Turns out it’s impossible to please God without faith, but what does that mean? I’ll tell you what the Bible says about how to please God.
Believe that He is Real
Imagine pretending to believe in Jesus only because you grew up in church. What if you never dove in to find out so your whole heart could be involved in your beliefs? Is that you? How about this? Imagine praying to God and not believing that he even exists. It makes no sense, right? So, the first step to being on God’s side and pleasing Him is having faith in Jesus, His son. Jesus is our mediator. He’s the only way we can have anything to do with God.
We messed up as humans. That began waay back in Genesis. Now humans are born with a sinful nature. In that fallen state, it’s natural for us to sin, but sin leads to spiritual death. We’re like ticking clocks without Christ. That means we need to be redeemed and made right with God. How? Through Jesus alone. He is our only lawyer or advocate. We need him to represent and confess us to the Father like, “That one’s with me.” See? 🙂
If you believe that Adam’s sin brought death upon humans all of us, but that God made a way for us to be free from death by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus, then you have taken the first step to eternal life (Romans 5:17 and Genesis 3). That old life dies and get this: you get to be born again! Yay! With that comes a new heart and mind — you get the “works”.
Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find him. (Hebrews 13:15-16)
A Note on Being Genuine
Remember this: You must say out of your mouth and believe with your heart that Jesus is Lord to be saved from that death we just talked about. Your heart is what God looks at, so let’s not go around with hearts far from God.
You are hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he said about you: ‘These people show honor to me with words, but their hearts are far from me (Matthew 5:7-8)
Yeah, let’s not do that.
When you truly believe from your heart, you’ll want to seek God with that heart. You’ll be curious about what He likes and doesn’t like, so you can show Him you love Him 💕.
Have Great Wisdom and Understanding in Spiritual Things
God is happy when we study His word — study the bible. What are you interested in? Struggling with forgiveness? Look up scriptures on forgiveness and take everything you find in the bible about it as a command. Sometimes you need to say with your mouth that you forgive so-and-so over and over, every time that hate rises in your heart. That way you can choose the Kingdom way of doing things, even if your feelings aren’t yet lined up with your decision to forgive. This is a battle that you can win with the Holy Spirit.
“We pray that you will also have great wisdom and understanding in spiritual things so that you will live the kind of life that honors and pleases the Lord in every way. You will produce fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9b-10).
More on Wisdom and Understanding
In my article “Putting God First: 3 Simple Ways to Be Holy at Work“, I mention that God’s kingdom is not of this world. Instead, it’s a kingdom where we love our enemies and forgive people who have wronged us, among other beautiful things that people of this world would fight against.
This is that great wisdom and understanding. It’s not something so deep that you end up falling into a ditch. No. This is simple. A deep, reverential fear of God will help you live a life that pleases God. So honor Him by finding out His ways — His righteousness — what he approves and disapproves of. You will find it all in the bible.
For Wisdom, Read Proverbs
Proverbs is a good one to read or listen to, to gain wisdom, good judgment, and an understanding of God’s heart on the wise person versus the foolish one. You’ll see which one you currently identify with there.
Read Romans 8 for Understanding
After reading the first part of Romans 8, specifically verses 1-17 about being ruled by the Spirit. I wanted to post the whole thing here, but I’ll put it into my own words.
Look, if you’ve been born again, you know it! You recognize that you’re different. For me, I got a new heart and no longer hated anyone. I hated people easily and forever outside of Christ. Hate resided DEEP within my heart. But remember what Jesus said? If we hate people, we are murderers. I had a spirit of murder on me. Even for myself: suicide. There was deep-seated hate in my heart and it was like a close “frienemy” for years upon years. I needed a new heart.
Looks like I’m gonna need to write about how to stop hating people.
One day, while listening to Delayna Dobbin’s testimony, something changed in me, and I could believe in Jesus. I said to myself, “Wow, this is TRUE!” It was a gift to be able to believe from my heart. I would have never said that with the state I was in and how I felt about Jesus for over a decade.
“Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.
But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you” (Romans 8:9a).
What Does Your Life Smell Like to God?
This might sound weird, but:
Yet they say to each other, ‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!’ These people are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away (Isaiah 65:5)
With that said, who wants to smell bad to God? Yikes! No, we need our lives to be a pleasing aroma🌸. Don’t forget to read my “Putting God First” blog post about living a God-honoring life at work for more details.
“Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit” (Galatians 6:8).
Reading that, I see that there is no way around this. We must take God seriously.
“So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. Do not be shaped by this world; instead, be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).
Your Life is a Worship Session
That is a big deal. Check this out: it says living a life where we take the narrow road and implement principles from the kingdom of God—not the kingdom of darkness—is the spiritual way to worship God. *Mind-blown.* That is worshiping in spirit and truth. It’s the only way to worship God from your heart. We no longer sacrifice animals on an altar to offer that pleasing aroma. Instead, we offer our lives.
See how worship is constant? At work, in the car, in the store, with friends, at home . . . you get the point.
Being holy only at church or when a pastor shows up is idolatry. Why is anyone higher than God in your life? God sees you all day and night, even when the pastor doesn’t. Let holiness and purity saturate your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to purify you. Pray David’s prayers in Psalms over yourself:
- Psalm 25:4
- Psalm 25:11
- Sing Caleb Gordon’s song, Psalms 139 “You know when I fall, You know when I rise, Show me the way when it’s dark outside…”
Pour out your heart in all honesty. Anyone who hides sin will never prosper, so ya might as well just be honest. LIke, “God, I’m sorry you had to hear those thoughts I just allowed to play in my head. Please forgive me and guide me to renew my mind.”
See? 🙂
A Prayer for You
Lastly, I wanna pray for you. I pray that Father God draws you to His son Jesus so that you can receive the Holy Spirit and have the strength to not use your bodies or your human lives for sin. I wanna see you live the life God planned for you to live before you were born, so I pray that you will acknowledge God in all of your ways because that is how He will direct your path. I’m praying this in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Take care,
Alisha