I Wish I Could Believe: God, Show Me That You Exist

Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers to Life's Most Difficult Problems
by Anthony DeStefano

There have been thousands of books written about prayer and millions of sermons preached about it, yet people continue to wonder: Why doesn't God answer me when I cry out to him? In light of all the problems we face in life, we want to know why God is often so "silent" when we pray to him. Anthony DeStefano, author of the bestselling A Travel Guide to Heaven, knew there had to be an answer to this mystery, so he set out on a quest to find prayers that God says yes to all the time. The result is an extraordinary new book that has the ability to dramatically change the lives of readers of all faiths.

Each short, powerful prayer in Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To addresses a particular problem people commonly face in life - from accepting the existence of God to trying to make ends meet; from getting through terrible suffering to coping with everyday stress; from overcoming fear to finding your God-given destiny. Presented with a certainty and vigor that are sure to pique the interest of even those who are not spiritually inclined, these prayers will help readers find solutions to life's most difficult situations and provide meaningful and inspiring answers to the vexing questions we have about the purpose of our time on earth. In a world awash with superficial self-help books and deceptive gimmicks, Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To is the real thing. Using hundreds of scriptural references to support his claims, DeStefano writes in a simple, straightforward, and uplifting manner that makes the most profound theological matters understandable to all. In the words of the author, "This is a spiritual treasure chest that is available to everyone.... This book is about prayers that work - really, truly work."

Chapter 1

Does God exist?

Can there be a simpler yet more important question in all the universe? Can there be one that has been the source of more mental anguish and emotional confusion in the history of mankind?

It's ironic that a question that so many people struggle with is also one that can be answered most easily by God when we put it in the form of a prayer. For when we lift our minds and hearts in humility and say to God: "Please show me that you exist... Give me some sign that you are really up there somewhere" he is only too happy to respond - sometimes with a speed that can astound us.

And yet people often spend decades of their life going round in circles trying to debate God's existence. They analyze the problem, research it, turn it over and over in their minds, go back and forth a thousand times, and at the end of the whole process, they're still not sure.

Why do people get caught in the "faith maze" so often? Probably because so many corollary questions flow from that basic question: Are we alone in the universe? Is death the end of the story? Is there a meaning to suffering? Is there a heaven or hell? Is there an ultimate plan for my life? The problem is that none of these issues can be discussed intelligently if the answer to the first question - "Does God exist?" - is no. If there is no God, then any talk about Providence and eternity is absurd. The funeral really is the end of the story, and life has no meaning beyond the day to day. As one of my theology professors used to say, it's the "Looney Tunes" philosophy of life, because like the old Warner Brothers cartoons, the only way to accurately describe death is with the phrase "That's all, folks!"

On the other hand, if there is a God, then a world of possibilities opens up to us. With God, not only does every human being live forever, but all the actions we take and decisions we make have a significance that extends far beyond the present moment. In fact, everything that happens to us in our life - down to the tiniest, most insignificant detail - is mysteriously tied to God's "plan."

There isn't much room for compromise here. Either we're alone in the world or we're not. Either we came about by chance or we were created for a reason. Either death is the end or it's the beginning. Either our situation is ultimately hopeless or it's ultimately blissful. There really can't be two more different or diametrically opposed worldviews.

So how can we come to grips with this most profound question? One way is through simple logic. In the long history of philosophy, many arguments have been put forward concerning the existence of God. Some of the greatest geniuses the world has ever known - Aristotle, Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Spinoza, Pascal, Descartes, and Kant, to name a few - have made the case that there is a God, and that he is a real, living being.

Some of these rational "proofs" are very famous. There is the so-called cosmological argument, for instance, which asks the question "Where did everything come from?" There is the teleological argument, which points to the order and design of the universe and asserts that there must be a "designer." There is the ontological argument, which is based on the concepts of perfection and existence. There are arguments from "efficient causality," from "contingency," from "desire," from "degrees of perfection," from "miracles," from "morality and conscience," and from "reliable testimonies." The list goes on and on.

There isn't time to discuss these proofs here, but all of them are based on logic, observation of the physical world and our internal consciousness, and inductive or deductive reasoning. None is based on Scripture. None attempts to prove God's existence by asserting that "the Bible says this or that."

These logical proofs can be extremely helpful, especially to someone who tends to think that it's not "intelligent" to believe in God or that religion somehow goes against science. But the problem is that sometimes people get so wrapped up in logic that they get tied up in it as well. They can forget that the solution they are looking for is right in front of their eyes and doesn't require any arguments at all.

In the case of faith, it's easy to overlook the most fundamental point of all, namely, that God is not an argument; he is not a syllogism; he is not even a concept. God is a living being. He has the ability to know things, to desire things, to create things, and to love things. He is fully aware and involved. He is alive.

Why is that so important? Because living beings don't have to be "proved." They can be shown. If I want to prove to everyone that my uncle Frank exists, I don't have to mathematically demonstrate that fact. I don't have to produce his birth certificate, passport, driver's license, or Social Security card. I can if I wish, but I don't have to. There's a much simpler solution. If I want, I can just pick up the phone, give him a call, and say, "Hi, Uncle Frank, how are you doing today?" And if anyone had the audacity to doubt that my uncle was really a living, breathing person, and not just some figment of my imagination, all I'd have to do is introduce them to him.

It's a similar situation when we discuss God. Yes, we can come up with all kinds of fancy arguments to prove his existence, but we don't have to. It's not a strict requirement. Because God is a living being, we can simply give him a "call." Since he is really, truly alive, he is going to answer us and have a conversation with us - maybe not in the exact same way as Uncle Frank would if we called him on the phone, but close.

Does that seem too easy? I promise it's not. It's just that most people who have questions about God's existence have never even tried to make contact with him. They've never made a sincere effort to suspend their doubts for one second and say: "God, I don't know if you're up there. In fact, I'm having a big problem believing in you. But if you do exist, will you please do something to show me, so that I know for sure?"

Do you know what will happen if you say this kind of prayer? God is going to answer you. He is going to say YES. He is going to show you that he exists. Why? Because God is not some cosmic joker. He is not interested in playing hide-and-seek with us. His goal is not to confound and confuse us for our entire lives. Yes, he wants us to have faith in something we can't see or touch, but he doesn't expect us to do the impossible. He doesn't expect us to believe in something or someone we can't even communicate with.

You see, communication is really the key to understanding the whole mystery of faith. In fact, the history of the world is really the history of God trying to communicate with mankind. By creating the universe and the planets in the first place, God was essentially "breaking the silence." By creating animals and human beings, he was making conversation possible. By formulating covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, he was taking the step of actually speaking to us. By sending great prophets like Elijah and Isaiah to his chosen people, he was deepening his bond with us and "revealing" himself to us even more clearly. God's most direct act of communication was to become a man in the person of Jesus Christ. By actually walking among us in bodily form and speaking to us plainly in our own language, God was doing everything he could to "talk to us." And by sending his Holy Spirit, first to the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday and then to the rest of the world, God continues to communicate with us to this very day.

Copyright © 2007 by Anthony DeStefano.

About the Author

Anthony DeStefano has received may prestigious awards from religious organizations throughout the world for his efforts to advance Christian beliefs in modern culture. These include an honorary doctorate from the National Clergy Council and the Methodist Episcopal Church's Joint Academic Commission, as well as the "Defender of Israel" medal from the Jerusalem Center for Peace Studies, conferred on him in 2003. He is the CEO of a Catholic not-for-profit organization; he lives in Long Island with his wife, Kimberly, a kindergarten teacher.