“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” — Hebrews 11:6
I have come to the conclusion that God has made humans tri-uned beings, like Himself. He is Father, Spirit and Son, and we are soul (mind, will and emotions), spirit, and body. I know that everyone and his dog thinks he’s pin-pointed exactly what the difference is between man and animal, but here’s my take on it: people have a soul, a spirit, and a body; animals have only a soul and a body — no spirit. (God did not breathe life into them; He made them come alive some other way.) And plants only have a body, whose turgor pressure and biochemistry responds to certain physical stimuli.
Now things without spirits can sense and recognize God (and, therefore, anti-God). It’s like their cells remember Him. But only man can actually relate and commune with Him. God is spirit, and it takes a creature that has a spirit itself for a relationship with God to be possible.
When we pray that first “God, if you’re really there…” prayer, ie. “The Sinner’s Prayer”, God gives us a gift that no animal or plant is eqipped to receive: blind belief, or “faith”. This is something — a phenomenon — that does not occur in nature. Animals pretty much just live and learn, with some of their cleverness or shrewdness being taught to them by parental example. They have no need for the concept of faith, no way to use it, and no means by which they may obtain it. Faith is completely spiritual, and therefore completely unnatural.
No wonder we struggle so hard to stay in it — it is completely opposite our flesh nature, which has always been used to doing things without God. If you think about it, when we humans (try to) function outside of Unity, we do behave rather animalistically. We tend to base our assumptions, conclusions, desires and actions on the same exact things animals do: what we see, what we hear, what we smell/taste/touch, and what we’ve experienced before.
I checked out that word “believe”, and it seems to be active in its nature. “…for anyone who comes to him must BELIEVE that He exists…” It’s something that we must actively will ourselves to do, and then do. But that shouldn’t be hard for us; after all, we have to convince ourselves to NOT be willing to believe everything — or anything — the tabloids say! 
And I think advertising agencies have proven enough times that humans can believe anything, with the right reasoning and/or motivation applied.
So I guess all God’s really looking for is that little mustard seed of faith to begin to sprout, by reaching upward. When we reach for God, it always pleases Him!
