Hey can any Christians talk to me about the difference between God's voice and your own/intrusive thoughts? I have a really hard time being able to tell what God is saying to me. Today I felt like God was leading me to go to this thing at a coffee shop (a hw study) and i have been asking God to lead me towards the guy Iike if its his will. So i went and the guy wasn't there. But then I had time so i went to my college to do some hw and he was there!! And we talked for a while! I don't know if it was God leading me to him, the devil, or a coincidence but it was kind of crazy. I don't know how to tell though

The steps of a good man/woman are directed by the lord. So don’t wonder who sent you always know that your life is guided by the lord and he goes in front of you to pave the way.. with this mentality you can live in peace.

I’ve had religious ocd for as long as I can remember. And it’s awful. Especially sense you can’t tell the difference between ocd and God! What I’ve done, is take some medicine, get my brain fixed where it can function normally. But until then, don’t overthink God, we’re supposed to try our best to be liek Jesus, but we can’t ever be perfect. Not saying it’s ok to sin, it never is by any means. But if we don’t know which path to take and none is necessarily sinful… pick the one that seems right. And if it’s not, God will lead you somewhere else! Personally, I obsessed over what to do in every situations and prayed a small fast prayer, eyes open, hundreds of time a day throughout school, work etc. sometimes if we’ve prayed, it’s ok to pray again, but if we’re praying so much that it’s interfering with our day. It’s not God telling us to pray, it’s ocd. If we pray, God heard us! We don’t need to repeat ourselves! Although it’s not bad to pray again over something, don’t let ocd make you do it. I realized rhag those small prayers weren’t actually to God. I just said them to feel better about an intrusive thought😕. Then I started focusing on God and understanding that even though I might not have said everything that needed to be said, he knows what I meant, and all that matters is that I tried. I love you. I hope this helped, feel free to talk anytime!

Key themes: Relationship, and the Bible. As you grow in your relationship with God, you’ll be able to know ‘HOW’ God specifically speaks to you, But primarily he speaks to us through the Bible. (The Bible is a very powerful spiritual book, it is not ordinary at all). God speaking isn’t complicated. If you’re saved and have the Holy Spirit,(all saved people have been given God’s Spirit), You can receive revelations of God’s word from the Bible. That is the primary source of God’s voice, because it’s his living word. Now how ? Open heart + a simple sincere prayer. 1. Ask The Lord for an open heart:that is you’re not going into the word with preconceived ideas of its meaning, but with a open heart. 2. Ask the Lord to speak to you by His spirit. 3. Read. Anything and everything you get in reading, (that’s in understanding), that is God speaking to you. 1 John 2:27. For the specific personal ways, I believe he himself chooses and establishes the ‘specific’ ways he talks to us as individuals. And he’ll create a knowing in your spirit, that these are ways God specifically speaks to you. Lastly, he’ll most likely confirm what he has spoken to you personally, with scriptures. God bless and enjoy God’s voice.