The Lifted Warrior
Designed for new and young believers in Christ, this weekly podcast equips you with essential spiritual tools to navigate daily struggles and uphold Christian values. Each episode offers practical strategies to strengthen your faith and stay committed to a life fully submitted to Jesus. Join us as we encourage and empower you to stand firm in your walk with Christ.
The Lifted Warrior
Lord Give Me A Sign
What if your constant plea for signs from God is actually blocking your spiritual breakthrough?
In this challenging episode, we confront a widespread habit in Christian culture that subtly undermines our faith journey: demanding signs before taking action. When we find ourselves saying, "God, if you want me to do this, just show me a sign," we're revealing a fundamental misunderstanding of how faith works.
Jesus didn't mince words when confronting the Pharisees and Sadducees on this very issue, calling them "an evil and adulterous generation" for demanding miraculous proof. But why such harsh language? Because demanding signs reveals we've positioned ourselves in opposition to God's sovereignty and authority. We've forgotten that the Holy Spirit dwelling within us is already the ultimate sign of God's presence and guidance.
Throughout Scripture, we see a consistent pattern that many of us have backwards: signs follow faith, not the other way around. Abraham witnessed God's provision only after demonstrating complete trust. Moses performed miracles after his encounter with God and step of faith. When Jesus healed people, He often declared, "Your faith has made you whole."
Many believers miss God's provision because they've stepped off His intended path while waiting for confirmation. His cloud of revelation hovers over the right path—not wherever we've wandered seeking proof. The solution isn't more signs but deeper faith, built through daily immersion in God's Word and small steps of obedience that build confidence in recognizing His voice.
God is raising up a generation who won't require multiple confirmations before obeying—believers who understand that the Holy Spirit within them is already sufficient guidance. Will you be among them? Your challenge: identify what God is asking of you right now, and take action without demanding further signs. The world is ripe for revival, but God is seeking those who will move when He speaks.
what's up, guys, and welcome back to the lifted warrior podcast. I'm your host, cam, and I am thrilled to be back in front of you guys. So if you didn't catch last week episode not last week, but the the last episode that we released man, I, I encourage you, I implore you, I challenge you to go back and watch it. Man, it was very, very powerful for me and I know it'll be the same for you. Um, and we're just really talking about the plight of Saul and kind of how we ourselves fall into the same thing, where we are more so concerned about how a thing may look, we're more so concerned about what others may think about us, than we are about truly just following what God told us to do. So, man, if you haven't, if you haven't listened to it yet, stop this, go listen to that, then come back.
Speaker 1:But we're in our series of deconstructing us, um, and if you don't know what that series is or what it's about, man, what I'm really doing is just really hammering um home some different things that I've seen or that I've witnessed in the body of christ here with can't talk, but what I've witnessed here recently of people really just not being able to fully stand on what they believe, because they have not done the work in order to be proven to be a child of God and so that they have put their hope and they put their trust in different things, and those things begin to fail them because they're hoping their trust was not on God and God alone. So my job with this series is to really just begin to question and look at what we say that we truly believe in and give us a real biblical foundation for that thing. And so, moving into today's episode, I was rereading the scripture that God gave me to kind of base this whole series on, and he led me to Matthew 16, 1 and 4. And it's really just dealing with, or it's Jesus dealing with, people asking for him to give them a sign. And as I was reading it, man, I really just began to think about how we today do the same thing, where we're constantly begging God, we're constantly begging for a sign, we're constantly asking God. God, if you want me to do this, then just reveal a sign to me. And truthfully, I've done it myself, like I've been. I can think back maybe a year or two ago and I'm in my church service and I'm sitting there debating with something that I know God was telling me to do, and I'm like well, god, if you want me to do it, have the minister minister to me. And God did it and he showed up and he was faithful in that.
Speaker 1:But what that truly shows us more than it is us really going after God and seeking for his confirmation and validation what it is, it's truly just a lack of faith. It's a lack of faith in what we know God has told us to do. It's a lack of faith in believing and trusting in what he's told us, and it gets us further away from truly being and truly doing what God wanted us to do. And this is a huge flaw. Or the huge flaw in this also is the fact that the devil can give signs too. The devil can have somebody come up and give you a word. The devil can cause things to happen, or a cause can make somebody who's working for him to do something, in order that you quote unquote see a sign and believe that it's from God, when truly it was the devil getting you out of God's will for your life. And so we have to just make sure that we're really doing some hard work, we're really doing some foundational work on what it is that we say we believe and how we go about following God and following his plans for our lives, because we can easily be deceived and if we're only going to make decisions based on signs, then we're not walking by faith, we're walking by sight and we're easily led astray by any worker of iniquity. So let me get into that scripture that I said. That really sparked all of this, because this is really where this whole conversation comes from and I really hope that you're able to get something from it as you're sitting and listening with me.
Speaker 1:But it's Matthew 16, one and four, and it says one day, the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. First of all, why are they demanding anything from this man? If he comes and he says he's the Messiah, okay, you don't believe him, but you're going to demand that he shows you a sign, even after he's done all these other things? And what? As I was, as I was even going through this because this side note this ain't my first time trying to record this video, but as I was trying to go through this the first time, god was just kind of showing me that, like Jesus is himself the sign. We're begging for a sign and the sign is literally in front of our face.
Speaker 1:The sign is the fact that you are hearing from God. The sign is the fact that you got the idea and you're begging for a sign to complete the assignment that God gave you. And he said I already gave you the sign. The idea was the sign, the thought in your mind was the sign. Let me not get too far. But so that was verse one. And then in verse four, he said only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. Then Jesus left them and went away. And so, as I was reading this man, the first question that I had I'll be honest with you was like why was it so evil for them to demand a sign outside of what I just told you? But I'm like, why was this so evil? Why was it such an issue that they would demand a sign from God? And God led me to Hebrews 11 and 6.
Speaker 1:And it's you know, you guys know the scripture, but it's without faith it is impossible to please God. So if I'm demanding that God give me a sign in order that I may believe in him, then I'm already operating in error because I can't. I can't please him, I can't walk in faith with him unless I believe in him, like unless I have faith right. And in order to come to God you must first believe that he exists and not be proven that he exists. So it doesn't meaning that you can do all the logical work in your head. You can do all the understanding and processing that you want to do in your head, but unless you truly believe that he is God, that there is one true living God, that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for you and that he sent his Holy Spirit after the fact that Jesus was risen, then it's impossible to please him. So that's why it's evil, because you're already negating the authenticity of who he is. Your belief is what will unlock the signs, but with no belief there will be no sign.
Speaker 1:Let's jump down to Job 38 and 4. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you know so much. And in this scripture what we're seeing is God responding to Job after Job had. You know, he had suffered, he had lost pretty much everything, and now he was beginning to question God. And God's response to his questioning of him was where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Where were you when I set the stars in the sky? Where were you when I laid, when I said that the sea could only come so far? Where were you when I set out the land upon the earth? Where were you when I did these things and the reason why God was questioning Job, like where were you when I did this? Because Job was questioning God, and we do the same thing when we're asking or demanding a sign from God, and God's response to us is where were you when I decided that this is what you should do? Where were you when I created you in your mother's womb to complete this assignment? Where were you when I saw that this was an issue in the earth and I said I know the perfect person for it and it's my son, it's my daughter. Where were you?
Speaker 1:And what we begin to do is when we ask or when we demand God for a sign. Is what we're doing then? Is we're limiting or we're questioning his sovereignty. God is sovereign, meaning that he can govern the earth, he can govern his people, he can govern his children how he wants to. And when we get into a place where we begin to demand things from him, we begin to demand God, I'll only do it if you show me a sign. God, I'll only do it if you come and you do this. God, I'll only do it if you have somebody come and prophesy to me. What we're saying is that God's sovereignty is not enough for us. I don't want to get too preachy in this, I'm trying to dial it back. So, the same way we demand things from God like a sign of his power, or even a sign to move on what he has told us to do, we are being disrespectful to his sovereignty. We're being disrespectful to him.
Speaker 1:And the next that I was, I was asking, I got okay. Well, that's why it's, that's why you could call them evil, but why did you say that they were adulterous? Why was? Why was there? Why was their thinking adulterous is? And the? The answer to that is when we lend ourselves to the thinking that we demand a sign before believing, we are thinking like those who don't believe, meaning that we have already come into believing, we are thinking like those who don't believe, meaning that we have already come into covenant or we have already come into agreement with the kingdom of darkness. We have already come into agreement with the direct thing that's opposing God. We've taken ourselves out of agreement or out of covenant with God and come into agreement with something else, and because of that, now he can. That's why he says that there are adulterous thinking, or that their thinking is adulterous.
Speaker 1:Okay, and when we think about the demonic and the occult, they thrive off of demonstration and exertion of power. The kingdom is not such, though. Now the kingdom exerts its power over darkness. Yes, because the kingdom of light has to overcome darkness. However, however, even in that, we are not a people, we're not a generation, we're not a bloodline that demands any power or demands an exertion of power in order to believe or in order to know that God is real. Yes, those things happen, and the signs and wonders are for the non-believer, but we, as those that are already in Christ, we do not demand signs from God in order that we may believe in him, in order that we may trust in what he's already telling us to do. No, what we do is we stand in faith. We stand in the faith that God has given us, and we stand in understanding and knowing that he has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell with inside us and to lead us into all truth. And so, if I know that I have the Holy Spirit within me, instead of begging God for a sign, when I believe, or when I know that God told me to do something, I begin to act on it. And if it's not what God really wants me to do, he'll let me know.
Speaker 1:We've been a generation or we've been a people that's been so caught up in trying to make sure that we're doing everything perfect, but we're not perfect. We're never going to be perfect. So, instead, what we should be doing, instead of reaching for perfect, we should be reaching for pursuit pursuit of what God asked me to do, in pursuit of becoming who he wants me to be. But the only way I do that is if I get rid of this need for a sign and I keep saying sign, but a sign could be anything If I get rid of this need for prophecy, if I get rid of this need for someone to come and lay their hands on me, if I get rid of this need for someone to, for a dream to pop up in my life. If I get rid of this need for a bird to fly past my window, whatever that sign is that you have been begging God for or you've been asking God for, we have to get rid of this need for a sign in order that we may truly walk in faith and see his faithfulness in the earth. So what was Jesus's response to them, though and I'm still in that same verse that I leapt off of but Jesus's response to them, or the only response that he gave them for demanding a sign, was declaring the sign of Jonah, and so I had to go back and I read like okay, god, you said that you go to or Jesus said that he was going to leave them the sign of Jonah. What is the sign of Jonah?
Speaker 1:So, reading the end of Jonah, we see something very powerful in the text. If you kind of look at them, if you kind of parallel these two, right the same way Jesus came to redeem those who were in spiritual darkness, we see God telling the same thing to Jonah when he was mad about him going to Nineveh. See what happened. Just to give some context for those who may not be familiar with the story. Jonah was told to go to a place and to declare to them all their sins. Jonah said I don't want to do it, god, because all you're going to do is forgive them anyway. I'm going somewhere else. God said all right, bet you want to belly of the fish. He was there for three days and then he repented and said you know what? I'll go do it. He went, he goes and does it, and then in that place it he went, he goes and does it, and then in that place, god then, of course, forgives the people after they repent. And Jonah's like God. Why did you even send me here? I knew you would just go forgive him anyway.
Speaker 1:So what the reason why I found this powerful that Jesus would parallel what Jonah did, not just because of his death, burial and resurrection that happened in three days, just like Jonah, but also in his disposition towards the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He was saying I understand that they're a wicked and perverse people. However, the same sign that Jonah gave them and God being faithful enough to redeem them if they repent, that's the same sign I'm going to give them as well. No, yeah, I know you don't believe in me, but I'm going to die and be risen again and hopefully, after that happens, you can believe in me. You can believe that I am the way, the truth and the life. And I find it very interesting that Jesus has this disposition in so many different ways, that his thought, that his thought process is to redeem us from our wickedness. And I think, if we begin to understand just how wicked it is to demand signs from God, that redemption is waiting on us, that understanding of God really loves me and he wants the best for me, is waiting on me after I turn and repent. So what's the truth of signs and miracles when we look at God showing up in miraculous ways?
Speaker 1:From the Old Testament to the New Testament, the sign showed up after faith. So don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that signs are bad. I'm not saying that you know, confirmation is a bad thing. But what I am saying is you can't put confirmation before you moving in the purpose that God asked you to do. No, it's flipped After you have put faith in God, after you have taken the time and said God, I believe in what you told me to do and I'm not moving off of what you said. In fact, not only am I not moving off of it, but I'm beginning to put things in place to accomplish what you told me to do. Then the sign comes up. So there's a difference. We've been putting the sign in front of us moving, but no, you move first and then you begin to see signs show up. I'll prove it to you.
Speaker 1:In Genesis 22, the ram showed up for the sacrifice after Abraham's faith was seen true. So after Abraham goes up and takes this journey up to the top of the mountain, after he begins to lay out an altar to be able to sacrifice, after he ties down his son, and after he begins to raise up his hand to strike his son, then God sends an angel, says stop, there's a ram in the bush. But it was only after his faith was proven that the ram showed up. Let's go to Moses. Moses was able to perform the signs to Pharaoh because of his faith in God. Moses has an encounter with God out in the wilderness and his faith in God is what allows him to then begin to go and work these miracles in front of Pharaoh. No, the signs in these miracles did not happen before he had faith. No, he had to have faith to be able to stand in front of Pharaoh. He had to have faith in order to stretch out his staff over the Red Sea. He had to have faith first in order for the sign to stand up and show itself strong and when Jesus would heal people.
Speaker 1:His response mostly I'm not going to say it was always, but mostly his response to these peoples was your faith has made you whole. If you don't hear nothing else from me in this podcast, what I'm hitting at, what I'm driving home to you, is that your faith is what's going to be the catalyst to you being able to see the sign. And what we also have to also understand is that faith is not a it's not a passive thing. Faith is something that's active, it's always. Faith makes you get up and go out and look for houses. When God said you're going to be a homeowner. Faith makes you get up and start recording videos. When God said I want you to build a digital discipleship hub.
Speaker 1:Faith makes you begin to go out on the street and evangelize. When God said I'm going to cause you to be a great street evangelist, when you truly believe in a thing and you truly believe in the faith of something and you truly have faith in something, you begin to trust in that thing. What do I mean? If I'm climbing on a ladder and I believe that this ladder is going to hold me, I'm going to put my weight on it. And I believe we have to begin to do the same thing with God.
Speaker 1:If I'm believing that God told me to do something, I have to begin to put my weight on God. What does that look like? It means okay, god, you told me that you're going to open up the mind of the teacher to me. So what do I do? I begin to open my Bible and read and I put my weight on God. And what does that look like? So, with that same example, if I'm saying God, you told me that I'm going to be a great, I'm going to you're going to open up the mind of the teacher to me. Right, I put my weight on God when I begin to read my word. So I begin to ask questions, god, why did you use this word instead of this word? I begin. So, god, how does this link to the Old Testament? If I'm reading the poetic verses, how does this link to the overall arching theme of the Bible? What are you saying in this and what does this mean to me in my present time? Begin to put your weight on God and put your trust in Him, and then you'll begin to see your faith truly shine through. So what's the difference? I kind of hit on this already, but I'll kind of push it again.
Speaker 1:The difference is we're so caught up in asking for a sign so that we may have faith. But, truthfully, our faith is what allows the sign to show up. I'll give you another example. If someone believes that God sent them to move to Texas and when they get there they're driving on a freeway and they see a sign that says welcome home To that person, that is a prophetic sign that they are in the right place. However, to anybody else that's lived in Texas all their life, that's just a random sign. So see the person that moved by faith to Texas. When they see that sign, it's a prophetic indication that they're in the right, that they're in the will of God, and so. But it took them having faith and moving in their situation, moving from where they were currently and moving in what they believe God told them to do in order for the sign to show up, to do in order for the sign to show up. And I'll hit that really quick.
Speaker 1:Most of us are not seeing, or not even walking in, the provision that God has for us, simply because we are not taking the time to do what he told us to do. If this is God's path for your life, I'll say if this is God's path for your life. But instead of going like this, you're going like this. You're missing all of the provision that he laid out for you. You're missing all of the signs that he laid out for your life. And because you're missing all of those signs, you're begging God to speak to you and he's like I am speaking, you're just in the wrong spot. My cloud is hovering and releasing revelation, but you're in the wrong place. You have to get back to the right place. You have to get back to where God told you to be in order that you may be in right standing with him and be able to receive him fully.
Speaker 1:So what's our answer? To receive him fully. So what's our answer? What's our answer to getting rid of this need to see a sign, getting rid of this need to have God speak to us or have a minister speak to us before us truly moving in what God told us to do? And the answer is faith. The answer is faith. Is faith? The answer is faith? The answer is faith.
Speaker 1:Mark 11 24 says I tell you you can pray for anything and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours. Also, james 1, 6 through 7 says but when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Be sure that your faith is in God alone. Be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
Speaker 1:My brother, my sister, whoever may be listening to this, we, we, we got to get back to a place where we truly believe in God and believe in the fact that he not just is real, but that he sent the Holy Spirit to dwell with inside of us. And that same Holy Spirit that was sent to dwell with inside of you is leading you into all truth. Not only is it leading you into all truth, but it's guiding you through the pathways of life. It's guiding you through the paths of life. And if that Holy Spirit is guiding you through the paths of life, then you must trust and believe and have faith in the God that put the Holy Spirit in you. You must trust and believe that the Holy Spirit is in you.
Speaker 1:Now, how do we build our faith? The Bible tells us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We have to be diligent in building up ourselves with God's word daily. I'll emphasize that God's word daily. Emphasize that God's word daily, not when we feel like it, but every single day. Fill yourself up with the word of God. The reason why a lot of us are begging God for signs, the reason why a lot of us are not moving by the inward, knowing that God has placed inside of our hearts, is because we're not accustomed to his voice. So we hear a thought and we say, hey, that's a really good thought. I don't know if I should move on it yet, and I'm not saying you shouldn't have a time of processing, but what I am saying is that we have not understood that God is the one that's speaking, because we have not spent time understanding him and knowing his character. Because we have not spent time understanding him and knowing his character. So we have to take time and get to know him by reading his word and by listening to the preached word as well.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of people, especially in this deconstruction movement, this deconstruction era, don't want to go to church because they've been hurt by the church. And look, I get it. I talked about it a couple of episodes ago. I get church hurt. I understand it, I believe that it's a real thing and I do think that the institution of church has to do a better job of actually catering to the people that walk into the building. However, that does not excuse you from fellowship. The Bible says do not despise the gathering of the believers. So that does not excuse you from fellowship. No, you need to get in some type of fellowship. It ain't got to be a traditional church, but you need some type of fellowship in order that you may continue to hear the word of God. So the next thing from that, after you know hearing and hearing the word of God, take steps in what God has given you to do.
Speaker 1:Man, I, I truly believe, I truly wholeheartedly believe that God is raising up a people, he is raising up a generation who does not need a sign, who do not need a prophecy, who do not need a dream in order for them to do what God asked them to do, and those will be the people who change the world. If you're listening to this and you're saying, god, I don't need a sign, god, I just want to trust you at your word, then you will be the people who God is going to use to shake up the foundations of the earth, because the earth is ripe for a revival. The earth is ripe for God to come and do a move, but God is seeking those who do not need 10 confirmations in order to know that he is the one that sent them. Now, I'm not saying that you don't need to be verified. Don't, don't, don't. Cam ain't never said that you do need to be verified. You need to be vested.
Speaker 1:However, god is looking for those who will believe what it is that he's put in his heart, in their hearts. God is looking for those that will believe those that God is looking for, people that will believe that he's walking with them, that he's talking with them, that the same way that he met with Moses on the mountain is the same way that he's going to meet with you, the same way that he walked with Jesus is the same way that he's going to walk with you. The same way Jesus walked with the disciples is the same way that the Holy Spirit walks with you. And so if you are going around begging God for someone else to be a sign unto you and he said I have already sent the sign, which is my Holy Spirit, what are we talking about? The sign is the fact that you heard already, so continue to walk in it and, trust me, this is what you're going to have to do.
Speaker 1:You're going to have to begin to take steps in what God has given you to do, and it's going to be hard. You're not going to fully know if it's God the first time you do it. You're not going to fully understand how to walk it out when you first do it. However, the more you take those small steps okay, I believe that I just got out of my prayer closet. I believe God wants me to go and sit at this coffee shop. Just go do it. Don't ask for why, don't ask for a confirmation, don't wait for somebody to invite you. Just go. Go do it. And guess what? Even if you go and do it and nothing happens. Take it as a test that God is just trying to see. Will he do what I asked him to do? Will you get up and go where I asked you to go? But take those small steps. And the more that you begin to take those small steps, the more you'll begin to find the peace of God over that inward knowing, the more you'll be able to find the peace of God as you move and trust him. But this will be your entryway into shaken nations.
Speaker 1:I believe that there are many that will watch this video. There are many that will listen to this podcast, and you've been asking and you've been begging God for a shaking either of your own nation or for a shaking of nations around the earth. And this is your entryway. It's by trusting the leading of the Holy Ghost and not begging and asking for a hundred different confirmations. You've been to enough conferences, you've been to enough meetings. You've heard the word of the Lord enough times. It's time for you to trust the God that is placed within you.
Speaker 1:Now again, don't hear what I'm not saying. You need wise counsel around you. You will always need that. However, what you need more right now is just begin to trust the Holy Spirit within you and trust that he's the one that sent you. Now and this is my last thing and we'll move from here but when God is able to trust you without having to persuade per messing up my words but when God is able to trust you without having to persuade, you, watch as your life changes drastically for the better.
Speaker 1:See, the issue with a lot of us is that we have not been found trustworthy with God, because everything that he asks us to do, he has to persuade us with God, because everything that he asks us to do, he has to persuade us. But what if we got to a place where, when God asks us to do something, there's no persuading, but we're fully convinced? And the way that I know that a lot of us aren't fully convinced is because we're talking ourselves into it. We're going and saying okay, god, I'm going to trust you at your word. No, you're not, because if you trusted him at his word when he said do it, you would have did it already. You wouldn't be having this verbal conversation of saying I'm going to trust you at your word. But when we get to that place where God does not have to persuade us to do anything, we'll see a huge difference in our personal lives with him and in the lives that we see around us.
Speaker 1:My challenge to you this week sit and take time to really hear what God is saying and asking of you right now, whether it be big or small, and after you you heard something, take that step and follow God. Do not ask for a sign of confirmation, just move. The confirmation that you need is the holy spirit that was speaking to you. After that, move. We don't have time to sit and wait. We don't have time to sit and beg god for 10 different confirmations. The sign that you needed was that he spoke to you. Go ahead and move. Go ahead and do it. Let's pray and let's get out.
Speaker 1:God, I thank you for every person that will watch this video.
Speaker 1:I thank you for their life.
Speaker 1:I thank you for everyone that will listen to the podcast as well. I thank you for their life. I pray to God that you would just continue to give them strength, continue to give them wisdom and boldness and make them courageous to be able to do what you told them to do. Father, I thank you for your sign. That is the Holy Spirit that has already been given to us. Father, I thank you that we would trust and lean and put our weight on the Holy Spirit and that we would move when he speaks and when he reveals what your mind is concerning our lives and concerning what you would have us to do. Father, I pray even now that you would just go and begin to make every path straight, of every person that would come in contact with this video or come in, come in contact with this live recording and and continue to show yourself strong as they move and follow you. Father, and it's in jesus, mighty and holy name, I do pray. Amen, amen, until next week, or not next week, but until the next episode. Y'all stay lifted.
