Why You Must Empty Yourself to Hear His Voice

​I’m coming to you today with a hard truth that most people are too afraid to say out loud.

​There is a coordinated effort in this world to make you quiver. There are people who will work overtime to make you so terrified of what’s coming next that you’ll want to quit right where you’re standing, even when the outcome looks good. But here is what people don’t understand: the world is so against you that you don’t even need a physical human being to stand in your way.

​The real battle isn’t with a person; it’s with the voices inside your own head.

​The World is Inside You

​We have to realize that because we were born into a fallen world, the world is already inside of you. The enemy doesn’t have to look for you; he’s already planted seeds of doubt and fear in your mind from the start.

​When you hear a “naysayer” in your life, understand what’s really happening: they are simply allowing themselves to be used as a vessel. An instrument for the enemy to amplify the voices that are already in your head. They are just the speakers for the static you’ve been fighting since you were a child.

​The Example of Jonah: A Vessel of Disobedience

​Sometimes, the people being used as vessels aren’t just “bad people”,sometimes they are people who know the Word but have a “fallen” heart. Look at Jonah.

​God gave Jonah a mission, but Jonah’s internal world was full of prejudice and anger. He tried to run. But here is the part we often forget: Your internal battle has external consequences. Jonah got on a boat to Tarshish. He didn’t mean to hurt anyone; he just wanted to escape. But because he was carrying that internal disobedience, a storm rose up that threatened to drown everyone on the ship.

​When you allow yourself to be a vessel for the enemy’s fear or vices, you bring a “storm” into your family, your workplace, and your friendships. However, when Jonah finally surrendered and was thrown overboard, his moment of “giving himself up”, the sea went calm. Your surrender doesn’t just save you; it saves those around you.

​The Hard Truth: Your Opinion of Yourself is a Trap

​We live in a world that tells us to “believe in ourselves,” but I’m telling you: Who you think you are to yourself doesn’t matter. In fact, your opinion of yourself can lead to more destruction than any “bad person” ever could.

​Why? Because an external enemy is easy to identify. But when the enemy uses your voice, your perspective, and your self-image, he has reached a depth of influence that is nearly impossible to shake. Your internal opinion is rooted in your childhood and your trauma. Because it goes so deep, it feels like “truth,” but your “truth” is part of the fallen world.

​How to See It and Not Fall for It: A Roadmap to Victory

​I know how heavy this feels. I know what it’s like when the voices inside your head are so loud they feel like they’ve become part of your DNA. I’m not speaking to you from a place of “perfection”; I’m speaking to you from a place of experience. I have walked through the fire of being a runaway and being homeless. I have had every reason to let the world win. But I am here to tell you that by the grace of God and the application of His Word, you can silence the amplifier. I did it, and so can you.

• ​Practice Spiritual Discernment (The Fruit Test): God is not the author of confusion or fear (2 Timothy 1:7). If a thought produces a “quiver” that makes you want to quit, it is not from God. Audit your thoughts. Ask: “Does this lead me toward God’s promise or away from it?” Take those fearful thoughts captive immediately (2 Corinthians 10:5).
• ​Distinguish the Spirit from the Vessel: Realize that negative people are often just as broken as we are. Like Jonah, they act out of un-emptied vessels. When someone speaks negativity, look past their face. Stop fighting the “speaker” and address the “spirit” behind the words.
• ​The Doctrine of Daily Mortification: We must “put to death” the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13). This isn’t a one-time prayer; it’s a lifestyle. You must make yourself unavailable to negative vices. Set boundaries with your habits. If an environment makes you “available” to the enemy’s frequency, cut it off.
• ​Submit to Divine Reality: Stop believing what you feel and start believing what God said. When your internal voice says, “You’re still that runaway with no future,” you answer with, “I am a new creation in Christ; the old has passed away” (2 Corinthians 5:17). You don’t “feel” your way into this; you proclaim your way into it.

​The Only Voice That Matters

​The only way to stop the destruction is to decide that your opinion of yourself does not carry weight. As it says in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” You have to decrease until your opinion of yourself is gone. You have to be willing to be “nothing” so that His Voice can be the only one with any depth in your life.

​The God’Sip Call to Action

​The only way to quiet the noise is to empty the vessel. We can’t let the enemy use our minds, or our friends’ mouths, as a playground anymore.

​I want to hear from you in the comments:

Are you carrying a “storm” onto someone else’s boat today because you’re trusting your own opinion of yourself? What is one negative recording you are choosing to empty out right now so the sea can go calm?

​Let’s clear the space so we can hear the only Voice that matters.

​“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” — Psalm 46:10