Do you please God? Do you want please God? What is pleasing to God? While the following is not an exhaustive list on how to please God, it does cover many of the Scriptures that use the word “please” in reference to God. As Christians, our hearts desire should be to please God. When we reflect on the horrendous suffering our Lord and Savior endured to purchase us out of the kingdom of darkness, it should cause in us a deep yearning to be pleasing to God. Let's get into God's Word.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “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.” First, we see that faith pleases God. Often times people say, “If there is a God, why does He not meet all the needs of humanity? Why does He not solve all of our problems? Why does He allow this and that?”. Why? Because God is a faith God. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. We want all our problems solved, but many do not want to put faith in God to solve them.

I a broad sense, God is pleased with all of His covenant children; those who are born again through faith in Jesus Christ. He is pleased with us because we put faith in His Son (Rom 8:8-9). In a specific sense, He is pleased with us when we do those things that are pleasing in His sight through faith in His Word. God is always pleased with our “Who”, but He is not always pleased with our “Do”. In other words, He is pleased with us as His children, but He is not always pleased with our actions. We want to not only be pleasing to God in who we are, but we want to also please Him in what we do (2Tim 2:3-4).

Those who Honor Jesus and the prophets, and bless the church of God, are pleasing to God. Remember the church is built on the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. When we honor the Word and bless the church, it pleases Him (1Thess 2:15).

Those who help the weak please God (Rom 15:1). Our goal in life is not to please ourselves, but to please God through bearing the burdens of the weak. Are you tired of “putting up” with so and so? Let me ask, who has, and maybe is, “putting up” with you?

Those who are fruitful in their life and increasing in the knowledge of God please God (Col 1:10). We should be bearing good fruit as Christians (Eph 2:10), and we should be studying the Word daily, that we may increase in the knowledge of God. If you are not going forward, then you are going backwards – and thinking backwards.

Children who obey their parents please God (Col 3:20). A child's number one job is to honor and obey their parents. There is no command for parents to obey their children, nor any command for children to train up their parents. Parents are not peers. Parents rule, and children obey. Parents train, children learn. Some parents need to stop trying to be their child's buddy, and start training them to be responsible adults who actually contribute to society. This pleases God.

Those who speak forth the Gospel of Christ please God (1Thess 2:4, Gal 1:10). Ultimately, those who imitate Jesus please God, for Jesus always did those things that were pleasing to God (Jn 8:29). This is why Paul said, “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ”. This also gives us confidence in prayer, as we see in 1Jn 3:22-23.

Sacrificial giving into the Lord's work also pleases God (Philp 4:18). The Bible says we honor God when we give to Him and His work first thing (Prov 3:9-10). We also see in Philp 4:19, that there is a heavenly promise of provision when we put God first in our finances. Can you stand in faith on Philp 4:19? You can if you participate in Philp 4:10-18.

1Thess 4:1 says, “Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.” We have looked at a hand full of verses that show what pleases God. As we study the Bible, and walk in the Spirit, we learn more and more about how to please our Lord. As Paul wrote, we should abound in this pleasing more and more. The word abound means super abound, excel, and increase. As those redeemed from the curse and granted eternal life, we should long to increase, excel, and super abound in pleasing God. However, this should be an out flowing of our relationship with God. We approach this not as a works based acceptance, but rather as a fruit of our place of victory we already have in Jesus. We are accepted in the Beloved. We are pleasing to God. And because of this, we want to please Him more and more in our daily life. I pray you have been blessed by this, and until next time, rejoice in The Lord! (Philp 4:4)