It is the same way with Christ. Yes, we can believe that God exists, but God wants us to come to know Him personally. And He has bridged the gap between us by sending His Son to remove the barrier of sin and become that “bridge.” To believe in Christ is to commit our lives by faith to Christ—to trust Him personally as our Lord and Savior.

Notice what changed Thomas: It wasn’t his feelings, but the fact that Christ was alive and cared about him. And the same can be true for you. You see, often our faith is based only on our emotions; sometimes we feel God is near us or we feel we believe in Christ—but other times we don’t feel that way.

The Bible puts it far better than I can: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Have you ever stopped to consider just how great this message is?

The Bible begins with the simple words: “In the beginning God … ” These four words are the cornerstone of all existence and of all human history. God is not just “a power.” He is the source of all things. He is the beginning and the end. Without God, there could have been no beginning and no continuing. God indeed was the creating power.

In fact, you’ll have every reason not only to believe in God, but also to make Him the foundation and center of your life. You see, the Bible says that Jesus Christ was not just a great man; He was God in human flesh. In other words, when you look at Jesus, you are looking at God—in all of His compassion and love and mercy and power.

In a far greater way, when we come to God we have every reason to believe not only that He exists, but that He cares about us. We see the evidence all around us in the world He created. As the Bible says, “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being ...

You see, God is too great and too vast to be limited to our own spirits or souls. God is the Creator of the whole universe, and He is so great that He brought it into existence from nothing. He also is your Creator. You aren’t here by chance—He put you here. And He put you here so you could know Him and serve Him.

They want to run their own lives, and they don’t want anyone—especially God—to interfere with the way they’re living. They want to be in control of everything they do, and they know that if they were to believe in God, they’d have to change their lifestyle.

Often the hardest people to convince that they need God are the people who are convinced they don’t need God! They aren’t necessarily bad people; in fact, like your cousin, they may be very good. But even their goodness can be a barrier, because it makes them think they don’t need God’s help in order to become better.

The Bible certainly encourages us to pray fervently, and to have faith that God not only hears our prayers but also will answer them. Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matthew 21:22). But this doesn’t mean God will give us anything we want, if we just pray hard enough.