What Pleases God!

I want to quote from a book by Joyce Meyers that I’ve recently been reading that truly blessed me. So often I struggle with striving to please God, with feeling disgusted with myself when I fail, with having an inaccurate picture of God and how He feels about me. These are simple truths based on God’s word that just struck me in my heart and realigned my perspective once again. I hope this encourages you and reminds you of God’s heart towards you. Be blessed, KHJ


"The variety of fears people deal with is endless, but an important one I discovered in my own life -the one you may be dealing with yourself- is the fear of not being pleasing to God. If you have been hurt and wounded by people who were difficult or even impossible to please, you may think of God in the same way. He isn't It is not as difficult to please God as we may think it is. Simple, childlike faith please Him. He already knows we will not behave perfectly all the time. That is why He sent Jesus to pay for our failures and mistakes.

I struggled and suffered in frustration many years trying to please God with good, or even perfect behavior. At the same time I was always fearful I was failing. It seemed no matter what I did right, I always saw something I was doing wrong. I never felt good enough; no mater what I did, I always felt as if I needed to do more. I felt God was displeased with me, even though that was not accurate, it was true for me because I believed it. I was deceived!

There are two main things I believe we must do to please God. Number one is to have faith in Jesus, and number two is to desire to please Him with all of our heart. It is important to understand that we cannot have one without the other. The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb.11:6). In John 6:28-29 we read about some people who asked Jesus:

'"What are we to do, that we may be working the works of God?' (what are we to do to carry out what God requires?) Jesus replied, This is the work that God asks of you; that you believe in the One Whom He has sent."

So you see God is pleased when we believe in His Son Jesus, and He is not pleased when we don't. We might do numerous good and benevolent works, yet if we have no faith in Jesus, God is still not pleased with us. But if we believe and trust in God, we enter His rest according to Hebrews 4; we feel at ease and comfortable rather than fearful and anxious about life.

We believe, and God works. Our work- the work of the believer is simply to believe. Remember we are accepted because of our faith, not our good works. Christians are referred to as believers. If our job were to achieve, we would be called achievers, not believers. We often want to place an emphasis on what we do, but our focus should be on what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We can concentrate on our sin and be miserable, or we can concentrate on God's forgiveness and mercy and be happy.

Once we see this truth, we can enjoy our relationship with God. We don't have to live under the pressure of acceptance by performance, followed by a fear of failure each time our performance is less than perfect. We do not have to be addicted to approval and ready to obtain it by any means. If we want to please God with all of our hearts, all we need to do is believe in His Son Jesus Christ and believe what He says in His Word...

We must learn to trust God's Word more than our own feelings. We often bow down to our feelings without realizing how fickle and changeable they are. Our feelings are not a reliable source of information. God loves us and accepts us unconditionally. His love is not based on our performance. The Bible says in Ephesians 1:6 that we are made acceptable in the Beloved...it is our faith in Jesus that makes us acceptable to God and pleases Him, not our performance. We are not living by faith if we believe how we feel more than we believe what God's Word says. Do you believe the God of the Bible or the god of your feelings.?

Anyone who loves God wants to please Him. The fact that we have a desire to please Him pleases Him. To please someone means to be well thought of or approved by that person. We want God's approval, and there is nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact, a desire to please God is necessary; it motivates us to seek His will in all things. People who have a deep desire to please God may not perform perfectly all the time, but they keep pressing forward and always have the attitude of wanting to improve.

In 2 Chronicles 16:9 we see God is searching to and fro for someone in whom He can show Himself strong, someone whose heart is perfect towards Him. The scripture does not say that He is looking for someone with a perfect performance, but rather someone with a perfect heart- a heart that desires to please Him, a heart that is grieved over sin and evil, a heart that believes in Him and His willingness and ability to forgive and restore. God knows we cannot manifest perfection. If we could be perfect in our performance, we would not need a Savior, and Jesus would have come in vain. Jesus came for those who were sick in spirit, body, and soul, not those who had no need. It is acceptable to be needy! "