How to Prove that God is Real and Turn Your Financial Problems Around - Part 1
For generations, people have tried to find some way to prove that God is real; that He really exists, and that He really is Who He says He is. And there is a way to do that! In fact, it’s easy if you are really searching for God with a sincere heart. God is more than willing to provide personal evidence and signs to you that prove His existence.
“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.”—Deuteronomy 4:29 (NIV)
“You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.”—Jeremiah 29:13 (ISV)
God has been providing signs of His existence since the creation of the world. He established signs for us in the very first chapter of the Bible.
*“Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and ****let them be for signs ***and for seasons and for days and years;’”—Genesis 1:14 (NASB)
“The heavens tell about the glory of God. The skies show that his hands created them.”—Psalm 19:1 (NIRV)
Even with all of these signs all around us, many people still don’t believe in God. Why is that?
“Then the Lord said to Moses: ‘How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?’”—Numbers 14:11 (NKJV)
It all boils down to the motives of their hearts. People ask for signs, but God has already given signs, and yet they do not believe.
“For ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through His workmanship [all His creation, the wonderful things that He has made], so that they [who fail to believe and trust in Him] are without excuse and without defense.”—Romans 1:20 (AMP)
God has given signs as evidence of His existence, but in their hearts, some people have no intention of obeying and following God even when He *does *reveal Himself to them. They reject the evidence of His existence and His truth, because they love their sinful lifestyles too much. They choose not to believe because if they admitted to themselves that God really existed, it would cause them to have to face their wrong behavior and make uncomfortable changes in their lives. So, they choose not to believe rather than to make changes in their behavior and their lifestyles.
“They are judged by this fact: The light has come into the world. But they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things. Everyone who does evil hates the light. They will not come to the light, because the light will show all the bad things they have done.”—John 3:19-20 (ERV)
Jesus pointed this out when He said, “Evil and sinful people are the ones who want to see a miracle as a sign. But no miracle will be done to prove anything to them. The only sign will be the miracle that happened to the prophet Jonah. Jonah was in the stomach of the big fish for three days and three nights. In the same way, the Son of Man will be in the grave three days and three nights.”—Matthew 12:38-40 (ERV)
Jesus was already performing multiple miraculous acts and yet, these people still refused to believe in Him because believing in Jesus would necessarily require them to change their sinful lifestyles, and they were not willing to do that, so in an effort to try to disprove Jesus so that they could continue doing things that were wrong, they continued to ask for more proof. It was all simply an effort to avoid having to give up the sinful practices and lifestyles that they loved so much. Nothing that Jesus did could ever be good enough for them.
“Fellow Israelites, listen to these words! Jesus the Nazarene was a man whose credentials God proved to you through miracles, wonders, and signs, which God performed through him among you. You yourselves know this. In accordance with God’s established plan and foreknowledge, he was betrayed. You, with the help of wicked men, had Jesus killed by nailing him to a cross. God raised him up! God freed him from death’s dreadful grip, since it was impossible for death to hang on to him.”—Acts 2:22-24 (CEB)
At one point, Jesus told the experience of a rich man who had died after rejecting God in his life. The man ended up in eternal torment. The man begged Abraham to send a righteous man back from the dead to warn his family not to make the same mistake that had sent him to this place of eternal torment. Abraham assured the man, sadly, that if they won’t believe God’s messages to us in the Bible, they won’t believe an extraordinary sign like a man coming back from the dead.
“and he went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.
“The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’
“But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
“Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
“But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’
“The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’
“But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”—Luke 16:23-31 (NLT)
We know that Abraham was exactly right because Jesus did later arise from the dead, and yet, people still do not believe.
After Jesus rose from the dead, the ones who accepted His resurrection as a sign that He truly was the Son of God were His disciples—those whose hearts were sincerely seeking Truth.
“The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, ‘What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?’
“’Destroy this temple,’ Jesus answered, ‘and in three days I will build it again!’
“The leaders replied, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?’
“But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus.”—John 2:18-22 (CEV)
Those who have no intention of submitting to God and changing their sinful lifestyles will go so far as to cover up the miraculous signs that God has given them, denying that those signs ever happened. This is exactly what happened after Jesus’ resurrection.
“The women went to tell the followers. At the same time, some of the soldiers who were guarding the tomb went into the city. They went to tell the leading priests everything that happened. Then the priests met with the older Jewish leaders and made a plan. They paid the soldiers a lot of money and said to them, ‘Tell the people that Jesus’ followers came during the night and stole the body while you were sleeping. If the governor hears about this, we will talk to him and keep you out of trouble.’ So the soldiers kept the money and obeyed the priests. And that story is still spread among the Jews even today.”—Matthew 28:11-15 (ERV)
When people have no intention of serving God, and they are not willing to give up their sinful lifestyles and yield their lives in obedience to God, they will try to change the rules of the game. Instead of playing the game by the rules laid out by God, they will try to get God to play by their rules.
People asked Jesus for a sign to prove that He was Who He said He was.
“saying, ‘You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. So save yourself! Come down from that cross, if you are really the Son of God!’
“The leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the Jewish elders were also there. These men made fun of Jesus and said, ‘He saved other people, but he can’t save himself! People say he is the King of Israel! If he is the King, then let him come down now from the cross. Then we will believe in him.’”—Matthew 27:40-42 (ICB)
These demands for proof echoed Satan’s words to Jesus. This is what Satan did when He tempted Jesus. He tried to get Jesus to play by his rules. Jesus refused.
***“***Then the devil led Jesus to the holy city of Jerusalem and put him on a high place at the edge of the Temple area. He said to Jesus, ‘If you are the Son of God, jump off’
“Jesus answered, ‘The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’’
“Then the devil led Jesus to the top of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all the wonderful things in them. The devil said, ‘If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.’
“Jesus said to him, ‘Get away from me, Satan! The Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the Lord your God. Serve only him!’’”—Matthew 4:5-10 (ERV)
When we try to force God to play by our rules and meet our demands before we will believe and follow Him, we lose out. God’s ways are higher than ours. His thoughts are wiser than ours. He will not lower Himself to meet our foolish demands.
“God wisely planned that the world would not know him through its own wisdom. It pleased God to use the foolish things we preach to save those who believe. Jews require signs. Greeks look for wisdom. But we preach about Christ and his death on the cross. That is very hard for Jews to accept. And everyone else thinks it’s foolish. But there are those God has chosen, both Jews and Greeks. To them Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. The foolish things of God are wiser than human wisdom. The weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”—1 Corinthians 1:21-25 (NIRV)
People want God to prove Himself on their terms, to adjust to their demands, but God makes the rules of life. We don’t.
“And 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 (NIV)
But there is a way that each of us individually can prove that God is real and, at the same time, we can prove that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him! He has set up a way for us to test Him, and if we do it God’s way, He will prove Himself every time, without fail.
Maybe you have struggled to believe that God is real. You see the signs that God put in creation that give evidence of His existence, but you need something personal. You need personal evidence to prove to yourself that He is real for you. This test that God has set up can be the beginning of a lifetime of personal miracles that prove over and over that God truly exists for you.
We’ll look at that in the next message, entitled, The Test.