Lots of people question whether what they’ve heard is from God or another source. I even question from time to time. There’s many ways to test the spirit speaking to your heart, but one piece of scripture I hold dear to when discerning the will of God is Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

Following this verse it says “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Just proceeding verse 15, Paul talks about throwing off your ‘earthly nature’ of evil desires and greed, and ridding yourselves of filthy language, anger, slander, lying… etc.

I share these verses because what’s been taught to me about these scriptures is that if you’re still clinging to those fleshly things (it can even be stress or getting caught up in this world), it’s difficult to determine the will of God. But if you throw off the sin that so easily entangles, you are more vulnerable to hear God’s whisper. And that’s an important word there, it’s a ‘whisper’. I was once told ‘God whispers and the devil shouts, are you close enough to Him to hear that whisper?’ If you’re wrapped up in the distractions of this world, all you can hear is the shouting and it’s hard to decipher the source, but when you let all that go and lean into God, you can hear His whispers. God’s “peace” will be the ruling measure to determine His will.

Things are getting very busy in my life recently so I picked up the discipline of Yoga. I take those 90 minutes to quiet my mind from the “to do’s” and my desires and just ‘be still’ in God’s presence with a listening ear for whatever He wants to communicate. By no means is this the only time I take in my day to hear from Him, but it’s simply a purposeful 90 minutes. Sometimes He ‘reveals’ nothing to me during that time, but I think it’s in those times He’s actually working on me and through me, instead of ‘to’ me. Have you ever noticed some of the most special times we share with loved ones is when we’re just sitting in silence. One day when I’m further down this journey, I think I’ll look back and see where He was kneeling in a child’s pose over me in those moments, calming this ever wandering, ever searching soul for His spirit. ‘I’m right here, sweet child. It’s okay to rest your heart, I am here.’