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

by DESTEFANO, ANTHONY

• ISBN13: 9780385509916
• ISBN10: 038550991X
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-10
• Publisher: Image

Summary

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 bestsellingA 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 toall 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 inTen Prayers God Always Says Yes Toaddresses a particular problem people commonly face in lifefrom 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 Tois 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 workreally, truly work."

Author Biography

Anthony DeStefano is the acclaimed author of A Travel Guide to Heaven. He lives in New York.

Excerpts

1
I Wish I Could Believe
God, Show Me That You Exist


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.” (1)

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 thereisa 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, bu

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