I've started to believe in God but I think to believe I need some sort of proof that God is there. I've heard stories of people praying and then receiving a sign from God, but for me there is nothing. How do you receive signs from God? And am I doing something wrong?
I don't know what more proof you could ask for than the existence of the universe. Have you ever asked yourself
why there is something rather than nothing? Science tells us that the universe did not always exist, that it had a beginning point a finite time in the past. But everything that begins to exist has to have a cause, right? Things don't just pop into being out of nothing. We don't see cans of root beer, or horses, or wedding cakes, or mountains suddenly popping into existence. Why, then, should we think the universe did? Because it's really big? That's just silly. Science tells us that there was no time, space, matter, or energy before the Big Bang. There was no thing. At all. So where did the universe come from, then? As I said, nothing cannot produce something. There had to be something that was not in time, that had no physical form, that was unimaginably powerful, and that was personal that brought the universe into being. That timeless, immaterial, personal and powerful Cause of the universe the Bible says is God, the uncaused First Cause. This makes very good sense to me. How about you?
There was a religious sect among the Jews called the Pharisees. They wanted to see a sign from God. They challenged Jesus to show them such a sign as proof of his claims to being divine. But Jesus said to them,
Matthew 16:4
4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed.
Jesus' remark about Jonah pointed to his resurrection after three days in the grave - just as Jonah was spit out of the belly of a whale after three days. That was all the sign God was going to give to the Pharisees - and to all mankind. If you want a sign, then, look to the historical record of the Resurrection. For a great and thorough examination of this event check out:
www.coldcasechristianity.com
God tells
us how to approach Him and to enter into a relationship with Him.
He sets the ground rules for us, not the other way 'round. When we start requiring God to do "something special," to act miraculously in order to persuade us to faith in Him, we are essentially demanding that God jump through our hoops; we are setting the ground rules, not Him. But God won't relate to us this way. He is God; we aren't. We must be prepared to do things
His way, not our own. And so we read in His word:
Hebrews 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.