Hello Father,
To start off, I am new to this site. I heard of the site from my church bulletin. I guess my question to you is How do you know when God is speaking to you? What kinds of signs are given to me? I appreciate your help and guidance.
Thank you
Matt G.
Hey Matt –
Thanks for the great question. Probably one of the “top ten” in terms of questions I get in spiritual direction meetings. For any of us who’s asked God questions about our lives – where we are going, what we are suppose to do – we want an answer and we want clarity – we want something obvious…
That’s often what we say we are looking for, But are we really? I think that often times in our prayer lives, the problem isn’t that God isn’t answering us, it’s that we don’t want to hear God’s answer! We are blinded from seeing or deaf from hearing what God is telling us to do, because we have the answer we want already planned in our minds and hearts. God’s just not cooperating with us!!!! (That’s what we think at least!)
Look at this example from the Gospel of Mark:
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.'” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to (the) poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Mark 10: 18-22
What’s happening here? In this passage, the young man is already in good relationship with God. He tells Jesus, I’m already doing all that God asked – I want to go deeper – I want to have a more intimate relationship with the God…
Jesus answers his prayer – he tells him what he needs in order to experience the answer to his prayer – but the rich young man can’t do it. It’s beyond what it was he conceived of God’s answer to his prayer…it’s asking too much.
Matt, God speaks to your heart – he speaks to you in a way that’s going to tap into your personality, that will utilize your gifts and talents. And it can be in a variety of different ways. Some days it can be a subtle prompting in your heart that is pushing you to make that phone call to that relative which will result in an answer to your prayers as well as theirs… Sometimes it can be a very less obvious and subtle.
The point is, if we ask God for some answers, we have to have the humility and openness to receive those answers.
May the Lord speak to your heart and my you be attentive to his voice!
Fr Jim
