‘God Told Me’: The Freedom to Test What We Hear
God still speaks. But when a leader, friend or fellow Christian believes they have heard something for us, how do we stay open without becoming unquestioning?
In a previous article, I wrote about the danger of placing human certainty around the words, “God has said…” and how easily sincere spiritual guidance can become difficult to question, especially when disagreement begins to feel like disagreement with God Himself.
I want to take that a little further.
Because the answer isn't to become suspicious of prophecy, spiritual leadership or correction. Nor is it to retreat into an individualistic Christianity where nobody can challenge us and every personal conviction becomes untouchable.
I still believe God speaks. I believe the Holy Spirit leads, convicts, comforts and guides us. I believe prophetic gifts remain valuable to the Church, and I believe Christians should be teachable, willing to receive correction and open to wise spiritual leadership.
And when I use the word prophecy here, I don't only mean a dramatic public declaration in a church meeting beginning with, “Thus says the Lord…” Often the more significant moments are much quieter and more personal. A trusted leader may say, “God is saying this to you.” A mature Christian friend may tell you they have been praying and believe the Lord has shown them something about your life. Someone may share an impression, picture, Scripture or sense of direction which they sincerely believe is from God. Sometimes those moments can be really encouraging and genuinely helpful. I have personally benefited from them.
But precisely because they often happen within relationships of trust, friendship or spiritual influence, they also need to be handled carefully. A private sentence spoken by someone we deeply respect can carry just as much spiritual weight as a public prophetic word, sometimes more. So the principles of discernment still apply. In fact, Scripture itself gives us another responsibility alongside openness. We are told to test what we hear.
The Bible doesn't tell us to accept everything
I find the balance of 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21 particularly helpful:
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good.
Paul doesn't solve the possibility of bad prophecy by telling Christians to avoid prophecy altogether. But neither does he say that once somebody claims to have heard from God, everyone else must simply accept it. He gives us both instructions; do not quench the Spirit, and test everything. Those two things belong together.
We can remain genuinely open to the work of the Holy Spirit while also recognising that human beings can misunderstand, misinterpret and sometimes speak with greater certainty than the situation warrants. Paul makes a similar point in 1 Corinthians 14:29 when he tells the church that prophetic words should be weighed. That is particularly significant because he isn't speaking to a church which rejects prophecy. Quite the opposite. Spiritual gifts were actively operating among them. Yet even there, prophecy was not placed beyond examination.
This means that weighing what someone says is not necessarily resistance to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it is precisely what Scripture asks us to do.
Of course, discernment mustn't become cynicism. If somebody brings something uncomfortable to us, we shouldn't automatically dismiss it because we don't like it. God sometimes does challenge us. Scripture confronts us. Wise friends confront us. Pastors sometimes need to say difficult things. Being teachable still matters. But discomfort doesn't prove something is from God any more than comfort proves that it is.
We still have to ask questions.
Does this agree with Scripture?
Is it consistent with the character and teaching of Jesus?
Does the way it is being communicated demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit?
Does its application properly recognise the responsibilities, relationships and commitments God has already entrusted to us?
And perhaps another revealing question is this:
What happens if I respectfully disagree?
When discernment becomes a test of loyalty
Spiritual pressure doesn't always arrive as an obvious command. Sometimes it develops much more subtly.
A Christian may be encouraged to remain humble, receive correction, honour leadership and demonstrate a willingness to obey God. None of those things are inherently unhealthy. Properly understood, I would encourage all of them. But problems arise when the conclusion has already been decided.
Imagine entering a conversation in which you're told that you're free to make your own decision, but you're also expected to demonstrate that you're willing to receive correction.
Again, there is nothing wrong with encouraging someone to be teachable.
But what happens if the only evidence that you're teachable is that you eventually agree?
If you accept what you're told, you're humble.
If you disagree, perhaps you're resistant.
If you ask too many questions, perhaps you're overthinking.
If something doesn't feel right, perhaps you're told to examine your heart for rebellion or pride.
Eventually there may only be one answer that feels spiritually acceptable. That is where discernment can quietly become a test of loyalty.
And I think we need to be careful before assuming bad motives here. People can genuinely believe they're helping. Unhealthy spiritual cultures can develop through poor theology, misplaced enthusiasm, traditions that have never been questioned or sincere leaders who haven't recognised the pressure their language creates. But good intentions don't remove the need to examine the effect. A caring leader should consider the consequences of their words and actions.
When someone's spiritual maturity is increasingly measured by their willingness to agree with another person's interpretation of what God is saying, we begin to blur an important line. Loyalty to God and agreement with another Christian are not always the same thing.
This can be particularly difficult for Christians with tender consciences because their sincere desire to please God may make them especially vulnerable to spiritual pressure.
The answer isn't to remove all spiritual authority. It's to understand what spiritual authority is really there for:
Fellow workers for your joy
One verse I increasingly return to when thinking about Christian leadership is 2 Corinthians 1:24:
Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.
Think about who is saying that. Paul was an apostle. He certainly wasn't frightened of correction. Read Corinthians, Galatians or almost any of his letters and you'll quickly discover that he could be remarkably direct. He taught. He confronted. He warned. He instructed. Yet he still recognised a boundary.
He did not lord it over their faith.
Instead, he described himself and his companions as fellow workers for their joy, and I think that gives us a great picture of healthy spiritual leadership. Good Christian leadership doesn't mean never correcting anyone. Sometimes good pastors have to say things people would rather not hear. Leaders also have genuine responsibilities within the church. They may need to establish boundaries, uphold safeguarding requirements, address inappropriate behaviour or decide whether somebody should hold a particular ministry responsibility. Those aren't necessarily examples of control. Sometimes they are simply leadership.
But even legitimate authority has a purpose. It should serve people's relationship with Christ rather than gradually replace it. A healthy pastor or minister shouldn't want people permanently dependent upon his ability to hear God for them. A healthy prophetic ministry shouldn't make believers frightened to exercise discernment. A healthy church shouldn't make sincere questions feel dangerous.
The aim is mature disciples.
People who know Jesus.
People who know Scripture.
People who welcome the Holy Spirit.
People in whom the fruit of the Spirit is increasingly evident.
People who can receive correction without collapsing into fear.
And people who are increasingly able to discern, pray and make responsible decisions before God themselves.
We are fellow workers. We don't own one another's faith.
Those of us who speak must examine ourselves too
There is another side to this conversation, particularly for those of us who preach, pastor, minister, prophesy or lead. We need to be willing to examine our own language.
I certainly have to examine mine.
Have I ever been convinced that God was directing something and spoken with more certainty than was justified?
Have I ever assumed I automatically have the right to speak into a private area of someone's life?
Have I ever unintentionally placed spiritual pressure upon someone because I communicated an impression as though it were settled fact?
Have I ever assumed that someone disagreeing with my advice must have a spiritual problem when perhaps they simply saw the situation differently?
Those aren't comfortable questions. Looking back, I know I have made mistakes. But I think all leaders need to be able to ask those questions.
Believing in spiritual gifts doesn't make us infallible. We can misunderstand impressions. We can interpret something through our own experience. We can overlook information. We can confuse our preferences with God's direction. We can even be substantially right about something while expressing it in an unhelpful way.
Acknowledging that isn't unbelief. It's humility. Personally, I would much rather create an atmosphere in which somebody does not feel that disagreeing with me means disagreeing with God.
That doesn't mean everything Christian leaders say needs to be hesitant or vague either.
There is a difference between teaching what Scripture clearly says, including what it teaches about Christian behaviour, and sharing what we believe God may be saying about a particular situation or someone's personal decisions. Scripture carries an authority that my interpretation of an impression does not.
The more significant the consequences, the more important that distinction becomes. If something concerns someone's marriage, family, finances, employment, ministry or major life decisions, we should be especially careful before placing the words “God told me” around our preferred outcome.
But what about submission?
Whenever we emphasise discernment, there is a legitimate question on the other side. Could this simply encourage people to reject every leader they disagree with? And the answer is that it could, if we misunderstand it.
The New Testament does teach Christians to be teachable, to honour faithful leaders and to cooperate with those entrusted with spiritual responsibility. Hebrews 13:17 is probably one of the clearest examples. Some English translations use strong language around obeying and submitting to leaders. The Greek terms involved carry ideas of being persuaded and of yielding or giving way. We shouldn't dilute the passage until it just means listening politely when we already agree. There is a genuine call to cooperate with responsible spiritual leadership.
But neither should we turn the verse into something Scripture never intended. It does not grant unlimited authority over another Christian's conscience. In fact, the same verse reminds leaders that they will give an account for the way they watch over God's people.
Leadership itself is under authority. Jesus repeatedly taught that leadership among His followers should not resemble the domination commonly exercised by worldly rulers. Christian leadership is expressed through service, example, sacrifice and responsibility.
So there will be times when a Christian leader says no. There will be times when somebody is asked to step back from ministry. There may be safeguarding requirements people dislike. There may be correction. There may be difficult conversations. There may even be situations where somebody's unwillingness to receive any instruction genuinely reveals a problem.
But being teachable doesn't mean being unquestioning. And exercising discernment doesn't automatically mean being disobedient. Those distinctions matter.
Returning to the voice we know
Perhaps one of the saddest consequences of unhealthy spiritual pressure is what it can eventually do to somebody's understanding of God Himself. When human expectations repeatedly arrive wrapped in divine language, a person can begin to associate God's voice with anxiety.
Have I heard Him properly?
What if I'm disobeying Him?
What if my questions mean I'm rebellious?
What if raising questions means I'm out of God's will?
What if disappointing this person means disappointing God?
Instead of growing in the security of knowing their Father, they become increasingly afraid of getting everything wrong. We need some balance here. Following Jesus isn't always comfortable. There are costly parts of discipleship. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, forgive people, love our enemies, pursue holiness and sometimes obey when obedience is genuinely difficult. God's love isn't permission to ignore His correction.
But neither should we confuse the emotional pressure created by another person's expectations with the conviction of the Holy Spirit. They aren't necessarily the same thing.
Jesus describes Himself in Matthew 11 as gentle and humble in heart. That doesn't mean weak. This is the same Jesus who overturned tables, confronted hypocrisy and carried all authority in heaven and earth. Yet the One with all authority doesn't need to manipulate people into submission. And perhaps that tells us something about what godly authority should increasingly look like.
The freedom to test what we hear
I believe the Church needs a genuinely biblical approach to prophetic ministry and spiritual authority. Not one which dismisses the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. But not one which makes human claims of revelation unquestionable either. We need both openness and discernment.
Those who believe they have heard from God should speak responsibly and humbly. Those receiving spiritual guidance should remain open, prayerful and teachable while retaining their responsibility to weigh what they hear.
And those of us entrusted with leadership should cultivate churches where Scripture is honoured, questions are safe, accountability is normal and people's relationships with God become stronger rather than increasingly dependent upon us.
We can love the Holy Spirit without believing every 'claimed' instruction or prophetic message. We can respect Christian leaders without believing they're incapable of misunderstanding God. We can receive correction without believing every accusation. We can practise submission without surrendering conscience. And we can remain wholeheartedly committed to obedience while recognising the limitations of human interpretation.
Perhaps there is one question worth leaving with those of us who lead:
When we tell someone that God has spoken, are we helping them hear and know Him, or are we unintentionally making it harder for them to disagree with us?
Because if we genuinely want people to recognise the voice of their Shepherd, we must also give them the freedom to test whether the voice they're hearing is actually His. Surely that is one of the goals of healthy Christian leadership. Not to produce people who become increasingly dependent upon our interpretations. But mature disciples who know God, love His Word, welcome the Holy Spirit and have the confidence to follow Jesus themselves.
© 2026 Darren Roy
If this article has affected you, or if you are unsure whether you have experienced unhealthy church or ministry dynamics, help is available. Even if you are unsure of your next steps, please click the link below to explore resources and support.
This article explores spiritual authority, personal discernment and Christian freedom. The situations described are general illustrations informed by pastoral reflection and experience. My intention isn't to discourage prophecy, biblical correction or responsible spiritual leadership, but to encourage their healthy practice, firmly grounded in Scripture, humility and accountability.
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