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[Scotchie]

When we pray, how do we separate God's reply from our own biased consciousness?

[jimwalton]

Great question. I have a couple of thoughts.

1. First of all, almost all of what God says to me comes from His Word, not from my thoughts during prayer. I have discovered through the years that my thoughts in prayer are rarely, if ever, God's reply. Instead, they are (as you suggest) my own biased consciousness. I, personally, would be quite dubious about any thought that came to my mind during prayer. Instead, I find that God speaks to me a lot through His Word. You may think, "Well, that doesn't help me with my decisions," but remember that prayer isn't meant to be a divine crystal ball, and neither is the Bible.

2. God gives us principles in Word for how to make wise decisions. We should learn from those and learn how to be wise, rather than relying on a "reply" from God.

3. I have read convincingly in many places that God doesn't necessarily have a specific will for us (should I go to Poland or Hungary on my missions trip?). It could be that God would be pleased for you to go either place as long as you are serving him well, so he's not going to make the decision for you. On the other hand, if he really truly wants you in one place or the other, it will happen (Acts 16.7; book of Jonah). Most of the time it doesn't matter to God which college you attend (as long as you serve Him there and grow in your relationship to him), which person you marry (as long as you love and serve your spouse and grow closer to God), which job you choose (as long as you honor God with it), or whatever. Just live your life, make the best decisions you can, and live for God. God will guide you as he needs, but otherwise just grow closer to him every day.

4. If you think you have heard a word from the Lord (usually what you wanted to do [which should make you suspicious] or what you hate [which should also make you suspicious]), take time to check it. Bounce the idea off of other mature Christ; keep praying about it for an endorsing word, read the Bible diligently (where God speaks to us and grants us wisdom), and let the idea settle in. Be discerning and wise, and proceed with caution. Don't be quick to say, "Oh, God told me to do this." Instead, be more of a humble learner and a cautious follower. Many atrocities are perpetrated by people who claimed to have heard the voice of God. I have made wrong decisions many times myself because I misunderstood the voice I thought I heard.

5. We learn to hear the voice of God. I often know the way my brothers will think and act because I know them so well. I often know what my wife will say because we've been together and I've learned (sort of) how she thinks. So also with God. The more time you spend with him, and the deeper your relationship goes, the better you get at hearing his voice and seeing his hand. A trained hunter sees and hears things in the woods that I'm oblivious to. A trained accountant knows what to look for when he is auditing your books; a trained Secret Service agent sees things I wouldn't even know to pay attention to. As you learn the ways and mind of God, his actions can become more easy to see and his voice more easy to hear. But we still must always be cautious. Our biased consciousness is distracter and a liar, and we can too easily fall prey to see what we wanted to see and hear what we wanted to hear. In other words, we too easily make up our own answers to prayer along the lines of what we wanted to happen.