The Five Voices In Our Heads
I first encountered this idea explicitly in the preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Commenting on Psalm 42, he writes:
“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they are talking to you; they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you?”
This insight—that the voice in our head is not the whole of us, and that we have agency in our inner lives as well as our outer ones—is one I return to again and again. It is foundational to how I think about faithfulness, resisting temptation, and prayer. It also has striking parallels with more modern, secular ideas in cognitive-behavioral therapy. And it names a reality that, once you begin to see it, can be genuinely transformative.
To flesh out Lloyd-Jones’s point a bit: there are always multiple forces at work on our hearts and minds. Some arise from outside of us; others emerge from different parts within us. As a result, the inner monologue we all inhabit is not a neutral or perfectly reliable guide to reality—or even to who we truly are. Sometimes it speaks truth. Other times it leads us badly astray. So rather than simply allowing that internal voice to define “what we believe,” we must learn to test it, examine it, and—when necessary—talk back to it.
But what exactly are those forces?
As I’ve reflected on the process of internal discernment, I’ve found it helpful to sort them into five categories, roughly reflecting the way Scripture speaks about our humanity.
Common Grace
First, some of our thoughts arise from our good, God-given humanity. We bear the image of God. We possess consciences, even though they can be misled by sin. We live in a world ordered by divine reality, and so we all must acquire a measure of wisdom to navigate it—or we will perish.
Importantly, this voice is present in Christians and non-Christians alike. The work of the law is written on all our hearts, and both believers and unbelievers are, at different times, accused or defended by it (Romans 2:15). I think of this as the first voice of truth.
The Holy Spirit
For believers, a second true voice is added: the voice of the Holy Spirit. We are indwelt by God himself, and he speaks to our hearts. Sometimes this happens through the restoration of what was damaged by sin. Sometimes through the illumination of Scripture. Sometimes through direct conviction. In all cases, we are called to listen to what the Spirit says (Romans 8:14; Revelation 2:7, 11, 17).
Our hope is that, ultimately, the Spirit will sovereignly work within us to teach us truth and conform us to the will of the Father.
The Flesh
This is where things begin to get complicated. Alongside true voices within us, Scripture speaks of false ones—the first of which is “the flesh.” Our bodies and desires are disordered by sin, and as a result, we experience impulses that pull us away from truth.
The flesh includes the obvious sins of indulgence that many Christians are wary of, but it also encompasses subtler realities like pride, anger, fear, and self-justification. At different points in our lives, different desires may dominate. But all of us hear the flesh attempting to invite us toward—and rationalize—paths that ultimately lead to destruction.
A clarification is needed here, and it applies to this and the remaining voices: the fact that we hear these thoughts does not mean they represent who we truly are.
We can begin to believe we have already sinned simply because some part of us wants to sin. We feel like failures just for thinking the wrong thoughts. Nothing could be further from the truth. The question of righteousness is not whether these thoughts appear, but what we do with them—whether we take them captive, or allow them to take us captive.
We have not failed simply because some of these voices are persistent. Anyone who has wrestled with stubborn temptation, or with something like chronic anxiety, knows how loud and long-lasting these voices can be. God is not disappointed in us for enduring such struggles. On the contrary, Scripture suggests that he has a particular compassion—and even honor—for those who persevere under seemingly unending assault.
The World
Alongside the flesh, Scripture places “the world.” Sin does not arise only from within us; it is also encouraged and reinforced by the relationships and systems we inhabit.
“The world” is not merely a category for authoritarian governments or overt persecution. It includes peer pressure, advertising, the stories we consume, the lure of power, and the plausibility structures that place something other than Christ at the center. We are constantly being told falsehoods about what goodness, beauty, and fulfillment truly are. Inevitably, we internalize these messages and begin to hear them in our own voice.
The Devil
Finally, Scripture insists that our struggle is not merely against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil. Just as the Holy Spirit whispers truth to us, dark spiritual powers seek to deceive us with lies. This reality clarifies the stakes of our internal life. We must learn to talk to ourselves, because if we don’t, we may end up listening to one who intends our destruction.
All of this may sound dramatic—or even exhausting. If that’s how it feels, take a deep breath. We live, and often fail, in the arms of a gracious Savior. As Christians, we have the Spirit, and he is stronger than every force arrayed against us.
What I want to suggest, though, is that learning to recognize these different voices is not ultimately a burden, but a profound source of freedom. Many people lead lives of invisible bondage, unable to recognize the lies that enslave them, much less escape their power. There is something deeply liberating about hearing that condemning or misleading voice within and responding: No. I know what is true. I will hope in the Lord. He is my salvation. I will again praise him.