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[Newbie]

My question to Christians is, how can you tell the voice of God from another voice in your head? I have asked my mother about this before and she has told me, "she just knows his voice."

I am assuming we all can all imagine voices in our heads pretty easily, but why is one godly compared to the rest? Is it just because it gives direction to you in times of stress?

I've also talked with a few friends who say they have carried out a difficult task in their lives because God/Jesus told them to do so in a dream. We've all had good and bad dreams before, so why isn't it just another one that your subconscious created to steer you in the right direction? This continues to reinforce my opinion that your brain can fabricate a lot of things, so could this voice and other individual experiences be some of them?

[jimwalton]

Most of the time, what Christians mean by "the voice of God" is a feeling, thought, or a tug in them that they consider to be God's guidance. It's extremely subjective, and should be tested by (1) the standard of God's word itself, (2) further prayer for confirmation (but be careful you don't just hear what you want to hear), (3) the advice of other Christians regarding the matter. Even then it's pretty tricky business. While many Christians will be able to demonstrate that a "nudge" they had was God, if they're honest they'll just as often say they were wrong about it. The Bible says that God does "talk" to people that way, though. A person should proceed carefully and cautiously, though, and not cocky.

I have heard people talk about hearing an actual, audible voice, though. Even so, proceed with caution.

I'll tell you this: at a time in my life when I was very spiritually attuned, I started keeping track of my dreams, writing them down, and interpreting them. I did it for three years, and got pretty good at it. I'll say it was pretty weird stuff, as dreams tend to be. Without an exception, though, my dreams were all about the things I was going through (either happiness or stress or doubt), and were truly just my brain working through what was going on in my life (in some pretty strange scenarios, let me tell ya). There were no mysteries being revealed, and certainly no messages from God. When I read in the Bible about dreams and interpretation, those people seemed to know that something was different about those dreams, and they looked for messages from God in them. Proceed with caution.

I'll add this: at that time in my life when I was very spiritually attuned, most of the voices in my head were awful things and filled with lies. You're right: there are many "voices" in our heads. Be more than very careful. That's why Christians are told again and again to go to the Bible for your source, not to the subjective voices in your head. It's not that God doesn't guide us there, but it's difficult for us to tell.