Question: God doesn’t make sense to me.

For instance, why should I pray? Does it or doesn’t it change His mind?

If praying changes God’s mind then He is not sovereign and if it doesn’t then praying is useless.

My parents don’t understand why I question even the existence of God so much when to me so many things I’ve been taught even at church don’t seem to add up. I don’t know what to believe.

 

Answer: Questioning the existence of God is natural. How can you “put your hands around” the idea of something you can’t directly see or touch?

Your quest must begin with believing that something is real. You may ask “But if nothing about God adds up, how am I to believe He is real?”

If even the slightest something inside of you wants to believe or is considering the possibility that God may be real, say a prayer. This may seem to be a silly and useless exercise because you don’t even know who you are praying to, or if this entity exists, I understand.

Nobody has to know you’re praying, and God certainly doesn’t care where you pray, what you say, or if even your prayer is said silently to yourself. He will hear.

Say “I want to believe in you, but I don’t.” Keep reiterating this prayer to set your heart on finding the truth and then wait expectantly.

Your answer may come in one second or it may come many years from the first time you pray but never give up on that “useless” prayer. One day your powerful answer will arrive with a groundbreaking impact.

“Thank the Lord” praying can’t change God’s mind on the overall plan for each of His children, which is for each to spend eternity with Him in the peaceful and painless perfection of heaven.

Every father should desire the best for his children. God serves as the perfect father role model by practicing what He preaches and by still allowing each of us to follow Him or not.

Despite His saddened heart when a child rejects him as a loving Father, He forces His love on no one. That would not be very loving. Would it?

Once a person’s heart believes in God, they will begin to entrust every detail of their life to Him. Prayer will become a mighty and powerful tool used to communicate with God and also to deepen one’s relationship with Him.

The content of prayers begin to change from “Me, me, me” to “God, take me where I need to go because I know You know what is best for me even though I can’t see it.”

Here is where complete alignment with God occurs and where with our actions God acts consistent with His Word and allows our prayers to influence His reaction.

As we shift our focus from less of our own will and toward more of His we also gain more trust in Him. With deepened trust we are able to thank Him for not changing His mind or for saying “No” to something we ask for which would be detrimental to our overall interest.

God knows our future, knows better what we need to be equipped for it, and has already orchestrated the perfect plan for each of our lives. Trusting in His will, not in our own, exchanges mediocrity for perfection.