How do you know if an idea is from God?

Auto-generated transcript. It may contain mistakes.

How do you know if an idea is from God? It actually took me three broken teeth to figure out the answer to this. See, I used to love this candy called Everlasting Gobstoppers. They're basically a ball of candy that you suck on until it dissolves. Kind of like a mini jawbreaker. My favorite part of it is when it's small enough you can bite it and it's going to turn into lots of little pieces of candy that kind of have the texture of Pop Rocks. But here's the thing. The first time I got the idea to bite the Gobstopper way too soon. A piece came off, but it wasn't the candy, it was my tooth. A couple months later I got the idea to bite it again, same thing happened. Not just two times, but three times because I didn't take time to analyze is this a good idea or a bad idea? It's a silly analogy, but it's now a physical reminder of what can happen when I don't process my ideas with God. First, the Bible says take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. So how do we actually do that? Here are three ways that work for me. Number one, when I get an idea that I wonder is this from God? The Bible said make it obedient to Christ. So I take that idea and compare it to what I've learned about the character of God in the Bible. For example, does it go against the Ten Commandments? Does it go against something that Jesus said? Because if it does, in my mind it's not from God. Like hate that person. Well, Jesus said love your neighbor. Or I could just take this from them and they're not even going to notice. The commandments say don't steal. See, easy filter, not from God. But it does require us to learn God's character by starting to read scripture. We don't have to read all of it at one time because in any relationship you slowly get to know them. Second, after taking that idea captive and seeing how it compares to God's character, we pause and pray about it. God, is this from you? What do you want me to do with this? Sometimes scripture will come to mind, sometimes you'll get direction, peace, a feeling not to do it, but we need to process those ideas while also analyzing the motivation because why we're trying to do it also matters. Is it something that aligns with what God wants or strictly to get what I want? And three, the most important part, especially if God is giving you an idea that requires obedience. There are two parts to this to fully get it. First, do not conform to the pattern of this world. Don't just move on ideas because everybody else thinks it's a good idea. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind by reading the Bible, bringing it to God. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. And then we'll see was this what God wanted me to do? But there's one more important part to this. We might have an idea of what to do, but how we do it also matters. The Bible says and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, whether it's an idea to say something or do something, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. So when we move on an idea, we don't just check in with God and go on. We keep him in mind with us thinking, God, I'm doing this in Jesus' name. Thank you for this opportunity. Thank you for this idea. I am doing this for you. And while we do that, we will get better at learning which ideas are from God. And we're not always going to get it right. I got three cracked teeth to prove it. But eventually I got to the place when I learned the proper way to go about it. I'm praying for you today, friends. God bless.