What’s a Sign from God (and What Isn’t)

here is what too many christians fall into the trap of doing instead of making the decision we want to be told what to do [Music] hi my name is father mike schmitz and this is ascension presents so recently someone had contacted me and they asked a question sometimes this happens right what people ask and what they had said was um they were gonna go on a trip they were invited to on a trip with some friends uh maybe some family and yet they um in the time of coronavirus they were like i don't know if i should do this because it's you know it's potentially dangerous uh maybe i shouldn't maybe but i really want to which is all fine that's like a normal thing that people can have well that we all have to figure out right now but one of the things they were saying is they kept getting um these signs the signs were like go on the trip like they would read something it would be like take a trip you know or they would they'd turn on the tv and be commercial for like you know go on vacation um they kept getting what they considered to be signs like that was they go on the trip and then they thought you know i kind of do feel a lot of peace when it comes to the idea of like going on this trip and i have this sense of peace but then what happened was they said i just started second guessing myself and thought maybe i shouldn't do this um and so then it was this back and forth kind of a battle of like but there's these signs that go on the trip and there's this feeling of peace but i don't feel this peace anymore and what do i do and they even had a great amount of self-awareness where they said i am kind of your classic overthinker and i'm like ah really but it was a great question i thought this is so good because here is what too many christians fall into the trap of doing we fall into the trap instead of making the decision we want to be told what to do and again i've said this before i'm gonna say it again doing god's will is everything it's everything it's it's it's the point of life is doing the father's will that is it um and so every it should be the preoccupation of every christian to do the father's will like every one of us should say that's yeah that's the goal of my life is to do the father's will yes at the same time i think the anxiety a lot of us experience over making decisions about the future has more to do with getting out of the responsibility of having to make a decision and maybe less to do about doing the father's will be that resume when it comes to signs what do we do well we know that god has spoken and continues to speak through signs just like we had a video on dreams god has spoken through dreams he can continue to speak through dreams yeah a ton totally something to keep in mind he doesn't often speak through signs he doesn't often speak their dreams um for the most part god speaks with clarity well we always speaks with clarity and he has already spoken many ways so he's what he's given us revelation which is sacred scripture and secret tradition he's given us the magisterium of the church so there's this source of where god has already spoken that he doesn't need to give us any more signs about his will for our lives because if anything we want to do or maybe i should do this thing contradicts sacred scripture sacred tradition or the magisterium the teaching of the church then we know oh that's not that's not him that's not the voice of god that's not a sign from god that i should be doing this kind of thing we know that god always speaks in clarity so here's a person who says okay there's kind of fuzzy messages i turn on the tv and there's a commercial like go on a trip or there's you know the i read the line in the book and said go on a trip okay that's that's fuzzy that's a fuzzy sign because it's not saying hey joe you should go on this sign like i'm an angel sent from god to tell you this like that's a fuzzy sign and we know this that god always speaks in clarity god always speaks in clarity so i don't have to wait for a sign i don't have to kind of if i even if i my head and like squint really hard then i can kind of see that this is a sign no that's a fuzzy sign god speaks in clarity the second part was not just fuzzy signs was my feeling of peace i really felt peace in moving forward then i don't feel peace anymore that's relying on our feelings a bit too much feelings as i mentioned before in in a previous video as well uh one of my friends dean dean had said uh this line i thought was so powerful that our feelings don't reveal the truth about reality our feelings don't reveal the truth about god they merely reveal the truth about our hearts or they may really reveal the condition of our hearts so if i feel at peace then yeah okay my heart is at peace for whatever reason if i feel anxious then my heart is anxious it it doesn't necessarily again reveal the truth about this decision doesn't necessarily reveal the truth about reality it does reveal how i'm doing with that which pay attention to it it's a factor but it's not it can't be the factor and that sense of peace that i mean there are a lot of people who are sinning in really significant ways who feel very very peaceful about the fact that they're sinning in various ways there's a lot of people who are actually like no they're pursuing the lord but just maybe their temperament is a little more anxious a little more worried a little more high strung and it doesn't reveal anything about the nature of reality or the nature of god or what he's calling them it does reveal the condition of their heart okay so here's the person i have these signs but they're fuzzy and they're based off feelings and that's when we cut through this and realize this i want to look to the signs the signs or the feelings to make the decision for me now not always again this person is have has a good heart and wants to do what god wants but it's missing with one critical factor and that is this last piece which is you have to make the decision that you just have to make the decision a disciple is a decision maker a disciple is a decision maker a disciple of christ is someone who chooses i mean think about this every one of the apostles here's matthew come follow me he has to decide here's simon and andrew jesus come follow me yeah they have to decide here's the rich young man sell everything give it to the poor think i'm following me he has to decide one way or another if nicodemus who visits jesus at night at some point nicodemus if you're going to become a disciple of jesus you're going to have to be a decision maker not based off of a fuzzy feeling or a squinty sign but based off of what the facts and that's what we do again when it comes to decision making we have to gather the data seek counsel weigh all the options and the consequences and then decide because this person was making the decision what about going on vacation traveling during the time of chronovirus that's risky i mean it's just it's risky so the recognition is what do i do i look at the data gather all that data i have to think about this i come and i say well i think i'm gonna flip a coin no gather the data seek counsel talk to people about this people who know and then um also weigh the risks the reality is we live in a world that is dangerous and to make any of those decisions it's going to come with a price i know that none of not all of us are really good at decision making sometimes we put it off and put it off and put it off sometimes you might be the kind of person who makes the decision at the drop of the hat you like look at the options and say boom that's what i'm going to choose and some of us are the opposite of that but to make the decisions is to take responsibility god gave us an intellect he gave us a will he wants us to use that intellect and then put it into work by choosing by making a decision knowing that that merely looks like us taking responsibility for what he's given us to be stewards of he's given us this chance to be stewards of our lives the people around us we're taking responsibility for those decisions of course at the end of the day if um you realize you've made a decision you started down a course and it's like it's you it's really clear you need to change course then change course not based off of a feeling but based off of facts god's given us freedom he's given us a responsibility and we have to choose we have to use that responsibility we have to use that freedom to choose and we know that every decision risks something every decision costs something but so does not deciding that also risks something and not deciding also costs something so as he said many times here what has god spoken if he hasn't spoken about this thing all right gather the data seek counsel weigh the options examine the risks all the consequences and then choose if you want more about this we have this book with bobby and jackie angel called pray to side and don't worry it might be helpful for you and for um anyone else anyone else who's in that situation anyways from this assistant presents my name is father mike god bless

Channel: Ascension Presents

Views: 344,383

Rating: 4.9536295 out of 5

Keywords: Fr. Mike, Fr. Mike Schmitz, making decisions, discernment, fr. Mike on discernment, discerning, following signs, signs, signs from God, does God use signs?, is this a sign from god?, Ascension Presents, Ascension, fuzzy signs, steps to discernment, doing God’s will, steps to discipleship, What’s a sign from God, how to hear gods voice, signs god, how to hear god

Id: mEcRhhps6Jw

Length: 8min 47sec (527 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 16 2020