Pleasing God

Scripture:
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)

Is God pleased with you? or me? I know I want him to be. I strive very hard to "be holy as I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16), to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17), to "study to show yourself approved unto God" (2 Tim. 2:15), to "not forsake the assembling of yourselves together" (Heb. 10:25) and many many other scriptures. When I want God's will in my heart I "delight myself in the Lord and he will give you the desires for your heart". (Psalm 37:4) When I don't know what to do about something I "ask God (for wisdom) who gives it liberally" (James 1:5) and I try real hard not to doubt, because he who doubts is like a ship on the sea" and then I "trust in the Lord and lean not unto my own understanding" (Prov. 3:5). But is God pleased with us? Because today's scripture says that "without faith it is impossible to please God."

All of these "things" that we try to do as Christians do not give us any faith because only God can give us our "measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3). Then once we have this faith we should live by this faith because "the just shall live by faith" (Rom. 1:17). Being born of God, through that faith, we have the "victory that overcomes the world" (1 John 5:4). Amen. So we do have faith, because faith comes from God. And how did we get this faith? "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17) and that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Heb. 11:1) So faith is real because faith is the reality, or proof, of things that we hope for and can not see (or hear, feel, taste or smell).

For example, I have never seen angels with any of my senses, but it is faith that cause me to believe that they exist because the Bible tells me that angels exist. It is the faith that God has given to us through His Word that gives us the reality of what we can not see. "Faith can only appropriate what God has already provided." (1) Faith is not "trying" to believe something is true. It is believing it is true because GOD says it is true. So what if I can't "prove it" without seeing, hearing, touching, tasting or smelling? You can't "prove it" with your senses. If you could, then it would not be faith.

My grandson Seth goes to bed every night in his own bed, in his own room. However, every once in a while we wake up in the morning and he is in bed with us. Do you think my grandson knows we are in our bedroom, in the house? Sure he does, but I suspect he likes to "feel" with his five senses our presence. And I suspect, we are very mucy like my grandson. We want to "feel" with our senses to "prove" something we can not see, like something we want to believe in, in our hearts. But that would not be faith, and "without faith it is impossible to please God."

I believe that the Spirit of God, which God put in us, when we heard about the Word of Christ and, was given faith, by God, gave us an unique, spiritual ability, that we have so little knowledge or experience in knowing how to utilized it in our lives. Proof of that is our works, or lack of them. (James 2) (But that will be another posting. ;-)

Prayer Request:
For a number of Avery Dennison employees that are experiencing difficult times right now with family, health and finances.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father. We rejoice in the faith that you put in us when we received Jesus into our heart and life. We thank you for sending your Son to die for us on the Cross and we surrender to you, what you already bought with a price, our lives, back to you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.








(1) http://www.awmi.net/tv/2007/week5