On the fourteenth morning of his church’s twenty-one-day January fast, Damola knelt beside his bed at five o’clock and felt something rise in him that he could only describe as fire. He was thirty-six, an accountant with a logistics company in Ikeja, with a steady salary, a wife he loved and two children in a good primary school. For months a friend had been talking to him about a frozen-foods distribution business, a cold room in Agege supplying fish and chicken to restaurants. That morning, as he prayed, the thought came with overwhelming force: Resign. Put your savings into it. Step out of the boat.
He wept as he prayed. He felt certain. By the time he stood up, the decision was made.
At house fellowship that Wednesday, he announced it. “The Lord has spoken to me,” he said. “I am stepping out in faith.” There was applause. His wife sat beside him, smiling for the group, but she had told him privately the night before that she was uneasy. The fellowship leader, a quiet man named Ebube who worked as a civil engineer, asked a few gentle questions after the meeting. Had Damola seen the friend’s accounts? Had he spoken to the pastor? Could he wait three months and test it?
Damola smiled and quoted Paul. “When God revealed His Son to Paul, he did not confer with flesh and blood,” he said. “When God speaks, you obey.”
He resigned at the end of January. He withdrew his savings and took a loan from his cooperative society. Within a year, diesel prices had doubled, the cold room’s generator had failed twice, and it emerged that his friend had never kept proper records. By the second Christmas, most of the money was gone.
What troubled Damola most, he told me later, was not the money. It was what he had said. He had told everyone that God had spoken. If he admitted he had been wrong, it would look as though he could not hear God. So for months he told the fellowship that the business was under spiritual attack, that the delay was a test of faith, that breakthrough was near. “I was defending my reputation,” he said, “and I was calling it faith.”
The Spirit does lead His people
Before we say anything about testing, we must say this plainly: the Holy Spirit leads God’s children. Paul writes, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Guidance is part of the inheritance of every believer, not a privilege for a spiritual elite. The prophet Isaiah described it beautifully:
And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
The book of Acts is full of the Spirit’s leading. While the church at Antioch ministered to the Lord and fasted, “the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them” (Acts 13:2). On Paul’s second journey, the missionaries were “forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,” and when they tried to go into Bithynia, “the Spirit suffered them not” (Acts 16:6-7). Then came a vision in the night of a man of Macedonia, and a new chapter in the spread of the gospel began.
So this teaching is not an argument against expecting God to lead you. I believe He does, and that He still speaks to His people by His Spirit, through Scripture first and also through inner promptings, wise counsel, circumstances, and at times through prophetic words and dreams. Most of His leading, most of the time, is quiet. It comes as we read His Word, pray, think, ask and walk in obedience. Some of it is more vivid. All of it is precious.
PunchlineThe question is how to recognise it without presumption: without assuming that every strong impression is His voice, and without treating our interpretation of His voice as though it were beyond question.
Why a strong impression still needs examining
Damola’s experience that morning was intense. That intensity felt like proof. But the strength of an impression tells you how strongly you feel. It does not, on its own, tell you where the impression came from.
Scripture is honest about the human heart. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). That verse describes the heart apart from God’s renewing work. A believer has received a new heart and the indwelling Spirit. Yet even renewed believers carry desires, fears and habits of thought that can speak loudly. “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits” (Proverbs 16:2). We are all capable of hearing our own longing and attaching the Lord’s name to it.
Several things can make an impression feel overwhelming. Strong desire is one. Damola had wanted to run his own business for years, and the friend’s proposal had been in his mind for months. Exhaustion and hunger are another. A fast can sharpen spiritual attention, and it can also leave the body and emotions raw. Fear is a third. Some of the most urgent “leadings” people describe are really panic in religious language. Pressure from others is a fourth. When a community celebrates bold steps of faith, every believer feels the pull to have one.
None of this means the impression was false simply because it was strong. Some genuine leadings of the Spirit are very strong. It means that strength is not the test. Paul himself said, “we know in part, and we prophesy in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9). Even when God genuinely communicates, our perception and interpretation are partial. Humility here is simply the honest recognition that the receiver is imperfect, even when the Sender is perfect.
Prove all things
Paul gives the young church in Thessalonica a short, balanced instruction:
Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.
Read the four commands together. “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings.” Paul does not want the church to suppress the Spirit’s work or treat prophetic words with contempt. Some in Thessalonica may have been tempted to do that, perhaps because of unsettling messages about the day of the Lord that had come “by spirit” (2 Thessalonians 2:2). Paul refuses that overreaction.
Then: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” The word prove means to test, to assay, the way a goldsmith tests metal to find out whether it is genuine. The goldsmith does not throw away all metal because some is fake. Neither does he accept all metal because some is real. He tests it.
Notice that all things includes our own impressions. It is easy to test other people’s words and exempt our own. Paul allows no such exemption. When you believe the Lord is leading you, you are holding a piece of metal that needs to be assayed. If it is gold, testing will not harm it. If it is not, testing will save you a great deal of pain.
What are the tests? The first is Scripture. Does this leading agree with what God has clearly said? A leading to leave your wife for someone else, to deceive a business partner, or to stop caring for your elderly parents is answered before it is weighed: the Spirit does not contradict His own Word. The second is Christ. John writes, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1), and his test is the confession of Jesus Christ. A leading that exalts self, feeds pride or makes Christ marginal deserves suspicion. The third is fruit. Does this direction produce love, joy, peace and self-control, or anxiety, pressure and haste?
NuggetA strong impression tells you how strongly you feel. It does not, on its own, tell you where the impression came from. Testing does not harm gold.
Let the others judge
When Paul gives instructions for prophecy in the Corinthian church, he writes, “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge” (1 Corinthians 14:29). The word judge means to discern or weigh carefully. Even in a gathering where genuine prophetic gifts were operating, no prophet’s word was accepted automatically. The community weighed it.
That principle reaches far beyond the Sunday meeting. God designed His people to discern together. The book of Proverbs says it repeatedly:
Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
And Proverbs 11:14 adds, “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”
Damola had quoted Paul’s words that he “conferred not with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:16). Paul was describing how he received the gospel directly from Christ, independently of the Jerusalem apostles. But look at what Paul did later. “I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain” (Galatians 2:2). The apostle who had received revelation from the risen Christ still laid what he taught before trusted leaders, because he did not want to run in vain. If Paul was willing to submit his understanding to others, none of us is too spiritual to do the same.
The council in Jerusalem shows the same pattern. After long discussion, testimony, appeal to Scripture and prayer, the leaders wrote, “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us” (Acts 15:28). The Spirit’s leading and the community’s discernment were not rivals. The Spirit led through the shared, careful judgement of His people.
What kind of counsel helps? Counsel that is accountable, mature and honest. A circle of friends who always say what you want to hear is not counsel. Neither is a single leader who treats his own impressions as unquestionable commands for everyone else. Good counsellors know Scripture, know you, love you enough to disagree, and have nothing to gain from your decision. Ebube was that kind of counsellor. Far from showing a lack of faith, his questions were a gift.
The wisdom that is from above
James describes the wisdom God gives in a single rich verse:
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
Each quality in that list can help us examine a leading.
PunchlineFirst pure. Godly wisdom has clean motives. Ask honestly whether greed, envy, resentment or the desire to impress is mixed into your sense of direction.
Then peaceable, gentle. Wisdom from above does not bulldoze the people around you. Damola’s certainty left no room for his wife’s unease. A genuine leading may be costly and may be resisted, but it does not usually make you harsh with those who ask questions.
And easy to be intreated. This phrase deserves special attention. It means open to reason, willing to be persuaded, approachable. The wisdom God gives can listen. It can say, “That is a good question. Let me think about it.” When a believer becomes unable to hear any challenge, that rigidity is itself a warning sign. James sets this quality right in the middle of his description of heavenly wisdom.
Full of mercy and good fruits. Look at what the leading produces over time. Does it make you more generous, more patient, more able to serve others?
Without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Wisdom from above is honest. It does not present one story in public and another in private. Damola’s months of public talk about spiritual attack, while privately he suspected he had been wrong, were the opposite of this.
James sets this wisdom against another kind, which he calls “earthly, sensual, devilish” (James 3:15), producing “confusion and every evil work” (James 3:16). The contrast helps us. When a supposed leading leaves a trail of confusion, pressure and broken trust, that trail is part of the evidence.
When a prophet had to go back
One of the most encouraging stories for anyone who has misjudged a leading is the story of Nathan. David had settled in his palace, and he looked at the ark of God still housed in a tent. His heart was stirred:
That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee. And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD , Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in?
Nathan was a genuine prophet of God. David’s desire was a godly one. Nathan’s first response sounded spiritual and generous: “Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee.” But it was his own judgement, and it was wrong. That very night the word of the Lord came to Nathan and told him something different. David was not to build the house. God would build David a house, a dynasty, and David’s son would build the temple.
What did Nathan do? He went back. He did not protect his reputation by insisting that his first word had been from God. He did not invent a spiritual explanation to cover the change. He returned to the king and delivered the true message. And the chapter ends simply: “According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David” (2 Samuel 7:17). Nathan remained a respected prophet for the rest of David’s life. His willingness to correct himself made him more trustworthy, not less.
The book of Acts gives us a more complex example. As Paul travelled towards Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit testified in city after city that bonds and afflictions awaited him (Acts 20:23). At Tyre, disciples “said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem” (Acts 21:4). Then at Caesarea:
And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judæa a certain prophet, named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
Agabus delivered a genuine prophecy, and it came true. Yet the believers who heard it drew a conclusion from it, that Paul should not go, which Paul did not share. Bible teachers explain this differently, but most agree that the revelation was from the Spirit while the application was a human interpretation. Paul understood the same revelation as a call to go with his eyes open. And notice how the disagreement ended. Nobody accused anyone of not hearing God. “When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.” That is spiritual maturity: honest counsel, respectful disagreement, and trust in the Lord when people who love Him see things differently.
These two stories teach us to separate what God says from what we conclude about it. A genuine prompting can be misread. A genuine prophecy can be misapplied. Recognising that does not weaken our faith in the Spirit’s leading. It protects it.
Acting responsibly without certainty
If impressions need testing, and testing takes time, does that mean we can never act? Not at all. Look again at Paul’s response to the Macedonian vision. Luke writes, “immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them” (Acts 16:10). The phrase assuredly gathering means concluding, putting things together. They weighed the vision alongside the closed doors of the previous weeks and reached a confident conclusion. Then they acted.
That is a healthy model. Gather what you know. Pray. Search Scripture. Seek counsel. Weigh circumstances. Then make a responsible decision, holding it with humility. James teaches us to speak this way: “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:15).
Some simple practices help.
Match your caution to the size of the decision. A prompting to phone a struggling friend or to give a small gift can be obeyed immediately. A prompting to resign a job, marry, relocate, borrow money or make a major ministry change deserves time, counsel and testing. The bigger and less reversible the step, the more carefully it should be weighed.
Watch your language. There is a difference between “God told me” and “I believe the Lord may be leading me in this direction.” The second is not weaker faith. It is more honest faith, because it acknowledges that you might be mistaken.
Be careful with self-made signs. Many believers have heard of Gideon’s fleece, when he asked God for dew on the wool and a dry floor, and then for the reverse (Judges 6:36-40). God graciously answered a frightened man who had already been told what to do. The story shows God’s patience with weak faith. It was never offered as a method of guidance. When we decide that the bus arriving in five minutes, or a particular verse falling open, will settle a major decision, we turn chance into an oracle. The Spirit has given us His Word, His wisdom and His people, and He leads us through them far more reliably.
Never use “the Lord said” to control another person. A man who tells a woman that God has revealed she must marry him, or a leader who tells a member that God requires her to obey him in matters Scripture leaves free, is using the Lord’s name to remove someone else’s freedom. That is manipulation. Where it is attached to threats, exploitation or abuse, it must be resisted, and those affected should seek help from trusted leaders and, where necessary, the proper authorities.
And leave room for God’s correction. “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand” (Proverbs 19:21). Even if you misjudge, the Lord’s purpose for you is not defeated.
Freedom to say “I was mistaken”
Here is where the gospel matters most. Why did Damola find it so hard to admit he had been wrong? Because his sense of spiritual standing had become attached to being right. If he had heard God wrongly, he feared he would lose his place among the people who hear God. His reputation had become a kind of righteousness he needed to protect.
But a believer’s standing with God does not rest on accurate hearing. It rests on Christ. You are accepted in the Beloved. You were made righteous through faith in Jesus, and you remain righteous through Him on the days you misread a situation. A mistaken judgement may have real consequences that need to be faced, but it does not cancel your sonship. That frees you to tell the truth.
Scripture’s wisdom points the same way. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). A mistaken judgement is not always sin. But defending it with spiritual language, at the expense of the truth and of the people around you, often becomes sin. The fear of looking foolish is a form of the fear of man, and “The fear of man bringeth a snare” (Proverbs 29:25).
Communities can help or hinder here. A church that treats every changed direction as spiritual failure will train its members to hide their mistakes. A church that honours honest correction, as Nathan was honoured, will produce believers who can hear God better over time, because they are free to learn. Leaders especially should model this. When a pastor stands before his people and says, “I believed the Lord was leading us this way, and I now think I was mistaken,” he does not lose authority. He gains trust.
The turning point for Damola came on a Sunday evening in his second year in business. Ebube came to visit, sat with him on the balcony, and listened for a long time. Then he told Damola a story he had never shared at fellowship. Fifteen years earlier, he had felt “led” to leave his engineering job for a ministry opportunity that collapsed within months. “I told everyone God had spoken,” Ebube said. “It took me two years to admit I had heard my own frustration with my boss. Damola, maybe God did not tell you to do this. And if He did not, nothing has happened to your place in His family. Only your pride is in danger.”
Damola did not answer that night. But a few weeks later he stood up at house fellowship and told the truth. “I said God had spoken,” he said. “I now believe I mistook my own desire, and the intensity of that fast, for His voice. I am sorry for the pressure I put on my wife, and for the way I answered those who asked me honest questions.” The room was silent for a moment. Then Ebube began to pray for him, and others joined.
Telling the truth also meant repairing what his mistaken step had cost others. Damola apologised to the people he had pressured. He sat down with his wife and the cooperative officer and made a plan to repay the loan. Honest correction usually includes practical responsibility, and Damola found it far easier to carry once he was no longer defending himself.
He found work again within the year, at a smaller salary. The cooperative loan took three years to repay. His wife told me that the man who came out of that season was gentler and far easier to talk to.
Two years later, Damola was offered a position in Abuja. He felt a strong sense that the Lord might be in it. This time he said exactly that, in those words: “I think the Lord may be in this.” He and his wife prayed about it for six weeks. They spoke with their pastor and with Ebube. They visited Abuja, looked at schools, and talked through the costs. In the end they went, with peace. “If I had been wrong,” he told me, “I would have said so. That is the freedom I did not have before.”
That freedom is available to you. Listen for the Spirit’s voice with expectation. Test what you hear with humility. Act responsibly. And if you find you were mistaken, go back like Nathan and tell the truth. Your place in the Father’s house was never resting on your being right.
Teaching Companion
For Reflection
- Think of a time you felt strongly led by God. How did you test it, and what did you learn?
- Which of the influences named here, such as desire, fatigue, fear or pressure from others, most often colours your sense of direction?
- Who in your life could serve as accountable counsel the next time you face a major decision?
- Which quality of the wisdom described in James 3:17 is hardest for you, and why?
- Is there a mistaken judgement you have been defending? What would it look like to go back, as Nathan did?
This Week
Write down one decision you are currently facing in which you sense the Lord’s leading. Under it, answer four questions in writing: Does this agree with Scripture? Does it exalt Christ and produce good fruit? What do my motives honestly look like? What do two mature, accountable believers think? Share your notes with one of those believers this week, and ask them to pray with you and to tell you honestly what they see.
A Prayer
Father, thank You that Your sheep hear Your voice and that Your Spirit leads Your children. Give me ears to hear You and humility to test what I hear. Search my motives, and show me where my own desire or fear has spoken louder than Your Word. Give me the wisdom that is from above: pure, peaceable, gentle and easy to be intreated. Surround me with honest counsel, and make me someone who can say, “I was mistaken,” without fear, because my place in Your family rests on Christ alone. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Truth received brings freedom. Truth believed establishes the heart.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. · Illustrations using first names only are composites unless stated otherwise.