What about when the green light comes on? They can go. What about the yellow light? It does not mean step on the gas to charge through the intersection before it turns red, does it?
Let's pretend we have a streetlight in our spirits. When the red light comes on in our hearts, we can recognize it because it feels like a hard, scratchy feeling on the inside. Or it may feel like a great big knot in our stomachs, or just a very "yucky" feeling.
What is God trying to tell us when we get those feelings? He's trying to tell us to stop whatever it is we are doing, or are planning to do. It's a warning on the inside. Again, it's more of an "impression," or a feeling, than actual words.
Other times the green light will come on in our spirits. When this happens the impressions we get on the inside are very peaceful feelings. It's like a warm, fuzzy, soft feeling in our hearts. It's a good feeling. The Lord is letting us know it's okay to go ahead and do what we are thinking about.
What about when the yellow light comes on? We just get a big caution in our spirits, don't we? Like "slow down and be careful!" That's the Holy Spirit trying to get our attention to be alert. Don't go to sleep on the job here! You need to think and pray about this before going on.
These three different colors help us recognize some of the ways God speaks to us through impressions as delicate as bubbles. These are probably the most common ways He leads us. Something we should understand about how God speaks is that God's "voice" is seldom really a "voice."
Most of the time He simply speaks through feelings or subtle ideas and thoughts in our hearts. When we think about the red lights and the green lights in our spirits, they are one more way He speaks to us.
It is very important we begin watching for these "feelings" in our hearts because God is trying to speak to us through them.
Red Light
We can compare the feeling of the red light to our consciences. How many of you have ever had a guilty conscience about something you did wrong? Most of the time when we have a guilty conscience it's something we feel after the incident has happened and we get caught, right? Have you felt that guilt before you did the thing you shouldn't have done?
Many times we've felt the "knowing" in our hearts we shouldn't do something, but we've pushed past the feeling, ignored it, and done it anyway! This feeling was God's "red light" in our hearts! It really does feel like a big, huge knot in our stomachs, especially after we get caught!!!
We're most familiar with this when we do something wrong. But the Lord also uses this same kind of feeling to warn us about danger. Other times He just simply is trying to stop us from going in a certain direction because He has a better plan for our lives!
True Story: Courtney was invited to a sleep over with some girls from her school. She had been learning about listening for God's voice as the red and green light. Courtney decided to pray about whether or not she should go to the party since the other girls were not Christians.
As she prayed, she began to get a very yucky, scratchy feeling in her heart about going. As far as she knew, she had never heard God speak to her before. So when the feeling came, she decided to obey it and not go to the party.
The next day at school she asked the party girls how the sleep over was and what they did. She was shocked to find out that they had played a game where they called up dead people's spirits in order to talk to them! It was a totally satanic game! Courtney was thrilled she heard the Holy Spirit say not to go and was even more thrilled she had obeyed His voice!
So learn to pay attention to the red, yellow, and green lights in your spirit. They are one way God leads you by your spirit.
Excerpt permission granted by Kids In Ministry International