How Do I Know There’s a God?
I did not give myself my giftings;
I did not choose to give myself the ability of choice.
My parents didn’t teach me to understand what faith is;
It wasn’t by my word that I was born with voice.
Carnal creatures know carnal things,
Such as violence, and questions, and pleasures;
So my carnal self cannot itself be
Where I’ve gotten these spiritual treasures.
How many Pentacostals does it take to change a lightbulb?
Who can tell? They’ve ALL got their hands up!
Matthew 5:16 says “. . . let your light shine before others . . .”
I have been a Spirit-filled Christian for 20 years, and in my experience with other Spirit-filled believers, I have found a very cool phenomenon: humans act like light filters! When God shines through them, what that person does and says, as well as what their face looks like, ends up being some God, and some that person. Apparently He likes it like that; and when you think about it, why would He make all of these personalities, only to overpower and evaporate them later?
So the way I “see” it, God’s pure light comes through us in colors. It goes in white, and comes out filtered through us. And since we each have our own unique personality, it’s like we’re our own unique color. But we don’t shine that color until the Light shines through us; and then our color shines beautifully, and everyone around us sees it! I think my color is indigo. What’s your color?
“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!
