God takes our humanity far more seriously than we do. God created us in His image and likeness. God wants us to be a reflection of Him. We should be people who want to reflect God in our own life. Many times we find ourselves relieved that God resembles us rather than motivating ourselves to properly reflect the Divine.
In order to know that we have heard God correctly we need to seek inner verification and outer verification. Inner verification is always a matter of subjectivity, so it seeks an outside verification to objectively confirm the communication. There will be two inner experiences that will always be present in the person: one is habitual inner harmony and the other is joy. This is not something that we produce, but comes from God’s grace, so it is supernatural. This joy and harmony is similar to when we do a great act of kindness for someone that we know they will enjoy, but the difference is that we know it is God and not our self. This grace leaves one feeling refreshed, calm with awareness in beauty, and a tranquil joy in God. Outer Verification comes from the official structure of the Church as encouraged by John’s letter (1 Jn 4:1-6):
Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world. You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They belong to the world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens to them. We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.
In this passage we are encouraged to test the spirit. Notice how John uses the words “they” and “we.” He uses these words to show unity and community.
God communicates with us. But His message is ALWAYS in conformity with the totality of revelation and the official teachings of the Church.
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