“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
How do you know what thoughts are your thoughts versus God’s thoughts? One of the great paradoxes of walking with God is discerning the difference between a “natural idea” versus a “God-idea.”
Make certain that your ideas and the actions you take are directed by God and not from your own reasoning. There is a constant rub between the “natural” and the “spiritual.”
There are only three places from which a thought or idea originate: 1) The natural man. 2) Satan. 3) The Holy Spirit.
There are a few ways to discern from which place thought is coming. If a thought comes into your mind that you know you would never have thought of, and it might be something you would not normally consider doing. This is likely God speaking.
Imagine a conference that is a poorly organized event and an offering is needed to make up being short on funds.
It can easily be a case of poor management. You pray when you think about giving a token gift. But, the figure that suddenly comes into your mind is $1,000. You argued with God and struggled with your attitude.
You think that God must surely have two zeros out of place! But you must obey because you know that it was not initially your idea.
In order to be obedient, we must not make advance decisions about a particular matter. Each of our decisions must be submitted to the Lord for His counsel to us, not just based on our reasoning.
When you are going through tough times, don’t get upset about it, think about Joseph and all that he went through, and then see where that led him.
Understand that God has a plan for us in all that happens. Pray that your outcome will be a “Joseph outcome,” so that you will accomplish God’s purpose.
Ask God to help you do what is necessary and to use your gifts and talents for His eternal Kingdom.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://northdallasgazette.com/2019/06/23/sister-tarpley-follow-god/&media=https://northdallasgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/TarpleyPhoto-062019WEB.jpg&description=How do you know what thoughts are your thoughts versus God's thoughts? One of the great paradoxes of walking with God is discerning the difference between a "natural idea" versus a "God-idea."){kind=link}