Recognizing God’s Voice

By Benny Hinn

God has truly gifted my dear friend Jentezen Franklin as a powerful Bible teacher. That was never more evident than when he sat with me in the This Is Your Day! studio and poured out what the Lord has been showing him concerning hearing the voice of God—all of which he has written in his book Right People, Right Place, Right Plan.

The longer I live, the more I realize that discerning God’s voice and plan are among the most critical things you can discover.

But how are you able to distinguish God’s voice?

How do you know if it is God’s voice, your voice, or even the enemy’s voice?

How do you know if you should marry this person or that one, which job to take, or where to live?

Your Spiritual Compass

Jentezen related how the compass was discovered. In China, people would take a melted piece of iron, drop it on a leaf in water, and the leaf would invariably turn, always pointing in the same direction.

This invention took place years before the Bible was written. No one could explain it or the earth’s magnetic field, but they knew there was something internal in the earth that was pulling on the iron to indicate north. Years later, what eventually became the compass was used more and more by sailors and travelers who could use that technology to determine the way to go.

Jentezen said, “Inside every believer there is a compass—an internal force—placed by God, waiting to be discovered and used for His glory. When you learn to utilize and trust this valuable resource, you will find you can navigate the stormy seas of life.”

The Holy Spirit wants to guide you, lead you, and speak to you. And when you learn to discern His voice and listen to Him, He will lead you to the right people, right places, and right plan.

The Right People

If you listen to the wrong voices, you will make the wrong choices!

If you hang around wrong relationships and have the wrong friends, you will never get to the right destination.

This is simple but so important!

The clock is ticking on your destiny, and when you stay in toxic relationships that drain you of your energy and send you down the wrong road, you will stay locked in the storms of life. People go through these storms many times, not because of what they do, but because of the people they are associating with.

Jentezen used Jonah as an example. The sailors he was with apparently had not done anything wrong, but because they were associating with Jonah—someone who was out of God’s will—they were in a life-threatening storm. When the sailors realized what was happening, they were afraid and said to Jonah, “Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them” (Jonah 1:10).

Jonah was the problem. He was why the sailors were in a storm. He told them to throw him off the boat: “So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging” (Jonah 1:15).

It is an extreme example, but the lesson remains that you may be stuck in storms of life and unable to discern or follow the voice of God in your life because you have the wrong people around you.

The Bible tells us, “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Corinthians 14:33). He desires to lead you past the storms.

Everything good evolves from your relationships with people. You will never reach your destiny until you begin to encounter the right people.

The apostle Paul is a shining example. God sent the right people into the apostle’s life:

And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. (Acts 9:17-18)

God can have a great calling upon your life, but you will never get there by yourself. God will always use people like Ananias in your life to help the scales fall off of your eyes and receive greater sight.

God used Barnabus greatly as a bridge and door opener for Paul. And Paul’s friend Titus was his constant encourager.

When you are sensitive to people like Paul was to Ananias, Barnabus, and Titus, God will connect you to the right people who will help you see more clearly, who will open doors for you, and will pour encouragement into your life.

Elijah was that person for Elisha. Elijah helped the younger Elisha go where he would not have gone on his own.

Who is God bringing into your life to help you enter a new season? God has new people and new relationships ahead for you who can help lead you and show you things that you cannot see.

But you must be sensitive to the people God is placing in your life.

The Right Place

Scripture declares, “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Acts 17:26).

This verse tells us three things:

1. All nations have come out of one blood—Adam’s.
2. God has a set time for every purpose.
3. God has “bounds of habitation,” or place of blessing or destiny.

If you don’t get in the right place at the right time, you can miss your destiny. One of the stories that Jentezen shared was that of Elijah and Elisha during their last moments together on this earth:

And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. (2 Kings 2:9-11)

Elisha was told that he had to be at the right place at the right time if he wanted the double-blessing mantle to fall upon him.

Elijah knew what he was talking about. He knew about being in the right time and right place. Earlier, when God said, “Thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there” (1 Kings 17:4), he went immediately. When the brook dried up, Elijah was told to go to the widow and she would feed him (17:9).

Jentezen said, “The blessing doesn’t fall down upon you until you are involved in pushing it up. That’s why I believe in supporting your ministry, Pastor Benny, because as I push you up to preach the Gospel to the nations, the blessing has fallen on my ministry and my life. It’s about being in the right place at the right time.”

I have believed in that principle throughout my life. I have served others so I would be in the right place at the right time. I have given to others and planted into their lives so God would show me what He wanted to do in my life.

God has a place for you. If you are not experiencing supernatural provision, perhaps it is time to seek the place where He wants you to be.
The psalmist tells us, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way” (Psalm 37:23).

God wants to order your steps and bring you to the perfect place so He can bring supernatural provision.

The Right Plan

Every time God releases a miracle in the Bible, it is connected to a plan, a set of instructions.

No one received a miracle without a miracle plan.

Joshua was told to march with the children of Israel around the walls of Jericho in a very specific way.

When Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, wanted to be healed of leprosy, Elisha told him to go to the Jordan River and dip in it seven times. Naaman followed that list of instructions completely: “Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (2 Kings 5:14).

God has a plan for your life. He wants to pour miracles into your life. Jeremiah 29:11 declares, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

You are not an accident. No matter what your past may be, God has a plan for your life. Are you willing to seek and follow the instructions that will lead you to the right plan?

God’s Destiny for Your Life

I am believing that God will release the right people into your life as He brings you to the right place and reveals the right plan.
Perhaps you have been asking, Lord, do you really have a plan for my life?

You can find it. You can know it. God will reveal to you the right people, the right place, and the right plan for you.

On This Is Your Day! Jentezen and I prayed specifically for God to bless friends of this ministry with a threefold harvest: God will reveal to you the right people, the right place, and the right plan.

I pray that God will bring new vision as He shows His will to you more clearly than ever.

If you watched that TV broadcast, you know that I told him I was going to order his new book for our partners and viewers.

I don’t do this very often, but I believe that this book will revolutionize your life.

I want you to get this book—Right People, Right Place, Right Plan: Discerning the Voice of God. I want you to have it so much that I will send it to you right away for any gift that you plant into the worldwide outreach of this ministry.

Ask for it today!

Don’t delay, for I believe we are in a divine time of harvest. Respond today. I want you to have this powerful book, and I am asking you to step out in faith now and send in a generous offering along with your request for Right People, Right Place, Right Plan. Your breakthrough is on the way as you learn to discern the voice of God!

Winning the lost at any cost,

Copyright © 2007, Benny Hinn Ministries. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the written consent of the publisher.