Looking for a Sign?
Why do we keep demanding a miraculous sign from God? In Mark 8:11-13, people were asking Jesus for a sign and he refused to give them one. I will not deny that I haven't asked God to give me a sign in plenty of incidents. Lord, is this man meant for me? Please give me a sign! Lord.. am I supposed to take this route? Show me a sign... But I've come to realize that reading the Word and praying is the safest and the best way to discover His Will for me. We cannot rely on signs. Pastor Horne preached couple weeks ago about self fulfilling prophecy. Although this will be a simple yet exaggerated example, this is how we humans sometimes operate. We're driving down the road... upset... asking the Lord "Lord, if I'm supposed to divorce this man and move on with my life and do better things... please show me a sign and I will do Your will" We turn on the radio and hear a song about "deserving better..." and "Moving on" and we automatically get excited and believe "That's it!! That's a sign!" No.. that's just a coincidence, and truthfully... that's just a song... We have to keep in mind 1 Peter 5:8 says Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Now we know the devil doesn't appear to us in an ugly way.. he disguises himself as an Angel.. and this could be a plan of the enemy not the Will of of the Lord. We also tend to look and make up signs to justify what we really want to do deep down inside whether we believe it's the right decision or not. We look for signs to make ourselves feel better or to look for an easy way out... a quick answer and solution to our problem. This is self fulfilling prophecy. We have to stop looking for signs and start getting in the Word. Every question that needs to be answered and any problem that needs to be solved is all in the Word. But I will be honest, I go back and forth with this all the time and I struggle with understanding the difference between God speaking to me and self fulfilling prophecy. I'm coming to a point in my life where I can stop and ask myself "Is this God speaking to me... or am I making up things in my head to make myself feel better about a situation?" I'm starting to understand the difference slowly. I will give another example. I've been telling myself for the past couple years that I need to get in church.. but there was always some reason as to why I'm not going. I read in the morning and at night but that's where it ends. After being here over 3 years.. a friend of mine invited me to his church.. I was hesitant but I went because I knew I needed to get back in the Word. The night prior I was in bed reading Matthew.. I was really tired and told myself "I'm going to stop right here at Matthew 7:14 because I'm too tired and I'm not even understanding what I'm reading" The following day I wasn't sure if I was still going to Bible Study.. I wanted to go but I knew I probaly wouldnt go. Besides, reading to myself every night is like Bible Study anyway. Right? Well I convinced myself to go and told myself If this is the church for me.. God would let me know. The lady that greeted me at the door gave me a hug and told me I would definitely come back to this church. I sat down.. Pastor Horne told us that we were going to read something different that night and he told everyone to turn to Matthew 7: 15.. The Tree and Its Fruit. Exactly what I was supposed to be reading in my bed, alone, the very same night. I had to keep myself from getting emotional but at that moment I knew this was my church. The lady was right, I've went back each and every week and I dont know what I was doing prior to listening to Pastor Horne. In my heart, this was God speaking to me.. and it wasn't a self fulfilling prophecy.
Created over 2 years ago
