Embracing the Rain- The Voice

“The Voice”
Wayne Auman © 2007

I have Good News, and I have bad news.

Here’s the Good News:
You are priceless. You are treasured. You are loved. You are unique in every way. There is no one else on this planet quite like you. Even before you were born, God knew and loved you. (Jeremiah 1:5) You are not an accident, and it’s no accident that you are reading these words, right now. Your life matters, no matter what you’re going through at this moment. You are uniquely designed, and you are on this earth for a reason. Specifically, God loves you with a perfect, incomprehensible love, and He has a purpose for your life. You can be adopted into the family of God by trusting His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, following Jesus, and be washed white as snow-perfect in the eyes of God.

Here’s the bad news:
There is one who’ll do anything to convince you otherwise. I call him “the Voice.“ The Voice whispers that you’ll fail. He smoothly states that you’re not good enough, so don’t even try. The Voice convinces you that you you’re worthless, pathetic, and unlovable.

The Voice makes you doubt your value to your Creator. The Voice makes you fearful, paranoid, violent, insatiable. The Voice argues against the Love of God, condemning all Christians as judgmental, hypocritical, weak-minded, intolerant fools. The Voice coaxes you succumb to temptations of all kinds, because after all, he’ll tell you, “You deserve a little fun. What could it hurt?“ The Voice makes you selfishly defensive by saying, “Who could possibly be more important than, ahem, YOU?“ The Voice is a mimic, a fear-monger, and above all, a liar.

The Voice belongs to the father of lies-Satan. (John 8:44) Satan seeks only to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10) Like a ravenous lion, Satan roams the earth seeking those he can devour. (1 Peter 5:8) Satan hates you with every fiber of his being, and he wants to keep you as far from God as possible. If you’re already a Christian, he’ll do anything to keep you from praying, reading your Bible, or being a powerful ambassador for the Lord. He’ll tempt you, distract you, overload you, depress you, and lie to you, all to keep you from being the dynamic Godly person that the Lord designed you to be.

The disarming thing is, in your mind, the Voice sounds exactly like-you. He perfectly impersonates your conscience, the center of your consciousness created by God to direct you towards Him. God created humans with a divine ability to seek after Him, the spiritual “conscience.“ Ultimately, the goal of the spiritual conscience is to direct you to the love of God through His Son, Jesus Christ, so that fellowship between you and God can be restored. But after the fall, Satan had access to man’s spirit, and being the consummate deceiver, learned to exactly mimic the little voice inside your head. Consequently, people confuse Satan’s lies and temptations with their moral, honorable conscience. Here’s an example from my life:

I became a born-again believer at age 17, after suffering through a childhood plagued with sexual abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, and violent behavior. As a new Christian, I was on fire for the Lord, enthusiastically sharing the Gospel with all who would listen, serving actively in my Church, turning my life around and prayerfully considering going into the ministry. Less than a year after I was saved, I met a sweet girl named Bevy, who was a believer as well. One of my prayers was to meet a Godly woman and get married, and I thought Bevy was the one. When she invited me to her church, I readily accepted. I was totally unprepared for what I was to experience.

Bevy belonged to a charismatic church, and I was clueless about denominational differences. I thought you were either a Christian, born-again and saved by grace through faith, or you were lost. No gray area. During the service, I saw people speaking in tongues, being “slain in the spirit,” shaking and laughing uncontrollably, among other things. As a new believer, I'd never experienced a charismatic service, and it generally freaked me out. My girlfriend also spoke in tongues, and looked at me with disappointment when I did not. Later, when she told me that if I was really saved, I'd speak in tongues, I was devastated. Not only did she stop dating me, she doubted my salvation. I was hurt immensely, and the nagging thought kept repeating in my mind, "What IF I'm not saved?" If I was really saved, I'd be speaking in tongues, right? I trusted Bevy because she'd been a Christian since she was little, and I was new to all this.

When Bevy broke up with me, I was crushed, bewildered, confused, and angry, all at the same time. My once-clear future serving God, hopefully with Bevy at my side, lay in ruin. My prayer life and quiet time, a highlight of my new spiritual re-birth, were dying, even as I tried hard to return to my initial enthusiasm, most of my service in the church was hollow, as I kept listening to the increasingly dominant "Voice" that plagued my every waking moment, and even my dreams.

My first experience with "The Voice" was beginning; a battle with evil that goes on to this day. The noble-sounding yet satanic little voice became louder and louder in my head, and I began to doubt my own salvation, as well as my worthiness of Christ's love. What had been a blissful exploration into growing devotion to my Lord was slowly transforming into a tortuous ordeal of questioning my conversion. What had been so easy and clear was now frustrating, confusing, tormenting. "The Voice" had convinced me that I was unworthy of Christ's love and salvation, and that I was a complete failure as a Christian. I blew it. And before long, I gave up. I became prodigal. My backsliding was set to begin...

Fast forward 16 years.

Sixteen years of living for myself and doing things MY way, making a disaster of my life, and obeying the Voice at every turn resulted in, among other low-lights, an unwanted pregnancy, a catastrophic abortion, rampant promiscuity, a traumatic divorce and severe depression. After my divorce I found myself back in church for the first time in over a decade. As part of God's plan for my life, I was a student in a Sunday school class taught by a tactless, blunt, no-nonsense man named Raymond Enslow. While recoiling at Raymond's demeanor, I was fascinated by his genuine concern and affection for the lost. Raymond was bold, and said the things that others were too polite to discuss.

Raymond said, “If you’ve somehow got the notion that you’ve sinned too much to be saved, or that because you backslid since you got saved, that God won’t hear your prayers or forgive you, then you’ve been deceived. That voice in your head is telling you lies straight from the pit of Hell !! Don’t believe ‘em !! “ Praise God, Raymond identified "the Voice" for what it really was-the voice of the devil.

How could I have been so blind all these years? What I thought was the sound of my conscience-my intellect-my noble character, seriously analyzing my moral choices, was all the while the demonic, smooth voice of Satan convincing me of my worthlessness and reminding me of all my failures. Satan is the Voice. He is the accuser! For over a decade I suffered a trying separation from my precious Lord, and all the while Jesus was waiting for me to repent and depend on him. I could do nothing but fail in my own strength, but after I confessed my sins, Jesus washed me white as snow (again), and I began to FOLLOW Jesus Christ. The Prodigal son was home at last. What a joyous time!

Even now, knowing the identity of the Voice and the subtle tactics he uses, I still fall victim to my own carnal desires and selfishness from time to time. Now the difference is I realize that God loves me unconditionally, and as his child, He will discipline me when I’m disobedient, just as I discipline my children when they misbehave. I know that nothing can separate me from the love of Christ, if I persevere in my faith in Him. What a comforting and incredibly liberating fact!

More Good News:
The Voice is easy to recognize if you know what to look for: Any feelings of negativity, worthlessness, gloom, depression, extreme self-criticism, or hopelessness are from Satan. Any selfishness, irrational fears, jealousy, greed, revenge or violent tendencies are from Satan. All sinful addictions and temptations are from the devil as well. Additionally, you can hear the Voice loud ‘n clear over any and all distractions and noise.

The sound of the Holy Spirit, by contrast, is a still, small voice.

Kind of like a whisper to your soul. Unless you are quiet before the Lord, chances are you will miss it altogether. Just realize that God’s Voice is ever-present, if you seek it. When you pray, ask God to reveal His will for your life, then be quiet and listen. If you are genuinely seeking HIS will in obedience, He will reveal it to you. He will also speak to you through His living word, the Holy Bible. God will never contradict His Holy Word, and His Voice will become more recognizable the more you listen to Him.

The Best News:
Knowing the source of the destructive Voice is the first step to breaking free from Satan’s bondage. Alone, you are truly helpless, and you will always be a slave to the Voice and his power over you. This is a battle you can’t win alone, or with a 12-step program. The only solution is a one-step program: Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ can break the stranglehold the Voice has on your life, and you can follow Jesus Christ by praying sincerely:

Lord Jesus, I am a sinner, and I’m lost without you. I confess my sins to you now, and I turn from them to follow you. I know you died on the cross to pay the price for all my sins, and for that I thank you. Please come into my heart, fill me with your Holy Spirit, and be the Lord of my Life. From this day on, I surrender my will and I will live for you. Thank you for saving me from Hell.

I love you, Lord Jesus.

Amen.
If you are already saved, but have fallen back into a sinful lifestyle, it’s time to come back to the Lord. Repent, confess your sins, and God will forgive and renew you. Start praying (and listening) more, read your Bible faithfully, and eliminate the distractions in that keep you from living the effective Christian life that God has designed for you. The time is short, the harvest is vast, but the workers are few. We need you!

Remember:
You are treasured. Your life is of the utmost importance to the Creator of the Universe, who also created you. You are so important to God that He sent His only begotten Son to be the only acceptable sacrifice for your sins.

“Jesus Christ is the only hope for the helpless.”