What do God, a Nice Life, Obstacles, and Prayer (Focused Thought) have in common?

"We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28 HCSB).

According to this Bible verse, if you love God, then all of your circumstances will cause your life to go in a positive direction. In my opinion, loving God is following the Golden Rule and consistently praying to God - putting God first in your life.

This makes sense. Here's why.

By treating others the way you would like to be treated (the Golden Rule), you are influencing others to be nice to you. After all, people tend to be nice to people who are nice to them. The more people are nice to you, the more positive your life will be.

Though you may be nice to people, there will be some who may despise you for whatever reason. They may despise you enough to put obstacles in your path, making your life difficult. In addition to this, life naturally will put obstacles before you, because that's how life works.

This is where prayer comes in.

Whenever you are faced with enemies, obstacles, or other trials, prayer is the answer. Why? Because prayer is focused thought. And focused thought can bend and change your reality by changing your behavior.

Focused thought can take you from a bad situation to a good situation rather quickly. One moment you're here, and the next moment you're there.

Focused thought = reality.

God Exists through Pascal's Wager

Given today's technology, proving that God exists or does not exist is very difficult or perhaps impossible. I have witnessed many arguments between theists and atheists that were very entertaining, but rarely productive. There simply is not enough proof one way or the other.

Given this, should you believe that God exists? Blaise Pascal thinks you should.

Blaise Pascal was a seventeenth-century French inventor, physicist, mathematician, philosopher, and writer. In pondering the pros and cons of believing that God exists, he came up with a type of reasoning called Pascal's Wager.

Pascal's Wager states that the pros far outweigh the cons when it comes to believing in God.

The pros far outweigh the cons, because if you believe that God exists and you die, and God really does exist, then you spend an eternity in heaven. But if you believe that God exists and you die, and God really doesn't exist, then you lose nothing; you simply die just like all living things eventually do.

So if you believe that God exists, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Now let's look at the converse of what has been discussed. Let's suppose that you are an atheist and you die. If God exists, you spend an eternity in hell, since you led an ungodly life. If God doesn't exist, you lose nothing; you simply die just like all living things eventually do.

As an atheist, you have everything to lose and nothing to gain.

In considering the afterlife, believing that God exists is the logical thing to do. But what about the current life? Does belief in God benefit or detract from your current life? Let's use Pascal's Wager and find out.

Regarding your current life, the benefits of believing that God exists are as follows: the feeling of control over your life via prayer; not fearing death, since you believe that you will go to heaven when you die; and having definite guidelines to live by, eliminating any doubt of knowing the right thing from the wrong thing to do.

The cost of believing that God exists is as follows: feeling constrained in your behavior, in that you can't do sinful things even though they may be fun.

Regarding your current life, the benefits of believing that God exists far outweigh the costs.

Now let's look at the converse of this. Does atheism benefit or detract from your current life? If so, how exactly does atheism do this?

Regarding your current life, the benefit of atheism is as follows: feeling liberated in your behavior, in that you can do fun and sinful things without feeling guilty about doing them.

The costs of atheism are as follows: feeling powerless over your life, since you believe that you are but an infinitesimal cog in the vast machinery of the universe; great fear of death, since you believe that death is final and permanent oblivion; and not having guidelines to live by, leading you to feel lost in knowing the right thing from the wrong thing to do.

Regarding your current life, the costs of atheism far outweigh the benefits.

As we see, believing that God exists gives you a better quality of life than atheism does. Believing that God exists leads to hope and empowerment, fearlessness, and self-control in your current life. Whereas atheism leads to depression and powerlessness, terror, and promiscuous behavior in your current life.

After reading this article, the logical thing to do is crystal clear. The logical thing to do is believe that God exists or at least live your life as though He does.

This is Pascal's Wager.

Ask God to make you Wealthy

"Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:2 KJV).

After reading this Bible verse, I realize that one of the best ways to succeed in life is to ask God for what you want. I know this sounds ridiculously simple, but I believe that asking God for what you want guarantees success.

For example, if you ask God to make you wealthy on a regular and frequent basis, you are causing your mind to fully focus on this goal. Once your mind is consistently focused on being wealthy, your behavior will change. You will begin to read books on becoming wealthy as well as listening to audio books regarding this.

Your knowledge on becoming wealthy will grow and grow. Then you will start to invest your money in the stock market, in real estate, and in small businesses successfully. Your money will grow exponentially, making you wealthy.

When you ask God for something, you are altering the sails and rudders of your mind, causing your behavior to alter, thereby causing your life direction to alter. You see, words have power. Words are spiritual. Reality itself changes according to your words.

Ask, the Bible Promise

"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it" (John 14:13-14 KJV).

After reading this Bible promise, I realize that if this promise is true, then we have much power at our disposal. Then we have the power to attain whatever we want in life. This promise alone would render failure impossible, and would guarantee success.

This Bible promise can revolutionize your life. Just think. To attain a goal, all you need to do is ask God for it and you'll have it, as long as you ask in Jesus' name. Given this, attaining goals can be as easy as pie.

This Bible promise can free you of any limitations or roadblocks. Not only will you be able to get from point A to point B without any trouble, you'll be able to be everywhere.

God and Suffering

"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower" (Psalm 18:2 KJV).

After reading this Bible verse, it appears to me that God protects those who trust in Him. But paradoxically, those that trust in Him sometimes still suffer. It appears that God does not completely protect those who trust in Him from suffering.

Why does God allow those who follow and trust Him to sometimes suffer? Perhaps suffering serves a purpose. Suffering generally changes the direction of a person's life. Without suffering, a person will usually keep on the same course in life. Suffering can change the course.

Given this, perhaps God will sprinkle some suffering into a person's life whenever He wants the person to take on a new direction, such as a job change.

To Be Successful and To Rule The World

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:27-28 KJV).

After reading this part of Genesis, I came to realize that God blessed humans and commanded them to be successful, to reproduce, to make the world a better place, and to rule the world. It amazed me that God blessed humans from the very beginning, and gave them the power to be successful and to rule the world. Not bad for the fate of humans.

You may ask, "If we are blessed by God and have the power to be successful and to rule the world, why is our life so miserable?" The answer is that we don't always claim God's blessings and the ability to be successful and to rule the world. To claim these things, we need to visualize ourselves as already having them!

Visualization creates changes in the spiritual world (world of imagination). And changes in the spiritual world eventually create changes in the physical world. The spiritual world causes the physical world.

If we don't claim God's blessings and the ability to be successful and to rule the world via visualization, then we don't receive these things. Gifts from God almost always are received first in the spiritual world, then later appear in the physical world.

Regarding ruling the world, I'm talking about having control over your world rather than ruling other people's world. I'm talking about controlling your corner of the universe and not the entire universe itself. That's success!

God, Affirmations, and Mental Images

"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews 11:3 KJV).

After reading this Bible verse, I came to realize the power of words. God literally spoke the universe into existence. And since we are created in God's image, we also have this power to some extent.

Affirmations are commands we make to reality. Affirmations can change reality, if they are made strongly and with emotion. But more importantly, affirmations must produce mental images to have real power.

What determines the power of affirmations is the extent affirmations produce mental images. Conversely, what determines the power of mental images is the extent mental images produce affirmations.

You may ask, "Which is stronger, affirmations or mental images?" The answer is mental images are extensions of effective affirmations, and affirmations are extensions of effective mental images. They are both almost one and the same.

So when God spoke the universe into existence, God had mental images of the universe before it came into existence.