Confirmed!!

No, this is not a story about eighth grade confirmation class, although I have many tales I could tell. Rather, this is a brief appreciative note about how God works and how the Holy Spirit leads.

The further along I get in my faith journey, the more I appreciate the signage along the route, confirming that I am traveling in the right direction. God is WAY better than any GPS system or Google Maps app. Here's the latest example.

I wrote a Bible study for our youth group at church. I presented it this past Friday night actually. It was initially about giving our testimony. But as I was writing it, it turned into more of a discussion about the Holy Spirit and how we can tell if He is living in us. In the study was this verse from 2nd Corinthians.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Weeks after I "finished writing" the Bible study, our pastor was giving a sermon out of Romans 6. He used this scripture.

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. ¹⁰The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." - Romans 6:8-11

During his message he then said this: "Turn with me to 2nd Corinthians 5:17."

Really?

So, I turned, and there it was. The verse I was going to use in my Bible study. Was this a sign that I was on the right track? Does God use signs and confirming "God-incidences"(sun, moon, stars, animals, other humans) to guide our thoughts and actions?

You betcha der heh!

If you Google "signs from heaven" and click on "Images" you will notice something. Lots of birds in particular. Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Hummingbirds. People seem to think creatures deliver confirming messages. But what does the Bible say?

"And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years." - Genesis 1:14

"There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven." - Luke 21:11

"The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes." - Joel 2:31

There are more examples than these, of signs from God.

Have you ever encountered one of God's signs? Was it delivered by another human? An animal? A very real and true prayer is for God to "show me a sign."

"And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs." - Mark 16:20

That's good enough for me!