The litmus test for prayer

 It's very difficult to overcome our own bias to want to believe something.

Here's the method I used, in the months leading up to my departure from religion: Think of a unique phrase, it must be something so absurd that nobody would ever use it in normal conversation.

Pray to your favorite deity, ask him/her/it to send someone to speak this phrase to you. VERY IMPORTANT: nobody must be able to eavesdrop and overhear the prayer. You CANNOT ever write/type/speak the phrase outside of prayer.

This will solve two mysteries simultaneously: Is there any kind of being that can hear us when we pray, and does that being interfere with our reality to our benefit?

If nobody ever approaches you with your unique phrase, then one or both of the two above things are not true, and the god is likely imaginary.

I did that exercise a few times a week for a few months, that was over 3 years ago now, still no takers.