What Pleases the Lord? (Part 2)

“and find out what pleases the Lord.” Ephesians 5:10

As we continue on in our treasure hunt in searching out what pleases the Lord I would like to refer you to Part 1 of this series if you have not already read that before continuing on with us in Part 2. Otherwise, welcome!

Obedience

But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices  as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22

“If you love me, keep my commands.” John 14:15

Obedience to our Heavenly Father and His word is one of the simplest ways to please the Lord. However, there are times when obedience feels as if it is one of the hardest things to do. Especially, when we are caught between doing what is right and doing what we want (what feels good). Obedience isn’t always easy, but it is always right. Take for example Abraham with his son Isaac. I have no doubt that Abraham had thoughts of disobeying the Lord. What parent in their right mind would want to kill their own child? Abraham had to struggle between what was right and what felt right. God honored Abraham’s obedience by sending a ram as a substitute sacrifice instead of Isaac. Are we willing to obey even when it doesn’t make sense? Are we willing to obey when it goes against everything within us that “feels” right?” Like Abraham, are we willing to obey when it “appears” to go against God’s promise over our life? There are times when our obedience will be tested. How will our obedience measure up when the testing comes?  

Giving of our lives

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Hebrews 13:15-16

The fruit of our lives often speaks louder than our words. Are we bearing fruit that is tender and sweet or is it bitter and tart in the mouth of others? The people around us should be able to taste and see that the Lord is good. If our lives are not visibly showing Christ, then we can not possibly please the Lord. Hebrews tells us that we should be continually offering praise, the fruit of our lips should speak of His name. If we are not speaking about our Savior and all He has done in our lives, how can we possibly please God? Our lives are a walking, breathing, speaking, living testimony of God’s amazing grace. If we do not speak of this, who will? When we give our entire life, everything we do and say to the Lord as a living testimony for the world to see, hear, and taste, this pleases our Heavenly Father. By walking our lives this way we will stand before Christ and hear “well done good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)

Humility

“For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.” Psalm 149: 4

“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Psalm 51:16-17

Our humility is the key to God’s heart. Our Heavenly Father delights in a heart that is humble and broken before him. If our hearts are not in a place of humility the Lord is not obligated to move on our behalf. His heart is moved by our humility. Our humility pleases the Lord. Think about how much easier it is to work with others who are humble and teachable as opposed to those who are arrogant and unyielding. Our relationship with God is no different. When we keep our hearts humble before Him, He is able to do so much more in us and through us then when we are puffed up with arrogance and pride. Our humility will become our crown of victory. How humble we are will determine the size of our victory crown. A heart full of humility the Lord will cherish.

Righteousness

“The Lord detests those whose hearts are perverse, but he delights in those whose ways are blameless.” Proverbs 11:20

“To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.” Proverbs 21:3 (ESV)

The Lord takes delight in us when we walk in righteousness, when our ways are blameless. I think the best way to put this into perspective is to relate it to the parent/child relationship. When our kids are being respectful, honoring and obedient with no malice or bitterness in their hearts, then we as parents can delight in them. On the flip side of that, if our children are rebelling and doing all they can to disassociate from us, then our hearts can not fully delight in them. This does not mean that we do not still love them, of course we do, but we will inevitably find ourselves frustrated and worn out by them during these times. I believe in some small way our Heavenly Father is much the same way. He never stops loving us no matter how far we push Him away, but I believe His heart can not fully delight in us when we are not walking in righteousness. So, if we want to make the heart of the Lord smile, we should walk righteously and blamelessly before Him. 

Grace

“Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.” Romans 14:13-18

I realize this is a long section of scripture, but I felt the need to include more than just the emphasized section so that you had an understanding of what was going on. Paul was addressing the Roman Christians (as well as us today) that we need to be willing to extend grace in some areas and not be so legalistic. In the transitioning between the old covenant and the new covenant Paul realized that there would be Christians at various stages learning how to function under a new way of interacting with the Lord. He was encouraging them to extend one another grace as they learned how to make this transition. We too need to become a people of grace. New believers are not going to understand everything that a mature Christian might. We can let righteousness, peace and joy flow out of each of us and by doing so, grace will be there as well to understand that God is working on each heart in His own way and in His own time. If we try to become legalistic about all of it we become no better than the pharisees and sadducees, and we all know how Christ felt about them.

Call to action

Today we discussed five things that please the Lord. We talked about our obedience, the giving of our lives and the fruit we are producing, our humility, walking in righteousness, and extending grace. All of these things bring a smile to the face of our Heavenly Father when we put them into practice. I realize this list may seem overwhelming, but I want to encourage you today to choose one of the five things we discussed and make a conscious effort to make that a priority. Take one thing and please the Lord with that one area this week and watch how God’s heart will delight in you because of your diligence.

Sweet Father, I thank you that you have given us keys to your heart in your word. Thank you that you have shown us the very things that please you. I pray that you give us each a drive to work on at least one of these five areas this week so that we can bring a smile to your face and in turn become a witness to the world. We pray this in your precious name.

What Pleases the Lord? (Part 1)

“and find out what pleases the Lord.” Ephesians 5:10

When I came upon this short verse in Ephesians chapter 5 it’s as if the rest of the chapter seemed to disappear. "Find out what pleases the Lord." The things that please the Lord are like a treasure hunt. These things need to be searched out, sought after, and pursued. These are hidden things that take a lifetime of curiosity to unveil. I am completely convinced however, that when we set our minds to pleasing the Lord, by seeking first His kingdom and righteousness, then He will keep His word and “all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33) When our minds are focused on pleasing the Lord all of our needs will be taken care of. I’m not saying we will get everything we want, but the Lord will certainly give us everything we need when we need it. I invite you to join me on a treasure hunt as we search scripture to discover what pleases the Lord.

 

Faith

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

Hebrews tells us that it is not even possible to please the Lord without faith. Faith by definition means to have confidence or trust in the Lord, to believe with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. So, when we lack the confidence, trust and belief with our innermost being, and our faith is non-existent, then pleasing the Lord is absolutely out of the realm of possibility. Faith is the foundation by which everything else in our relationship with Christ can stand. If we have not laid the foundation of a firm and established faith, then we can be assured everything else we try to build in the kingdom will also be weak and unreliable. Faith is the starting point for the Lord to do the unimaginable. I love that the Lord does not expect our faith to be huge. Scripture tells us that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. (Matthew 17:20). Nothing is impossible to those who have just the smallest amount of faith in their Heavenly Father. What confidence that gives us as believers! 

Fearing the Lord

“the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” Psalm 147:11

The Lord delights, He takes joy in, it makes His heart happy to see those who stand in awe of Him. That word fear doesn’t mean to be scared of God, but rather to be awe struck, to be so overwhelmed by Him that you are without words to describe how wondrous and glorious He truly is. Do we walk in such a way that our reaction to God being God is nothing short of being totally and completely mesmerized? Are we so wrapped up in His breathtaking nature that we can do nothing more than sit in reverent silence because there are no words to describe Him?  Are we truly fearing the Lord? I don’t know about you, but I fall short on this front for sure! I take God for granted in so many ways and forget to just sit back and stand in awe of Him. This is such a challenge to my spirit right now. I can definitely spend more time admiring the God who created the heavens and the earth, who puts each breath in my lungs and life in my bones. Wow! The Lord delights in me when I take the time to admire Him.

Trust

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Much like faith, trust means to have confidence in, and to rely on. We are to have confidence, without hesitation or hindrance in our Heavenly Father with everything that is within us. Once we have placed our uninhibited trust in the Lord then, and only then can we count on our paths being made straight. I know for me, I often want the Lord to make my path straight before I commit to trusting in Him wholeheartedly. It is not pleasing to the Lord when we don’t completely put our trust in Him and His ways. In fact, it breaks His heart because He can see our past, present and future. He knows our beginning and our end. He knows our comings and our goings. So, when we refuse to trust Him it only grieves His spirit because He has the ability to keep us on the straight and narrow path, safe and secure in His steadfast love. When our trust is placed in other things outside of the Lord we will only reap a path of turning and twisting. I wonder if this is why we sometimes feel as if we are going around the same mountain time and time again. Could it be that we are not trusting the Lord with all our heart? May we learn to place our complete trust in our Heavenly Father so that we can walk on the straight and narrow way rather than walking in circles and wondering which way is forward.    

Loving the Lord

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:36-38

Jesus tells us that loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is the greatest commandment. It pleases the Lord to have His children loving and adoring Him unhindered and unabandoned. Every parent desires for their children to love them. I don’t believe that most parents desire a broken relationship with their children. Our Heavenly Father is much the same way. It warms His heart when His children desire to have close intimate fellowship with Him, to seek after Him, His kingdom and His ways. I suspect that if we just get this one area right, of loving the Lord with our entire being, with every heartbeat and every breath in our bodies, that pleasing the Lord will simply fall into place. 

If we continue on in Matthew 22 we will find the second greatest commandment.

Loving others

“And the second (law) is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:39-40

Our Heavenly Father's very identity is love, so it is no surprise that He desires us to not only love Him with our entire being, but to love others. I believe that He wants us to love others with as much zeal and fervency as He is asking us to love Him with. Let’s just think about this for a minute. If we truly love the Lord completely and utterly unhindered then our natural tendency will be to overflow that same kind of love to every human being that God created in His own image. The question remains, do we zealously love the Lord so much so that it overflows onto others? Or are we secretly hoping that we don’t need to put the amount of effort into our relationship with God to see that kind of love become a byproduct of our time and efforts? Love takes work. No matter if we are loving the Lord or others. Far too often we as human beings become lazy in our relationship both with God and with others. We assume that we can just float through life and that loving God and others will just happen. I wish that were the case. I wish we could just snap our fingers and love would just ooze out of me. Unfortunately, it is not automatic. God created us to work at loving Him and loving others. Let’s challenge ourselves to keep our eyes focused on God so much that loving Him and loving others becomes just a bit easier because we are unwilling to be distracted by the cares of this world.

Heavenly Father we thank you for the treasures found in your word. We pray that we can continue to search out the things that please you. Your word tells us that when we seek we will find. Help us to find out what pleases you and apply those things to our lives. Increase our faith, our fear of you, our trust in you, our love for you and our love for others today. We know that these things please you. We know that these things bring delight to your heart. We pray that you write these things on our hearts and help us to purposefully put them into practice. We pray this in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.