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We know that we human beings have been created with a body, soul and spirit unlike animals which have only a body and soul. 'Soul' here refers to our mind with which we think, feel and make decisions. The Greek word used in the New Testament for soul is psuche from which we derive the word psychology which is a study of our mind. God is spirit, and He has given us a spirit with which we can communicate with Him. This spirit died when Adam and Eve sinned, which means that their connection with God was lost. All of us are born from them, and we are born disconnected from God (Ps.51:5). That is why we need to be born again by the Holy Spirit who regenerates us to have a real relationship with God as our Father (Jn.3:3). We can be born again only by acknowledging our condition of being separated from God and having sinned against Him, and receiving the death of Jesus on the cross as the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins.

After we have been born again and we have an open line of communication with God through the Holy Spirit, some of us fall into a very serious error in hearing God. That is to confuse what comes up from our mind (soul) as coming from God. In addition, we may forget that Satan and his demons can also place ideas into our mind as temptations. We need to recognise them as temptations and resist them.

When we are zealous to hear from God and to do whatever He tells us, our zeal deceives us into thinking that God is speaking to us even when He is not. For example, when we have set our mind on obeying whatever He tells us, we may assume that even when crazy ideas pop up in our head they must be from God. Then we put away even our common sense and end up doing even weird things such as taking up snakes or drinking poison to demonstrate how God would supernaturally save us. But if only we are familiar with the word of God we can see that this is similar to the temptation Jesus faced when Satan asked Him to jump off from the top of the Temple.

That is why God has given us His word as our guide for our teaching as well as for protection (2Ti.3:16,17). "For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (He.4:12). Here we see how the word of God is to divide between soul and spirit, to enable us to discern between what comes from the Holy Spirit and what comes from our natural mind. How important this is for us, especially for preachers who influence many others!

Therefore, the written word of God must become our benchmark against which we judge all ideas that come to our mind. That is how we can ensure that what we teach or follow is according to what God has already revealed. When we think the Spirit is guiding us, it must be in line with the word. We need to be extremely wary of extra-biblical ideas and practices.

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