A surefire way to find out whether God exists is to ask him, says Anthony DeStephano.
God is sure to answer "Yes" - in some way, says DeStephano, author of Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To.
Of course, you have to really want to know. If you have already decided he doesn't exist, you'll probably miss his answer.
DeStephano wrote his book to assure us that we can be certain the Lord will say "Yes" to prayers that align with God's own wishes and plans.
He acknowledges that there are many prayers God says "No" to.
"Like a good father, he is not concerned about gratifying our every wish. Instead, he is concerned about only one thing: our ultimate good, which boils down to whether or not we make it to heaven."
So every prayer we make is evaluated according to that long-term goal. He says "yes or no based on what he knows will happen to us in the future as a result of that decision".
Yet we can be sure that God wants to say "Yes" to prayers that will lead to "certain spiritual favours and graces that are always good for us and that we need all the time".
One of these, of course, is faith.
We can spend a lot of time exploring arguments about God's existence, but that will not lead to faith. Faith is a gift of God.
Faith in God - in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for us - is the stepping stone to a whole new life with boundless hope and possibility. It answers questions like "What will happen after I die?" and "Why do I exist?"
Sometimes, too, believers have intellectual doubts and need confirmation that God is real.
Getting tied up in philosophical arguments about God's existence won't get us far. That's because God is alive and all we have to do is ask him. He will show us.
DeStephano says it's highly unlikely that he will suddenly appear before us and speak to us. Although, he has sent angels supernaturally to speak to people in the Bible and even in modern times.
Instead, God is looking for us to trust him when he is invisible as a keystone to a growing faith.
"Very simply, God will give you a sign of his presence - a real, genuine, bona fide sign," the author writes. "The exact nature of this sign will be up to him, of course . . . But you can be sure that it will be something out of the ordinary."
By "out of the ordinary", DeStephano says it may be profound or as simple as a conversation with someone that the Lord impresses on your heart as something from God.
Perhaps it is escaping a close call with death without a scratch. Or, an unexpected solution to a problem that you could not have predicted. Or, conquering a personal evil in your life.
"There will be a growing conviction in your mind and in your heart that there must have been some other force at work. And more important, there will be a growing conviction of the presence of this force."
The Bible makes clear that prayer is important simply because God wants a close relationship with us. He loves us and wants to help us.
We just have to ask the right questions and keep our eyes and ears open for the answers.
God is sure to answer "Yes" - in some way, says DeStephano, author of Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To.
Of course, you have to really want to know. If you have already decided he doesn't exist, you'll probably miss his answer.
DeStephano wrote his book to assure us that we can be certain the Lord will say "Yes" to prayers that align with God's own wishes and plans.
He acknowledges that there are many prayers God says "No" to.
"Like a good father, he is not concerned about gratifying our every wish. Instead, he is concerned about only one thing: our ultimate good, which boils down to whether or not we make it to heaven."
So every prayer we make is evaluated according to that long-term goal. He says "yes or no based on what he knows will happen to us in the future as a result of that decision".
Yet we can be sure that God wants to say "Yes" to prayers that will lead to "certain spiritual favours and graces that are always good for us and that we need all the time".
One of these, of course, is faith.
We can spend a lot of time exploring arguments about God's existence, but that will not lead to faith. Faith is a gift of God.
Faith in God - in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for us - is the stepping stone to a whole new life with boundless hope and possibility. It answers questions like "What will happen after I die?" and "Why do I exist?"
Sometimes, too, believers have intellectual doubts and need confirmation that God is real.
Getting tied up in philosophical arguments about God's existence won't get us far. That's because God is alive and all we have to do is ask him. He will show us.
DeStephano says it's highly unlikely that he will suddenly appear before us and speak to us. Although, he has sent angels supernaturally to speak to people in the Bible and even in modern times.
Instead, God is looking for us to trust him when he is invisible as a keystone to a growing faith.
"Very simply, God will give you a sign of his presence - a real, genuine, bona fide sign," the author writes. "The exact nature of this sign will be up to him, of course . . . But you can be sure that it will be something out of the ordinary."
By "out of the ordinary", DeStephano says it may be profound or as simple as a conversation with someone that the Lord impresses on your heart as something from God.
Perhaps it is escaping a close call with death without a scratch. Or, an unexpected solution to a problem that you could not have predicted. Or, conquering a personal evil in your life.
"There will be a growing conviction in your mind and in your heart that there must have been some other force at work. And more important, there will be a growing conviction of the presence of this force."
The Bible makes clear that prayer is important simply because God wants a close relationship with us. He loves us and wants to help us.
We just have to ask the right questions and keep our eyes and ears open for the answers.
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