There are many things God has given me throughout all these years, both heavenly and earthly, that I’m grateful for all eternity. One of those is my dad. We’re not biologically related, and I only came to know him since I was 16. But when my life turned upside down and when I lost everything, he was there to lift me up, encourage me to follow my dreams, motivate me to never give up, and walk me toward Christ. I really hate the phrase “blood is thicker than water” because I experience first hand how that’s not true. Dad and I are not related by blood; we’re related as a family through Christ. The bond I have with dad is now even stronger than the one I have with my biological father because we have one thing that connects us that my biological father doesn’t have: Jesus. And Jesus makes all the difference! It’s a girl’s dream to marry a man like her dad. That goal is surely mine as well. But there’s a problem here. My dad is such a great man and a humble, dedicated servant of God that I don’t think any man can ever reaches that level, which probably explains why I’m still single! Obviously there are many things I like about my dad; one of them is how he speaks the truth in love.

We are the worst critique of ourselves because we know all of our thoughts, motives, deeds, and actions. People cannot see what we think inside our mind and how we feel inside our heart. People cannot see what we do in secret. But surely we know them all, and so does God. Because of that, only we know the sinful thoughts in our mind, the anger in our heart, the lust in our eyes, and the sinful actions we do in the dark when nobody is around. Because of that, we are our worst enemies. We push ourselves down, unintentionally and subconsciously even, because we know who we truly are, all of our secrets deep down inside. That’s why we need other people around us to show us the positive side and lift us up. And that’s exactly what my dad does for me all these years since we became a family. He speaks the truth in love to encourage me, to show me the right path to go, to convict me from my sin, to bring me back to God when I lose my way, and to bring me to the next level of intimate relationship with God. I learn, little by little, how to detect whether an advice comes from God or Satan. If the advice comes from God, even if the truth is painful and convicting, it’s still positive. God rebukes me, through the Holy Spirit in me and sometimes through other people around me, but that’s for my own benefits to stop sinning. There’s hope after all of the mess. It always lifts me up and shows me what to do to correct my mistakes. It always points me back to God, not my sin or my past. It’s about the present and the future. It’s about forgiveness to move forward from the past and present to the future. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Whenever dad talks to me, he speaks with truth and love because his heart is filled with the Holy Spirit. So in a way, it’s not dad speaking to me. It’s God speaking to me using the Holy Spirit in his servant: my dad. When the advice comes from Satan, it’s the opposite: always negative, no hope, push me down, no clear actions to take to clean up the mess and get better, point back to the sin and not God, about the past not the present or future, full of pain with no way out, full of disappointment, guilt, shame, and condemnation. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit; condemnation comes from Satan.

The key here is forgiveness, which is freely given to us all through the blood of Jesus. But we have to repent and ask for this forgiveness. The gift is freely given, but we have to accept it. There’s nothing we can do to earn forgiveness, but God won’t force us into accepting it either. The decision to repent and ask for forgiveness is a free choice that He allows us to make. Scripture gives us step-by-step instruction to detect the lie from the truth and recognize the source of where it comes from, whether it comes from God or Satan. “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world” (1 John 4: 1-3). So if a spirit comes from God, the truth spoken must align with what Jesus has taught us, and it has to be spoken in love. So what did Jesus teach us then?

• “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespasses against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6: 12-13)
• “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6: 14-15)
• “Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3: 28-29)
• “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28)
• “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins” (John 8:24)
• “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector” (Matthew 18: 15-17)
• “So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them” (Luke 17: 3-4)
• “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you” (John 16: 7-15)
• “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God” (John 8: 44-47)

So many people, including me, complaint that they want to hear God’s voice but they just can’t hear it or maybe they can hear it but not clearly. Dad taught me something very important about hearing God’s voice. It’s more than just hearing His voice. It’s a responsibility. Before we can hear His voice, we do things our ways; we make our own decisions because nobody tells us what to do. After we hear God’s voice, now we are accountable for what He says and what He tells us to do. So hearing His voice is a responsibility where we are held accountable for the decision we make: to do it His way and give up control completely to Him or to walk away and do it our way. So the decision to give up control of ourselves and follow God completely to do things His way needs to be made first before our spiritual ears are open to hear His voice. Plus God talks to us constantly everyday, so when we don’t hear His voice, it’s not because He doesn’t speak to us; it’s simply because we don’t listen or we don’t know how to listen. Again to be able to hear His voice, we need to first make a decision to follow Him completely and do whatever He asks of us. Then if we’re serious about it and listen with our heart, He will open our spiritual ears so that we can hear Him.