The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - 10 Ways to Know If God is Speaking to You!

Episode Date: May 29, 2020

Have you ever wondered if God was speaking to you in the midst of a serious decision? Have you struggled with the idea of believing that God can speak to you? Today, Jeff shares 10 ways to know if God is speaking to you. Snippet From the Show “God often speaks to us not in commotion, but in the silence of prayer.” Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail] Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

You're listening to the Jeff Kavana show, episode 168, 10 ways to know if God is speaking to you. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavans. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show. Welcome to the show. Have you ever? wondered if God was speaking to you in the midst of a serious, serious decision. Have you ever wondered if God was leading you or you had some kind of sense in your heart that the Lord was asking you to do this or do that with your job, relationships, whatever it might be? Let's talk about that

today. I've got 10 ways to know if God is speaking to you. And let me just say right off the bat, welcome and also clarification. I am not giving you a model where you can just run around and judge everything, but they are certainly going to be some really good filters for you to determine whether this just may be God leading you. Even if it seems like it's a little off the path, maybe sometimes the Lord is leading you to do some unusual things. Have you struggled with the idea of believing that God can speak to you? Well, we've got to talk about that too, because if you don't believe that God is speaking to you, well, then you've got some problems right off the bat because I'd have to ask the question, what are you listening for? No, what are you listening to?

I think inside we all believe that, yes, we can speak to God and God can speak to us. In fact, I heard a guy say one time, he said, if you speak to God, you are on your way to becoming a saint. Now, if God speaks to you, well, we might just want to get you some help. if that's the case. But that's not the truth. The truth of the matter is that, yes, God can speak to you and God can lead you and guide you. And right now, in the midst of this worldwide pandemic, and if you're listening out of order to these shows, yep, it's the early part of 2020, and it's unlike any other period in life. And you just may be seeking the Lord right now and asking questions like, Lord, what do you want us to do? What do you? What do you?

you want us to do as we are getting ready to exit, hopefully, this pandemic. And so these are going to be some really good filter points for you, 10 ways to know if God is speaking to you. One thing we know for sure, and that is that God's sheep do hear his voice. And that's in the Bible, John chapter 10, verse 27. Time out, time out. All show notes will be available to you. I've got a boatload, a sea of Galilee boatload of scriptures for you today, and you're not going to be able to write these down when you're driving in the car. And I want to give them to you, and all you have to do is text me, text my name, Jeff Kavens, all one word, Jeff Kavans. And the number you text is 33777. That is so easy to remember, 3377. So God's sheep do hear his voice. He says,

know them and they follow me. So this dynamic of following the voice of the Lord is something that John spoke about in chapter 10. Jeremiah talks about the same kind of thing in Jeremiah 29-13 when he says, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. That's one of the things that's so important right now, isn't it? All my heart, I'm seeking God. I want to know God. I want to know his purposes. I want to know his plan. And right now, to be honest, I want to know what God's plan is for my life, right? Well, the great Pope John Paul the 2nd in his general audience in September 2nd, on September 2nd, 1998 made a couple of comments that give us a little bit of a key here about hearing God. The great saints said the catechism

of the Catholic Church teaches that the human person participates in the light and power of the divine spirit. By his reason, he is capable of understanding the order of things established by the creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection in seeking and loving what is true and good. And then he goes a little bit deeper. He says that it's in the sanctuary of his conscience, your conscience, my conscience, man's most secret core, God makes his voice heard and his law known, that law which reaches its perfection in the love of God and neighbor as Jesus taught. By following this law in the light and power of the Holy Spirit, man achieves his full, full freedom. So we're talking about following the voice of the

Lord. And again, you might want to listen to this at some point when you do have some paper. And write down right now in your life, what are you asking of the Lord? What direction do you need, correction, consolation? What is it that you believe the Lord might be saying to you? Now, I realize that this is something that a lot of people don't talk about, you know, of hearing the Lord for direction in their life. But I would submit to you that it's something that we really do need to talk more about. We're not people as Catholics that just believe in theology, you know, and different councils and saints and so forth. It all focuses on the fact that God has an amazing plan that you want to be a part of. And that's why we want to know the voice of the

Lord. It says clear back in the New Testament, I guess that's not clear back. Well, let me go clear back for just a moment. You know, Proverbs 1412 says what you think is the right road. may actually lead to death. And so as we stand at the crossroad of decisions, it is important for us to have some filtering device in a way of testing it as 1 John chapter 4 in verse 1 says, test it. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. And you know what? You can test what you think the Lord might be saying to you, or perhaps somebody else has said something to you, and you thought, wow, that's for me. Well, John 7, verse 17, says that you can test if any man's will

is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God, or whether I am speaking on my own authority. Remember, God does have a plan for your life. As the catechism says in the very first paragraph, my favorite paragraph, because some days that's as far as I get. But it's my favorite paragraph. He says, God infinitely perfect and blessed in himself in a plan of sheer goodness, freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. And so as we get ready now to listen to, that 10 filters to determine, is this God speaking to you? Remember what Proverbs chapter 16 in

verse 9 says, a man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. So we do have some plans, don't we? But we pray, Lord, you direct my steps. Okay, so number one, these are ways, these are 10 ways to know if God is speaking to you. There are more. get me wrong, there are more. I'm just giving you 10 here that will help in determining the decisions that you're making right now that could have huge, huge impacts, not only on your family, but on the world. As Emily and I sit down and think about the decisions that we've made in our lives and the decision to move, the decision to stay, the decision to endure, whatever it might be, or to buy this home or send our kids to that school, have all, all those decisions

had ramifications. All right, are you ready? Number one, if you think that God is speaking to you, number one, you need to ask yourself, does it agree with sacred scripture? Does it agree with sacred scripture? John Paul II said in that general audience of September 2nd of 98, he said, adhering to God's plan for man revealed in Christ Jesus and fulfilling it in one's own life means discovering the authentic vocation of human freedom. As Jesus promised his disciples, if you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. And so one of the first filters that we have to ask ourselves is, does this agree with sacred scripture? Are you continuing in God's word? Are you rooted in the word of God

in scripture? John chapter 15, very famous. I love it. I love this chapter. It's about the vine and the branches. Jesus says in John 15 verses 14 and 15, you are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you. You see, it needs to agree with sacred scripture, doesn't it? You can't go against God's word. And that's why I recommend that you get a good Bible that you can live in. Naturally, I would suggest the Great Adventure Bible. If you don't have a Bible, get one that you can underline and you can mark and you can make notes. That's why we develop the Great Adventure Bible.

We'll put it in the show notes for you and get deep into his word and start to know the way he thinks and his deeds and so forth. It's so important. It's so important to do this. Jesus said in John 14, 6, he said, I am the way and the truth in the life. No one comes to the Father, but by me. And so we need to be very, very attentive to Scripture. And the catechism actually says, it says, be especially attentive to the content and unity of the whole Bible, all of Scripture. When you read Scripture, make sure that you are attentive to the content in unity. In other words, each book fits into, each chapter fits into a book, each book, every letter fits into the whole canon. And there is a beautiful

beautiful relationship between truths in Scripture. So number one, does it agree with sacred scripture? Number two, does it agree with sacred tradition? What do I mean by that? I thought the Bible was good enough, right? Well, the Bible is unbelievable. It is incredible. I'm sitting here right now, deep, deep in the woods of Minnesota with one, two,

three Bibles right in front of me here on the desk. And I love scripture. I love it. And I kind of dedicated my life to it since I was 18 years old. So that's over the last number of years. So I love scripture, but you know what? We have to be attentive also to sacred tradition. And the catechism tells us in paragraph 113 and 114 that we need to read scripture within the living tradition of the holy church, of the whole church. We need to be attentive to the analogy of faith. a coherence of truths of faith. So in other words, if you're thinking about something right now, you have to ask yourself, is this in harmony with the sacred tradition of the church? You might feel that God is calling you to leave your spouse. Something pretty radical, to leave your spouse, and you have to ask yourself, well, is that biblical? Is that within the tradition of the faith it's been passed on? No. No, it's not. And so that'll wake you up right there. It'll wake you up. So we need to be attentive to this sacred tradition. I would really

encourage you, as I have here on my desk, a well-worn copy of the catechism. And I have to continually look up topics and soak myself in what has been passed on to us. Number three, you have to ask yourself, if you do what you feel that God is telling you to do, that decision that you are about to make, you have to ask yourself, will you become more like Jesus? Will you become more like Jesus as a result of it? Not only is it in harmony with scripture, in tradition, but will you become more like Jesus? Now, hopefully all of these 10 are going to be in harmony, but each one needs to be looked at individually. Will you become more like Jesus? You see, Jesus is the plum line, the standard. He's the gold. This is the goal to become like Jesus. And is your

decision that you're going to make, is it going to help you to become more like Jesus? Or does it have absolutely nothing to do with anything related to your faith. Then you've got to go a little bit deeper when you make those decisions. Luke chapter 6 in verse 40 says, a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who he is fully taught, everyone who is fully taught will be like his teacher. And so even in the decision process, you have to ask yourself, will I become more like Jesus. I love that great chapter again. John 15.5, it's the vine chapter. Jesus said, I am the vine. You're the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. Think about that for a moment. You can do nothing while I take a sip of my

pellegrino here. You can do nothing. I am the vine. You're the branches. He's who is he who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. So will you become more like Jesus? So we've got a, we've got number one, what do we have? Well, we have the truth that it has to agree with scripture. Number two, it has to agree with sacred tradition. Number three, we're going to, we're going to become more like Jesus. More like Jesus. Now, the next one is a curious one because it's one that people don't think of a lot. And that is this. If you make that decision that you're about to make,

and it's a big one, right? It's a heavy decision. Is it consistent with your vocation? Is it consistent with your vocation? Is it consistent with your vocation? What do I mean? What's a vocation? Well, a vocation is what you are called to in life.

And there are different levels, I guess you could say, of a vocational call, but in this sense we're talking about, are you called to be single? You called to be a priest? Are you called to be a deacon or a religious? Are you called to be married? Are you married?

So the decision you're about to make needs to be consistent with that. You need to take into consideration, your wife, your husband. I remember a story not too long, well, I guess it was over a decade ago, but I remember a guy came and he said, I think I'm going to take this job.

he was from Minnesota. He was going to take a job in North Carolina or somewhere, and I think North Carolina is a nice place. But he was going to take this job, and his wife was, she was beside herself. She was filled with anxiety, and the kids didn't want to, they didn't want to leave, and they had really made a nice, a nice routine for themselves in Minnesota with their parish, friends, homeschoolers, and so forth. But this guy, he wanted to make a decision that was based completely on his own desire, and it didn't take into consideration his wife and his children. And I remember talking to this couple, which shall go unnamed, and talking to them about that, and wouldn't you know it? He made a powerful decision, and the decision was based on the needs of his family,

and he didn't go. He didn't go, and to this day, very glad he didn't make that decision. He had to consider his vocation. And sometimes, don't get me wrong, in some situations now, what do we have? We got people that are making decisions, difficult decisions, where they are going into harm's way, but that's their calling. That is their calling. It's like Paul. Paul went into a very difficult place because it was a part of God's plan for Paul. He wrote about it in 1st Corinthians 16, verses 8 and 9. He said, but I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. You see, just because there are adversaries and hurdles in our way doesn't mean that it might not be God.

but you have to consider your vocation. All right, we're going to continue on, and we've got number five coming up just on the other side of this break. Oh, this is a good one coming up. This is one you don't think of typically, but this is going to help you. It's going to help you in determining,

is God, in fact, speaking to you? Should you go forward? You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, we're Jackie and Bobby Angel. with Ascension Presents. And we wrote a book. Yay! Tada. It's on discernment, which is figuring out the will of God in your life, which can be an exciting and yet exhausting endeavor. It's called Pray, Decide, and Don't Worry, Five Steps to Discerning God's Will. And we wrote it with Father Mike Schmidt from Ascension Presents. You might know it.

You may know that guy. The book is concise, but there's lots of wisdom for any person that really wants to do God's will, and it's a journey for trying to figure out what God wants for your life and so there's a lot of wisdom from things we've learned along the way there's testimonies and parts of our stories to help you out really like this is a book i wish i had as a young adult like this would help me a lot in my 20s discernment is a question we get asked all the time where is god calling me what am i called to what vocation am i called to how do i know if i'm supposed to take this job how do i know this so we wrote this book to help you along the way to give five steps to discern whatever decision you're

making and hopefully to give that peace and that joy that will come from making that decision and the main goal is to help you grow closer to God along the way so maybe not you maybe someone in your life is wrestling with a really tough decision and you want to give them some kind of resource or encouragement it's for if you've got a big decision period yeah so go get your copy of pray decide and don't worry go buy one for a friend buy one for someone who's not your friend Love your enemies. Buy them this book. Go to Ascensionpress.com and get your copy today.

Welcome back. I had a hunch you were not going to go away because the next point in this filter system, 10 ways, what do we call this? 10 ways, yeah, 10 ways to know of God is speaking to you and we're calling them filters to a degree. Number five is this decision that you're about to make consistent with how God has made you, with how God has made you.

I remember when I used to be a pastor prior to coming back into the Catholic Church, a lot of pastors would talk about this. You know, they would talk about how you need to really look at the way you are made. And I think that that is something that is universal. It's universal. We have to look at our experiences. We have to look at the gift that you have, your physical ability, your academic ability, your mobile ability. There's a lot of things that we consider and we ask.

And please do not think that I'm saying, God can't do anything. But I know one thing, I can't do everything. You know, I can't wake up. I was telling my wife, Emily, this yesterday, saying that, you know, you can wake up and say, well, I can do anything. You know, the truth is I really can't do everything because I am limited by certain things. For example, I could come up with the idea that, wow,

when I was a young, man, I was really fast. I was a fast runner. I could run a 9-9-100-yard dash, and I was pretty fast for a junior in high school. And I could wake up and say, sweetheart, I am going to try out for the Olympic team. and she would look at me and she'd say, that is not God. And I said, why do you think that's, why do you think that's not God? She said, look at yourself. You are not in shape right now to run

100-yard dash, especially in the Olympics. And so it's got to be consistent with how God has made me. A good guide here, my friends, is Proverbs 226. And by the way, there is nothing, nothing to be ashamed of to say there are limitations in my life as to what I am called to do and not called to do, right? I am, I'm probably not going to become a brain surgeon at the age of, but when I was younger, perhaps, that was a possibility, but I'm limited right now with the time to dedicate to that type of thing, to that type of endeavor. Here's what it says in Proverbs 226, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. That's a great scripture, and a lot of people think that that means you can program your

children to do anything because anything is possible and just feed them in that area, and they will do it. And that's not what it means in Hebrew. To the Hebrew people, to the Jews, train up a child, and the way he should go meant train up a child in the way they are going. What is their gift? What is their proclivity? What is, what do they have a proclivity toward in life? Is it music?

Is it math? Is it athletics? Is it social relationships? Is it physics? Is it education? Whatever it is, train them up in the way that they're going, get to know them. And when they are old, they'll not depart from it. A lot of kids are trained up with a violin, the Suzuki method.

We had three, one, two, three. Neither one are in the game now in that area. But if that had been the way that they were going, I can guarantee you one thing. They would not have stopped. And I know you've had children, perhaps, that have learned the Suzuki method and they're not doing it anymore. Maybe it wasn't them, right? So be consistent with how God has made you. Number six, is there a peace deep within your heart when you contemplate this. Is there a peace deep within your heart? That is a good one. Colossians 3 in verse 15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in the one body and be thankful. Isn't that beautiful? You see, when you're contemplating

something in your life, you need to ask the Lord to give you that peace. To give you a peace that passes is all understanding, a peace not like the world gives you, but a deep peace from God, knowing I believe that this is the way God is calling me. 1. Corinthians 433, what do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love in a spirit of gentleness? Now, I think you can answer that question, right? You want God to come to you with a rod or a spirit of gentleness. And as parents, wouldn't you want your children to experience a calm and a peace when you give them direction? You don't want them filled with anxiety or consternation when you ask them to do something. And God doesn't want you to feel that way when he asks you to do

something. He's not asking you to take that job and says, here, now live with the anxiety. Here, you marry that person. I'll be praying for you. That's not the the Lord, is it? Remember, Jesus leads. He's a shepherd. He leads, and the enemy drives. Number seven, would those who know you, your family and your friends around you, would they confirm that? Would they say, yes, this is, I can see the Lord telling you to do this. In other words, you're getting counsel, right? You're getting counsel. So that is an important point. With those around you confirm what you're about to do. Number eight, does it build up the kingdom of God? Does it build up the kingdom of God? Does it do good for the church? Does it do good for those in the

kingdom? Is it good for those around you? Remember what Matthew said in Matthew 633. And remember, I'm going to give you all these scriptures in the show notes. Just text me, Jeff Kavens at 3377. The Jeff Kavens part is all one word. Jeff Kavins said 3-3-777. So number eight is, does it build up the kingdom of God? It says in Matthew 633, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. And so we have to ask ourselves, does what I'm about to do build up the kingdom of God?

Is it good for the church? Is it good for the relationships? God is putting me in. I like that scripture, by the way, Matthew 633. It's highlighted in yellow in my very worn Bible here, deep, deep in the woods. Okay, so we got, there's a build up the kingdom number eight, number nine. We've got two more to go. Stick with me here, two more to go.

Number nine, what is the fruit of your action or decision? What will come out of this in terms of fruit, the fruit? and when I speak about the fruit, there's a number of things that you automatically know. You know about when I talk about love and gentleness and all of those types of things. But the scriptures talk about the fruit of the spirit in Matthew chapter, or Galatians, rather, chapter 5, and verses 22 and 23. and this is the kind of outcome we're looking for, and that is the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and, yes, self-control. That's what we're talking about for number nine.

What is the fruit of your action? Are you going to be walking in love and joy? Very important. Number 10, spend some quiet time with God. You see, God often speaks, not in the whirlwind, not in the earthquake or fire, but in the quiet, in the silence of prayer. I'll give you a good scripture here. First Kings, chapter 19, and verse 12 is speaking about Elijah,

and he said, go forth and stand upon the mountain before the Lord. Behold, the Lord passed by, Elijah, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broken pieces, the rocks before the Lord, before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice. So my friend number 10 is more of a place than something to do, and that is, be quiet. Go to a peaceful place and let the Lord continue to speak to you. Now, I pray with all of my heart that God leads you and guides you into the decisions that you're making and that this provides some kind of filtering framework for you to at least know that you're generally on target

and that you can do that. But you know what? No matter what you're thinking, there's only one way to find out. And that is you've got to get out of the boat and you've got to walk in it. There's nothing worse in sitting back saying, you know, five years ago, I think the Lord was speaking to me. Seven years, I know God was telling me to do this. 10, 15 years ago, remember when we felt the Lord wanted us to go to that city or you're always going to wonder that if you get out of the boat like Peter did in Matthew 14, Peter got out of the boat. He saw Jesus walking on the water and said, Lord, is it you? And is it you? And the Lord said, Peter, he said, come to me on the water. What did Peter do? Peter got out of the boat and he

walked on water. He was the only one in the boat that knew that God was in fact there and speaking to him. So I leave that with you. I leave that with you. Now, let's go over them real quick, shall we? The 10 ways are, does it agree with sacred scripture? Number two, does it agree with sacred tradition? Number three, will you become more like Jesus? Number four, is it consistent with your vocation? Number five, is it consistent with how God has made you? Six, is there a peace deep within your heart? Number seven, would those you know confirm what you're about to do? And eight, does it build up the kingdom of God? Nine, what is the fruit of your action or your decision? And number 10, have you been to a quiet place to listen to God's beautiful, beautiful voice? My friend,

I want to thank you for taking some time to be with me today. And it's always a joy to share with you the good things from the Word of God. Remember, get a Bible, get some markers, get deep into the Word of God, and let God direct you. Get a copy of the Catechism. Together, the Bible and the Catechism are two amazing tools to bring you deeper into the mystery of the kingdom, mystery of the Trinity. I want to pray for you and pray that God will lead you and guide you. By the way, you can write me The Jeff Caven Show at ascensionpress.com, and it's in the show notes. Everything's in the show notes, and love to hear how you're doing. And if you step up, based on one of these things, or all of them, or one of them meant more to you, I would love to

hear your story. So you can email me, Theod Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. Let me pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I thank you for my friends, and I pray, Lord, I lift them up to you right now. And I know, Lord, sometimes these decisions seem simple, but in many cases, so difficult, so deep, and with such consequence, I pray for my friend right now who's debating. Lord, are you leading them? I pray, Lord, that all ten of these points would remind them of you in your voice and your leading. May you receive the glory, Lord, for all that we are doing and about to do.

We ask also for the intercession of our dear lady. Hail, Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.