you have learned about the voice of God that are in reality doctrines of demons etc).
You need to walk through deliverance to break these spirits off your life. I believe every Christian needs to walk through personal deliverance. You can’t expect to listen to demons for 10 to 15 years and not expect some kind of demonic attachment. Casting out demons is part of the process of your rebooting into the will of Jesus. It’s part of the process of opening your ears to the wind words of the Holy Spirit. The voice of the unclean spirits must be silenced and cast out in Jesus’ name!
I proclaim the Bride will be free: “Come out of her, my people!” – Jeremiah 51:45
“Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues.” – Revelation 18:4
