How to know if something comes from God

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“Test everything; hold fast to what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

I would like to entrust you with a small spiritual treasure that God gave me a few years ago, through which one can learn whether a teaching is from God or not; whether a received blessing or an emotional stirring one can experience, or a miracle one thinks one sees, or anything else is from God.

Some Christians, however, will not benefit from this, simply because they are too inflexible. They have never had new experiences, and they never will—if it were up to them. They are content to flap their wings and flit slowly in circles. But you are among those who seek God and are troubled and concerned about the state of your spiritual life. This treasure is meant for you.

Some people worry about their spiritual lives. They read the Bible, but it doesn't help them. It seems they never discover who they truly are. So they listen to everyone and everything, and therein lies the danger. I would rather they do as the Bereans did, who examined the Holy Scriptures to see "whether these things were so" (see Acts 17:11).

Others are always chasing after something new. They listen to one brother after another as they give lectures, preach, or pass on messages. The mere fact that someone speaks fluently and everything sounds pious means absolutely nothing. The devil can appear as an angel of light. One must be able to distinguish between false truth and truth.

There are people who are ready to accept a new doctrine or experience as soon as someone comes along claiming to understand something about it. And there are always some who are easily impressed by miracles. Those who do not believe Moses, the prophets, the apostles, and our Lord would not come to saving faith even through the resurrection of a dead man. Miracles are always only secondary proofs of something; and yet, miracles move some people tremendously. If someone were to appear and perform a miracle, they would believe everything he said.

I would like to give you a rule based on the following: One must examine "the new" by asking: "In what way does it affect my attitude and my relationship to God, Christ, and the Bible? How does it affect my attitude toward myself, other Christians, the world, and sin?"

The attitude towards God

Suppose you hear about a new doctrine being promoted by someone who can speak so powerfully that they break out in a sweat. They have a doctrine; but what effect does their doctrine have on God? Does it make God greater or lesser? Does it make God seem necessary or unnecessary? Does it give God the place He deserves—does it bring Him glory and make me feel small, showing how insignificant I am and how great God is? Or does it obscure our view of God by drawing a veil over His face? Whatever makes God seem less important, less wonderful, less glorious, or less powerful—that is not from God. Everything God intends to accomplish through salvation, and why He gave the Bible and saved humanity, is for the glory of God among humankind. When God is glorified, the universe fulfills its intended purpose.

Hell is a place of utter alienation from God because He is not glorified there. Heaven, on the other hand, is a place of true joy and fellowship with God because He is glorified there. On Earth, some creatures fulfill their destiny, and some do not, because only the former glorify God. When God is glorified, the universe fulfills its purpose. Therefore, every doctrine and everything belonging to it or that it emphasizes must be abhorred if it does not magnify God. Likewise, every proof that seems to confirm its correctness, and every miracle I believe I have discovered in it, must exalt God and make Him indispensable and wonderful. If this is not the case, you should reject this doctrine immediately!

The attitude towards Christ

In what way does this newness affect our attitude toward Christ and our relationship with him? Any teaching, any experience, any fellowship, or any work that makes Christ less dispensable for us cannot be from God.

They may have stepped forward to choose Christ after hearing the call. They may have prayed and felt a blessing. The fact that Dr. So-and-so said it doesn't make it true. We can all be wrong. You must examine us—and everyone else—and study the Scriptures.

Has our teaching contributed to Christ being presented as more powerful, magnificent, agreeable, and glorious in every way? If so, then you have every reason to believe you have heard something divinely mediated. But if He is presented as less glorious, and you have thereby become more focused on people, then the teaching you have been given is bad. Jesus Christ is absolutely essential for life. He is the one without whom we cannot exist. We need Him and must be in Him, and He in us. If the teaching is from God, your dependence on God and on His Christ will grow, and Christ will become more beautiful and ever more wonderful. […]

Jesus Christ is greater than anything else and stands above all others. No experience, no interpretation of Scripture that does not make him great and wonderful is from God. For God desires to glorify his Son, and the Son desires to glorify the Father, and the Holy Spirit desires to glorify both the Father and the Son. […] That is the standard. And therefore, I will not chase after every will-o'-the-wisp.

This upsets many people. This is my book—the Bible—and here are my knees, and I can still bend them. And when I am so old and plagued by rheumatism that I can no longer do so, I can still get up and pray. God Almighty hears his people pray, and I may come to him in prayer at any time. When people tell me that the Lord has commanded them to tell me something, I reply, "I am always in contact with God in prayer; why didn't he tell me himself?" In any case, I reject all such things unless they make God marvelous and Jesus Christ glorious; only then do I listen.

The attitude of Holy Scripture towards

How does this new experience, this new interpretation, or this new preacher affect our attitude or our relationship to the Bible? Does it make it more precious to us, or is the opposite true?

Once a woman came to me and said, “Mr. Tozer, I’d like to ask you something that’s troubling me.” I asked, “What’s troubling you?” She told me, “Our pastor has been making progress in divine matters, so quickly that he told us God had given him new revelations not found in the Bible. And he wants us to forget everything we’ve learned so far and follow him now. He also says we’ll be sinning if we don’t.” I explained to her, in a kind but biblically sound way, that she would have to tell him, otherwise he would be lost, and that she herself wanted to return to the Word of God. Here is the book! “To the law and to the testimony! Unless they speak according to this word, there is no dawn for them” (Isaiah 8:20). If they speak differently from this book, it is only because there is no truth in them. Whoever “has a dream, let him tell the dream; “And whoever has my word, let him speak my word in truth” (Jer 23:28).

You can test everything with God's Word. If a new experience doesn't lead you to read more of the Bible, it isn't from God. It doesn't matter how good it makes you feel. Some might ask, "Is it possible to have an emotional experience that isn't from God?" I think so. It is certainly possible to have emotional experiences that aren't from God. But I believe that truly God-given experiences have some resonance with them, and therefore I have nothing against all kinds of emotions when they are connected with genuine spiritual experiences. In my opinion, the Lord's people should be the happiest people in the world, and their faces should be the brightest. I also think they shouldn't hold back but should clearly say "Amen" when they feel the need to, and not just out of habit. Therefore, always ask yourself how this or that experience affects your attitude toward the Bible.

Your attitude towards yourself

Next: How does this affect your attitude toward yourself? Everything that comes from God diminishes the self and glorifies God. Everything that comes from God humbles us. But if it comes from the "flesh," it exalts and puffs us up by making us look down on other Christians. Have you ever met Christians who were very smug? They smile smugly and say, "You don't understand me, but keep praying for better insight," and then they stride off as if they were some high-ranking official. But in reality, there is nothing in them but terrible pride. No, whatever God works in you makes you humble. What comes from God makes you value your fellow Christians more and more. Then you will respect and love the lowest and poorest Christian in the whole congregation.

The ego swells and makes you look down on others, pity them, and smile down at them. Never put yourself on a pedestal. It doesn't matter who you are, how many titles you hold, or what you pride yourself on. Every experience that comes from God and every divine teaching humbles my flesh. They make me small before Him; they make Him great and me small.

The attitude towards other Christians

How do these experiences, new teachings, or emphases affect our relationship with other Christians? Does this strengthen our relationship with them, or does it make us love them less? Are we drawn to them by them, or not?

Whatever causes spiritual divisions among other children of God cannot possibly come from God. Now, you might say you can't imagine separating yourself from other Christians. But I can very well imagine it. Suppose your pastor teaches that the Bible is not God's Word and that Christ is not the Son of God, or that the Bible cannot be trusted because it is only partially true. Perhaps he also claims that being born again is an old-fashioned notion and that the blood of Christ does not purify. Then I say that you absolutely must separate yourself from such people. But if a person loves God, I seek fellowship with him.

God will let die and throw into the fire any movement that does not emphasize the paramount importance of the blood of Christ and does not remain close to the truth and close to God.

The greatest danger also threatens all those who do not include Christ in everything and who do not behave righteously, morally, and doctrinally soundly. We keep a group alive through prayer, examination of the heart, good preaching, and walking with God. Therefore, do not for a moment think that other Christians are less than you simply because they do not belong to your circle of believers.

Other Christians are precious to me. I am, in fact, Catholic in the original sense of the word—you know what that means? It means being a universal Christian. That is, someone who believes in the one, all-encompassing community of Christ, and that applies to me. I am not Roman Catholic; but I am Catholic in the sense I just mentioned. All children of God are my brothers and sisters; and everyone who loves him also loves his children.

Whoever loves the Father of the Lord Jesus also loves all his children. I love them all. I love the little ladies in their black hats, and I love the men with their beards, and I love all those who wear uniforms as if they were postmen delivering the mail. And I love those in the Salvation Army, just as I love all who belong to God's people, if they truly do. I want nothing to do with the liberals and modernists who deny God and his Christ. I cannot cooperate with them, even if they call themselves Christians. So ask yourself if this particular experience leads you to love all of God's people. If so, it most likely comes from God. If this experience leads you to feel superior to them, and if it drives a wedge between you and the others, there is a danger that it does not come from God. […]

The attitude towards the world

What effect does this experience, or this corresponding passage of scripture, whose meaning we claim to have understood, have—what effect does this new interpretation have on our relationship to the world? Does it excuse worldliness? Does this new understanding confirm our view that, with so many different views on worldliness, we cannot know anything for certain? If so, then the matter is not from God. Divine truth tends to separate us from the world, from its ways and values. I find it utterly deplorable and painful that any young woman in America seems to think that if she were a movie star, it would be the absolute pinnacle of all happiness and perfection. Why, then, should such women choose the One who made Himself a servant to all people and follow His example? Why do they strive to be photographed half-naked day and night, simply to satisfy the lusts and desires of men and women? And why do our dear little girls' eyes shine so brightly when they receive a star's autograph or are even allowed to touch him?

Once I was traveling by train and met an actress. I won't mention her name; but she was eating opposite me in the dining car, and someone pointed at her and said who she was. She looked like everyone else. I have sisters who rival her in beauty. She was just an ordinary, insignificant woman. After watching her eat, I went back to my compartment. There I opened a newspaper, and my eyes fell on a photograph of this very person, who was being advertised as coming to the city I was going to for a grand performance. Boy! In the advertisement, she looked as if she were floating along like an angel, dressed accordingly. She looked as if she had just fallen from the sky and as if the dust of the journey still clung to her wings. When I met her in the dining car, she was nothing but a very ordinary little woman, who looked like many other very ordinary women. But after she had been dressed up like that, she seemed to be a completely different person. And then we want our young people to imitate such fake fifty-euro notes!

If they are to emulate someone, they should take Susanna Wesley as their role model. She had 19 children, and John Wesley was one of the last. They can thank God on their knees for the rest of their lives that John Wesley, having been properly influenced by his mother, was able to be used by God in ministry. If they wish, they can thank God for Monica, the mother of Augustine. Thank God for exemplary women. Look for missionaries, preachers' wives, and other saints in their local church. Simple, magnificent people with wonderful hearts full of grace.

Choose such people and imitate them, and you will thank God for all eternity that you chose the right role models. But stay away from those who lead you astray. Every teaching that makes the world your friend is not your friend. And every teaching that makes it easy for you to become intimately familiar with the world and its ways, and to adopt its values and practices, is not from God.

The attitude towards sin

Finally: How does this new interpretation of Scripture, or that new experience, or new teaching affect your attitude toward sin or your relationship with it? If it comes from God, it will not be able to tolerate sin. The closer you get to God, the more unbearable sin becomes. And yet, I have heard people with spiritual experiences say, “Sin is no longer sin for me. God has made me holy inside. I cannot sin, and therefore I am allowed to do those things that would be sinful if other people did them.” Surely, such people had already fallen for the devil's tricks before he began teaching them such a doctrine. Sin is sin—regardless of who commits it. And if God sends a sinner to hell because he sins, how much more should his children avoid all sin! We should strive to be kept from sin!

Although I don't belong to those who believe in so-called Christian perfection, I do believe that there is such a thing as purity from sin and walking in the Spirit, so that we don't gratify the desires of the flesh. And I believe that it is certainly among the rights of a Christian to approach God and ask Him to make them holy and to protect them from sinning. Of course, the person can stumble. But if they have stumbled, there is a "first-aid kit."

 

“My children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin” (1 John 2:1). This is primarily God’s will. “And if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1). This is the “first-aid kit.” The Lord does not let his stumbling children perish. He gathers them up, cleanses them, binds up their wounds, and makes a fresh start. There is deliverance when we sin; but we should be careful not to constantly create opportunities for sinning. If we create opportunities to sin tomorrow, we will sin tomorrow. But if we get on our knees tomorrow and say, “Lord, there is nothing good in me; but I believe that you are my shepherd who sanctifies me, and therefore you will keep me from sinning,” then God will keep you from sinning.

These are seven tests to determine whether an experience, teaching, or miracle is from God. I urge you to persevere and examine everything. If God has done something for you, thank Him wholeheartedly and set your minds on the things that are "above," where Christ sits at the right hand of God. That place above is better than anything here on earth can ever be. And in the whole wide world, nothing will be as wonderful as the moment we behold His face and see Him as He is. If speaking with Him here is already so wonderful, how much more wonderful will it be to be able to speak with Him face to face!

AW Tozer (1897-1963)

From "Give Me Back Your Heart!", CLV

All Bible quotations are taken from the Elberfelder 2003 CSV translation.