How Do We Please God?

We please God by doing the perfect will of God. Because the greatest desire of Jesus in the world was to please God, he saw to it that He did the total, perfect will of God, knowing that He could not please the father if he failed to do the Father’s will entirely (John 4:34).

To the Man Jesus, pleasing the Father by doing His total will was of more importance to Him (Jesus) than food.

A Christian whose goal is to please God will see to it that he does the perfect will of God. Those who ignore the perfect will of God are courting the displeasure of God.

We please God by living a life of faith.  But without faith it is impossible to please him… Heb. 11:6.

It is impossible to please God without the Enoch-type faith that helps us to walk with God (verse 5). We cannot please God without Abraham-type faith that enables us to stand on the word of God - without doubting, without swerving, without wavering, without looking back (Rom 4:20).

We please God by praising Him always. Thanks and praises from a grateful and adoring heart please God more than the most expensive and elaborate sacrifices. I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. (Psalm 69:30-31).

God loves His people’s praises and sincere worship. Praises must flow daily from our innermost being to the Most High. He deserves our adoration and worship.  

There was this popular minister of God who was great in prayer. Hours upon hours, he would lie before God, groaning and weeping in prayer before God. One day the Lord showed him that he was not fully pleasing the Lord because praise was lacking in his life. From that time onward he spent a lot of his prayer time praising and worshipping God.

We please God by living a prayerful life. God is delighted by the prayers of His people (Prov. 15:8). Through prayer, we can have and enjoy sweet fellowship with the Almighty. And our fellowship with God pleases the Father.

One of the things Jesus took great care to do to please the Father was spending time with the Father in prayer. Mat. 14:23; Luke 6:12; Luke 9:28.

Jesus had no need that He was desperate to have met. He had no need to seek God in earnest prayer for more power because He had the Spirit without measure. Then why was He spending lots of time in prayer when He knew He had lots of other things to do? He knew that praying makes us pleasing to God. (Luke 18:1; 1 Thes. 5:17; 1 Tim. 2:1-3, 8).

We please God by living a holy life. ‘But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.’ 1 Pet. 1:15-16.

God expects His children to live holy lives because he is holy. It is His will that His children live a life sanctified for His glory, a life separated from the world to God. Those who defile themselves with sins and the things of the world cannot please Him.

We please God by doing good. ‘But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.’ Heb. 13:16.

God is a good God. He cannot fail to be pleased when we do good works as His children.

Good works cannot safe us. But after we are saved, it becomes necessary for us to do good works. It is the works we do in the world that will show the world whether we belong to God or the devil or the world.

Doing good and sharing with others what we have are sacrifices well pleasing to God (Acts 10:38; Col. 1:10; Luke 6:36, 38).

We please God with pure words that come from our mouths. ‘The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words’ Prov. 15:26.

God is pleased with words that come from a pure holy heart. He is displeased with vain, ungodly, loveless words that issue forth from careless and impure hearts. (Mat. 12:38; Col. 4:6; Eccl. 10:12)

We please God with our freewill offering. ‘But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God’ Phil. 4:18.

The money, materials and other gifts we give to missions and the ministers of God are a fragment offering, sweet incense, sweet odor, with which God is well pleased. (Philp 4:19; Mark 9:41).

We please God by witnessing for Christ, preaching the gospel and leading lost souls to Christ. ‘And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature’ Mark 16:15

Jesus came into the world to seek and save the lost (Luke19:10). He suffered and died so that the people of the world could be saved (Rom. 5:5-9). When he was about to ascend to heaven, He commissioned his followers to preach the good news to every creature and lead lost souls to Him. How can we please the Lord if we ignore this commission and refuse to do the task on the top of his heart?

How can we please the Lord if we neglect to tell the people of the world about Him, who can save them, because we are too busy with the affairs of the world? If we pray to Him, praise Him, do many other things for Him but fail to obey His instructions to preach the gospel and try hard to lead the lost to Him, we must not kid ourselves into believing that he is fully pleased with us ( 1 Cor. 9:16; Ezek. 3:17-20)

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