Somehow, that "faith" was what God valued, and it soon became clear that faith was the best way for humans to express a love for God.

She did not question God's supernatural power, but how to go about convincing God of her sincerity? Faith wasn't like a muscle that could be enlarged through rehabilitation exercises.

As G. K. Chesterton put it, "The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank." Nature teaches me nothing about Incarnation or the Victorious Christian Life. It does, though, awaken my desire to meet whoever is responsible for the monarch butterfly.

We exercise faith by responding to the task that lies before us.

We cannot make Him visible to us, but we can make ourselves visible to Him," said Abraham Joshua Heschel

Never live as though God does not exist." Or, stated positively, "Always live in awareness of God's existence.

No society in history has attempted to live without a belief in the sacred, not until the modern West.

Elijah wanted the crisis to be dealt with, and the boy was raised from the dead. Answered prayer is better—and more important—than answered questions: If you demand answers to your questions before you affirm the blood of Christ, you will lose your soul.

Time with God will open up His ways. Reading books won't do it. Reading theology won't do it. Studying the creation won't do it. Going to church won't do it. Listening to religious music won't do it. Listening to great preaching won't do it. Even worshiping through hymns and songs won't do it.

Most people believe if God performed a miracle—just one miracle—for them, they would surely and permanently believe in God. But, as explained in the commentary to Exodus 16:2, human nature doesn't work that way. The power of witnessing a miracle wears off quickly, and most individuals soon need (or merely want) another miracle. Over time, most people's attitude toward those who have done something good for them is: "What have you done for me lately?

By giving His Chosen People the name "Struggle with God," (in Genesis 35:10, it is God Himself, not just the "divine being" of this chapter) God was not only giving people permission to struggle with Him; He was actually asking us to. Doing so makes our faith authentic. And it is that authenticity which keeps us from turning into religious automatons.

One way not to receive an answer to a petition is to go on praying for it. Some people pray themselves into faith and then pray themselves out of faith.