Over the past several decades, belief in God among Americans has been declining. According to PEW Research, those absolutely certain about their belief in God declined from 71% of respondents in 2007 to 63% in 2014. The combined groups of those who were absolutely, and those who were fairly certain about their belief in God also declined between those two sample years (https:\/\/www.pewforum.org\/religious-landscape-study\/belief-in-god\/).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While 63% may still sound like a high number of people who are absolutely certain about their belief in God, that belief does not always translate to actions one might expect in relation to that belief. For example, about three fourths of those pray daily and believe religion is very important in one’s life. But only 49% attend religious services each week; another 33% attend about once or twice a month or a few times a year (https:\/\/www.pewforum.org\/religious-landscape-study\/belief-in-god\/).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As one who believes in God, this decline is concerning. Why is it concerning? It’s concerning because to me, God is clearly a source of light in this world. We need His power and light to help us create and experience a better, more joyous world. When people believe and they seek His help and guidance, He does respond. And it is sometimes in significantly miraculous ways. We need more people truly seeking the aid of God. As we each call on God, we have the opportunity to bring miracles into our world, miracles that can save lives, sustain hope, calm social storms or natural ones, and so much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am one of those who falls under the category mentioned above of being absolutely certain about God’s existence–but not only His existence, but also His intervention in our lives for our benefit. I have on many occasions had experiences where I sought the help or guidance of God and received it in some form. It isn’t always in the way I might hope or expect, but to me the source has quite often been unmistakable. So for me, I can say that I believe, not blindly, but through much experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe one of many possible reasons why people don’t believe is that as some people learn to conquer their problems on their own, they don’t seek God’s help because they don’t believe they need it. Certainly, we also have those who attempt to use science to demonstrate that there is no higher power than principles of nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when a person has his or her own experiences with God, when they receive unimaginable aid just when they need it or after a faithful and heartfelt plea for help, it becomes more than just random coincidences. But it tends to be personal. Each individual, acting in faith, seeks and discovers for themselves the power and strength that comes from God. And it happens over and over for people all over the world. Interestingly, the patterns that people observe in their lives when they truly trust in God is quite similar to those reported to us from centuries earlier in Holy Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have had many of these experiences, some more dramatic and some small enough to have faded into my forgotten past, though still leaving their mark on my faith. Perhaps the most dramatic miracle that I have recently experienced happened last year. I was in my final semester of my master’s program at the beginning of 2020. I was struggling to complete my thesis on time. I had prayed and fasted on several occasions during that semester for help to complete my degree. Then in March, the whole pandemic burst onto our nation, changing everything. That led to the educational institution allowing our class to graduate based on the work we had completed so far. I sure could never have imagined such a dramatic way to help me graduate. For me, it was truly a miraculous answer to prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have talked to other people of faith who also speak of blessings that came to them as part of the COVID-19 pandemic. I don’t understand how God manages it all and can put together a plan or action that simultaneously accomplished multiple goals, but I know I can trust in God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you don’t have much faith in God, if you have your doubts about the reality of miracles He might do in one’s life, I strongly urge you to talk to others you know who seem to have strong faith. Ask them why they believe. Ask them about their experiences with God. You will likely be surprised by answers you receive and hopefully inspired to seek to know God and receive His help and His guidance and His light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let’s light up our world with the light can come from God.
Emil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over the past several decades, belief in God among Americans has been declining. According to PEW Research, those absolutely certain about their belief in God declined from 71% of respondents in 2007 to 63% in 2014. The combined groups of those who were absolutely, and those who were fairly certain about their belief in God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[64,80,111,117,121,150],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-religion-spirituality","category-light","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-light","tag-love","tag-miracle","tag-religion"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":554,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}