The primary way we get to know the voice of the Lord is by being with Him, yet some principles we learn in our own personal relationship with Him can be helpful to others. He relates to each of His people in a unique and personal way. This is not because He is changing, but because we are all unique, an attribute He seems to especially love in His creation. This is why He gave a different word to each of the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. Even though they all existed at the same time and in the same region, they were all unique.

     Early in my walk with the Lord, I came to perceive that there is a divine protocol full of special class, grace, and wisdom. I learned to recognize this, and whenever a message came which did not have that sense of special class and dignity, I knew it was not from the Lord. I don’t know how to articulate this any clearer, and I don’t think it can be recognized by using a formula. I just know about this because of the years I have spent walking with Him. This has been a great help to me.

      I have been privileged to lead a ministry built on accurate prophetic words that have been an invaluable help to us. I would not trade anything for this experience. However, as the Lord explained, whenever He plants wheat in a field, the devil will come along and try to plant tares in the same field. The devil also tries to become involved in what we are doing through false prophetic words. Most of these false words were easily discernable to me because they did not have that class and dignity I have come to know as being unique to the Lord.

     One of the most obvious examples of a word lacking this class is when people occasionally tell me they have had a revelation, or prophetic dream, in which the Lord told them I was going to give them something or do something that would have required a major commitment on my part. Instead of feeling the “divine class,” I almost always feel manipulation or pressure with this kind of word, and so I reject it. Inevitably, my rejection will reveal the true spirit behind these words.

     I have also had the Lord tell me that someone in particular was going to give me something specific, or do something specific for me, and it came to pass. However, I would never tell the people involved about this revelation until after they had done it, because it could be manipulative to do so and would lack the class and dignity I have come to expect from the words of the Lord. If what I had heard was from the Lord, He will work it out without my manipulation. Manipulation is an aspect of witchcraft and is counterfeit spiritual authority. I don’t want to receive anything that way.

     Never give in to something you feel pressured to do. Never do anything that would put this kind of pressure on others—it is a basic departure from the path of the righteous, and anything gained in this way will only result in being a stumbling block to us.

     To balance this, we must also understand that many of the true words that God gives will come through vessels that we might not think have much class. We must remember that the Lord Jesus did not come in a form that was esteemed by men, but the class and dignity He portrayed was royalty on a level beyond any earthly king. This is not a matter of appearances. Let us keep in mind that many of the prophets, the primary vessels of the word of the Lord, could also be some of the strangest people. However, the word of the Lord they carried still had that divine class on it.

     Someone else may have grown in recognizing a different divine characteristic of His voice, such as His love or authority, or whatever their own particular gifts and callings would make them more sensitive to. This is why the Apostle Paul did not say, “I have the mind of Christ,” but instead said, “We have the mind of Christ” (see I Corinthians 2:16). The Lord has composed His body in such a way that we all need each other. We “see in part,” and “know in part” (see I Corinthians 13:9), so to have the whole picture, we will have to put the part that we have together with others.

     The fact that we cannot know all or see all can make the insecure fearful, but far too many doctrines and principles have been taught that are based more in people’s insecurities than in the truth. True security is in the Lord, not in us, and not even in our ability to perceive Him or know His voice. Even the great Apostle Paul admitted to having been “foiled by Satan,” which I would think means that any of us could, too. This humility of being dependent on Him and each other is perpetual. Since we know that God gives His grace to the humble, we should be glad to embrace this humility.

      We must seek to learn from the ways that others are able to recognize the voice of the Lord, so that we, too, can become more sensitive to it. It might be easier if we had a list of clear principles for distinguishing the voice of the Lord, but then we would not have to seek the Lord as much. The value of a single word from God cannot be measured in human terms. As is the case with anything of value, what makes it valuable is that it is either rare or hard to get. The word of God cannot be purchased because it is more valuable than anything we could pay for, and it has already been bought by the most precious commodity in all of creation—the blood of the Son of God. It is therefore promised to all who love His word enough to seek it.

      Those who seek it do so because they love the truth will continue past any obstacles. The Apostle Paul commended the Galatians for receiving him as if he were an angel, or messenger from God, even though his flesh was a trial to them. We are not told how his flesh was a trial to them, but they could see beyond the flesh to receive the messenger, and sometimes we have to do that too. We have quite a few cases in Scripture of prophets acting in a wrong manner, but the messages they carried were still true. This is why we are discussing these things as principles, not laws. There are always exceptions to principles.

      We actually have some people in Scripture who had bad character traits but were true prophets, such as Balaam or Jonah. A number of the great champions of the Book of Judges had questionable and even bad character traits. However, this does not reflect on the Lord as much as it does us. The Lord deserves better. If He is using vessels that we do not approve of, maybe we should be asking why He could not use us. Even so, throughout Scripture His Word was carried most of the time by those who required His people to look past the packaging to receive the message. However, the Lord does have a certain dignity, class, grace, and wisdom that we will be able to discern in the message because they are His nature. That is why the most important thing we can do to come to know His voice is to know Him.