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Archive for the ‘pleases the Lord’ Category

What pleases God?

Posted in Challenge verse, God, Jesus, love, pleases the Lord, tagged , , , , , on January 27, 2013| 3 Comments »

 
Love the Lord your God
 with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your mind
and find out what pleases the Lord.
 
Matthew 22:37 & Ephesians 5:10
 
 
 
Loving somebody and wanting to please them go hand in hand.  This is a natural connection — a relationship connection that the Lord wants to have with us.  Recently, I have been noticing many verses that mention some form of the word “please,”and I would like to share some of them with you:
 
We have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.  And this is his command: to believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us. (1 John 3:21-23)
 
Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. (Romans 8:8)
 
Jesus said, “The one who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.”  (John 8:29)
 
I urge you in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)
 
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 approved by men. (Romans 14:17-18)
 
My righteous one will live by faith.  I will not be pleased with the one who shrinks back. (Hebrews 10:39)
 
We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. (1 Thessalonians 2:1)
 
Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all
spiritual wisdom and understanding.  And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9-10)
 
And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” (Exodus  33:17)
 
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
 
“Is this pleasing in your sight Lord?” is a question that should filter our thoughts and actions.  A great love for the Lord is the motivation for wanting every aspect of our lives to be pleasing to Him.
 

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Transformed into a New Creation

Posted in Challenge verse, God, pleases the Lord, poverty, tagged , , , on April 8, 2012| 6 Comments »

 
What counts is whether we have been
transformed into a new creation.
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Galatians 6:15
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My sons enjoy playing with “Transformers”, so I like to tell them that God is the Master Transformer.  I explain that God doesn’t change, but He transforms us by changing the way we think (Romans 12:2).  This transformation is a radical process!
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God wants to transform each of us into people who:
These things are only possible through God’s creative power.
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On Ash Wednesday, I shared a YouTube video about butterflies to a group of children.  We talked about how butterflies can be a symbol for Easter and how Lent is like being in a chrysalis (a time that God can change us) and how Easter is a time for celebrating God’s life-changing power.  I think the butterfly is the most incredible example of God’s ability to transform.  The caterpillar has to be broken down and reconstructed before the beautiful butterfly can be created.
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Please take a moment to watch this video clip about butterflies. My hope is that by watching this video, you will be awed at God’s power to bring about change and reminded that an astonishing metamorphosis can also take place in your life.
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Let God transform you into a new person
 by changing the way you think.  Romans 12:2
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Dedicated to Lea and Melanie, my book club friends, who inspired this post and shared this video at the Word Made Flesh Advent 2011 Retreat
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What pleases God?

Posted in Challenge verse, God, Jesus, pleases the Lord, tagged , , on February 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Find out what pleases the Lord.
 
Ephesians 5:10
 
 Dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.  It is God’s will that we should be sanctified.  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of light (for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.  May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.” — Paul
“For them I sanctify myself, that they
 too may be truly sanctified.” — Jesus
 
This post is dedicated to Angie, my Bible study leader. She inspires me each week and makes sanctification easy to understand by saying things like, “God keeps working and working on us until one day we are in glory with Jesus!” She also reminds us, “God loves us just as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way.” 
 
2 Corinthians 7:1, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, Ephesians 5:8-10,
 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, John 17:19

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Inner Beauty

Posted in heart, Inspiring verse, pleases the Lord, tagged , , , on June 14, 2010| 7 Comments »

 
Cultivate inner beauty
 
The gentle, gracious kind
 
That God delights in.
 
1 Peter 3:4
 
 
My friend Steena is “face blind” which means she has extreme difficulty identifying faces.  (Prosopagnosia is the medical term.)  Steena sees beauty differently than the average person.  Her “face blindness” helps her to see inner beauty clearly.  Outward appearance in not important to Steena compared to recognizing internal depth, strength, and dignity.
 
God also evaluates beauty differently than we do.  “Men and women look at the face: God looks into the heart” (1Samuel 16:7).  God delights in gracious and gentle inner beauty (1 Peter 3:4).  Although it takes time and effort to cultivate this type of beauty, everyone has an equal opportunity to be astonishingly beautiful. 
 
“Our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is being renewed day after day ….  What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever” (2 Corinthians 4:16 & 18).
 
Beauty that is eternal is not physical.
 

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do good

Posted in Challenge verse, Jesus, pleases the Lord, words on June 14, 2009| 1 Comment »

Do not forget to do good and to share with others,
For with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Hebrews 13:16
 
 
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess 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 other day, my Dad and I were talking about what it means to please the Lord.  I enjoy hearing my Dad’s wisdom and want to share a little with you.
 
Hebrews 13:15 states that there are three sacrifices that please God.
 
1) The sacrifice of praise
2) The sacrifice of doing good to others
3) The sacrifice of sharing with others
 
“A sacrifice of praise puts the focus on God and not on yourself.  If you focus on God, you will be reminded of His love and faithfulness.  After you praise God, the next two challenges are, ‘How can I do good to others?’ and ‘How and what can I share with others?’  Be present and intentional with those around you.  Only by the power of the Spirit can you do this.”   Terry Sanford Smith
 

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What pleases the Lord?

Posted in Challenge verse, pleases the Lord, poverty, tagged , , , , on June 11, 2009| 3 Comments »

Find out what pleases the Lord.
Ephesians 5:10
 
 
“Find out what pleases the Lord.”  In the letter of Ephesians, Paul encourages us to search and find out what God likes!  It is as if he is saying, “Search and find out for yourselves…I am not going to tell you everything.”
 
God wants you to pursue Him — to be interested in finding out His passions and desires.  In 2000, I wrote Ephesians 5:10 in my journal and this list of verses which have a recurring theme showing one of the Lord’s passions.  Click on the links below to read them.  You are invited to share your discoveries of what pleases God, whether from these verses or others.
 
Psalm 41:1-3     
Psalm 82:3-4     
Psalm 113:7      
Psalm 140:12     
Psalm 146:7      
Ezekiel 16:49     
James 1:27             
 
  
So we make it our goal to please Him. 
2 Corinthians 5:9
 

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