When God appears to be giving conflicting messages

[holyrood]

What do you do? How do you make sense of it?

I’d rather not go into detail, but I spent a year doing a daily hour of prayer. I’m not claiming I ‘hear’ God audibly, but during the listening portion, I occasionally had very strong feelings, or promptings, about the things I was praying about, and which direction to go, very much as if I was being pushed in answer to those prayers.

In one situation, I would say that a lot of good seemed to come from following those promptings. In another, someone else had a very similar experience just hours before I did which seemed to confirm that I was not imagining things. Good things seem to be springing from that in one way, too.

Yet these two ‘messages’ seem to me to conflict with one another, and right now I actually feel as if both situations have blown up in my face.

I’m left wondering how we really ever trust where we feel God is leaving us. What do you do when you believe you’ve done the best you can to follow God’s will and things seem to blow up, anyway?

 

[oldgraymare2]

Hi holyrood,

For me personally, I have found that God often works through other people, and many times answers to my particular prayers would be confirmed in that particular way.

For example, let’s say I would be praying for help regarding a certain issue, and then three different people all told me the exact same thing, but all of the people told me independently of each other, and none of them knew that I was talking about the situation to anyone else.

What I think can happen is that perhaps a person’s free will can take part in changing things, if someone happens to change their mind on what they were going to do to help us, let’s say, if what they were going to do was part of the answer to our prayer/s. I have seen that happen in my own situations, and that would have a part in changing the outcome for me.

I also feel that when God answers a prayer for us, He wants us to have a sense of peace, and not a sense of confusion or unease/uneasiness.

Anyway, these are some of my thoughts.

 

[808Catholic]

Our way is not always God’s way; we have to trust in Him and be faithful. We may think it didn’t work out but, in the end, all things are as God plans. God Bless you.

 

[therese14]

I once hear in a sermon that we should ignore such things, if it really comes from the Holy Spirit, it will bear fruit eventually. Maybe asking a spiritual director (a priest) would help

 

[fred_conty]

Use cold hard logical faith…the principles of your faith to guide you.

Forget feelings…they do not work. It is like having the wind for your guide. Believe only what your faith teaches you and go on that. All the frills are just that.

For those who want more, use a spiritual director.

The devil can manipulate your feelings and even block your mind so that everything seems confusing. He will make temptation feel like sin. And to follow feelings would be disasterous. The devil can see to it that you get what you want in some things and then mix you up when he doesn’t give you the other things. Yes becomes no, and no becomes yes, to the point that you don’t know where you are at any more.

Try to see things thru the light of Christ, the things he taught us.

When prayers are said for spiritual benefits, he will provide you with them in other ways.

“If you love me keep my commandments.” Stay faithful to the tried and true.

By the way, it isn’t bad to have un-sought-for temptation, for that is how we prove we do love him. Offer that to him when it comes, especially at the Mass.

May the Good Shepherd fill you with peace.