When you understand that the voice of the prophet is different from the voice of God, you have started out on your way to wisdom, writes Pastor Ngozi Hippolytus Asoya.
Understanding this wisdom is akin to recognizing the ability to discern between mere human interpretation and divine truth. It is an essential step in the journey towards spiritual enlightenment and a deeper understanding of one’s destiny. The prophet is a man. There seems a way that is right unto a man, but the end thereof is destruction. This profound realization invites individuals to question, contemplate, and seek the authentic voice of God amidst the myriad of human claims and confusion that assail us all in the end time. If you heed this advice, you will avoid the disappointment of many years past and seek an alignment with the pure, unadulterated message of God, unblemished by human influence or fallibility.
What is the Difference Between the Voice of the Prophet and the Voice of God?
My personal experience may be of help to you here.
Some time ago, my wife was very sick; so sick that many thought she would not survive. Relations stopped picking up my calls and friends ran away. I had only God to look up to. Now, I had just become born again three years earlier. Therefore my journey with God was still at the tottering stage. Under that kind of circumstance, you are desperate. I had lost my job at the Daily Independent, her job was suspended due to prolonged illness and we were barely able to survive financially. Suddenly, a Pastor, who called himself a Prophet in my Church offered to help me and my wife. He came with another Minister of God to pray for us. They organised a week vigil in my house and many things were unveiled. One of the revelations was that we were living in a cauldron where someone died every year. By the time we moved into this house in 1999, one sick tenant had already lost his only son and was to lose his own life the next year. In 2001, the Landlord’s nephew died and in 2002, our immediate next-door neighbour lost a son. Innocent was not sick. The day preceding his death, he had gone to Apapa Ports to check for the arrival of the vehicles that his elder brother had shipped from Europe. He came back, ate and slept, never to wake up again. I lost my only daughter that same year, a day after her birth. The following year, that dead tenant who had earlier lost his only son in 1999 also lost the only daughter leaving only his wife who died in 2003. That same year, my wife had become sick.
Is there a difference between the voice of the prophet and the voice of God? This is a question that many need to ask and which many have failed to ask resulting into most of the confusions and human tragedies of our time.
This was when I learned that the voice of God was different from the voice of the Prophet. I experienced the dilemma of the young prophet in 1 Kings 13:11-25. The same prophet who saw the problems in the compound had told me that we should go to another Church where according to him, “the power of God was moving tremendously”. He warned me that he was my pastor and I should follow him. Since it was a church, I was willing to give his directive a thought. Remember, I was a baby Christian then. I discussed it with my wife. To my consternation, she said: “Daddy, there’s no need! If it is the same God that created that Church that also created …., He would meet us here”. This level of faith from the one that was sick bolstered my confidence. I told the Prophet our position.
Now, the Voice of God revealed the problem in the compound, but the faith of the prophet was too weak to carry out the solution. He wanted to hand us over to another ministry. Thank God that my wife refused. Twenty years later, she has been healthy and alive. I don’t know what would have happened had we jumped unto the Prophet’s voice of flesh. Can you see the difference?
Prophets Samuel and Nathan’s Voices vs The Voice of God
Two other Biblical instances will help us illustrate this difference further. The first is the case of Prophet Samuel.
He had been directed by God to anoint a king over Israel. He had been sent to the house of Jesse and notified that when he gets there, he would find the future king. When eventually he got there, he had a different idea of what a king would look like. Eliab, tall, handsome and amiable was his ideal candidate but God’s voice rebuked him. In 1 Samuel 16, the prophet wrestled with his mind’s perception of an ideal king with God’s voice turning down four sons of Jese. In verse 11, he asked Jesse whether there was another son as all the ones paraded had not met with Divine approval. That was how they remembered David who was, then, in the bush tending animals.
The second is found in the book of 1 Chronicles 17:1-3. Here David wanted to build a temple for the Ark of God. He consulted another prophet, this time, Nathan. Nathan gave his consent and asked him to do that which he purposed. The same night, God rebuked Nathan and instructed him to return back to David and to warn him against obeying the Prophet’s earlier approval. Here we see that both Samuel and Nathan were honest and corrected themselves. This shows clearly that the voice of the prophet does not always equate the Voice of God.
Here we see that both Samuel and Nathan were honest and corrected themselves. This shows clearly that the voice of the prophet does not always equate the Voice of God.
Once you know this difference you will know how to handle prophecies and not expose yourself to manipulation by false prophets. Don’t be a Prophetic junkie. In 2024, don’t be a dumping ground of prophecies.
Moses & the Voice of Temper
Perhaps, Moses’ case at the Water of Meribah is one of the best case scenarios that teaches us to be wary of the voice of the prophet. Moses, who had correctly conveyed the Voice of God repeatedly in the past, was instructed to speak to the rock. A furious and angry Moses did something else. The prophet went and struck the rock. He had earlier been told to strike a different rock and water came out but this time, he was required to speak to the rock. He struck it twice. The voice of his temper interfered. He obeyed it.
There are many voices that can interfer with a prophet’s voice: his wife, financial worries, societal expectations, peer pressure, etc. So when your prophet speaks, don’t be a gambit for the many other voices struggling to use his tongue. Confirm with God before you obey.
The problem of the Voice of the Prophet
What is the problem of listening to the voice of the prophet only? Out of the multitude of counsel, you have safety. Don’t allow yourself to be boxed into the opinion of your prophet alone. Pray for God’s confirmation. Gideon when he was told by an Angel to lead Israel as a Judge was wise, he consulted God to confirm directly to him. Indeed he set up two different confirmatory tests to verify God’s mind.
When God has a plan for you (person), there is a time for that plan. You as a person must seek to find that plan or purpose of God for your life; and pray for the right people to be in the right place for you and at the right time.
God’s Plan for every Person has a Place and Time.
There is a PPPT that you must be conversant with. When God has a plan for you (person), there is a time for that plan. You as a person must seek to find that plan or purpose of God for your life; and pray for the right people to be in the right place for you and at the right time. Without this, you may be derailed by false or tainted prophecy, illusory prophetic voices, parading as the Voice of God and your purpose may be delayed, denied or lost if you move away from the right place and right time. These are not what prophets can appoint for you. they are what you must discover by direct relationship with the Divine.
Conclusion
So let 2024 be a year you choose to hear the Voice of God in everything. The voice of the Prophet should only be the alarm that activates the search for God’s confirmation. How does one hear from God? How can your relationship get to the level where you hear from God?
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