A life that pleases God

“That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition.We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy”,- Colossians 1:10-11  AMPC(Amplified Bible ,Classic Edition )

“so that you may live lives worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to him, being fruitful in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God.- We pray that you will be continually strengthened with all the power that comes from his glorious might; so that you will be able to persevere and be patient in any situation, joyfully”  -Colossians 1:10-11 CJB (Complete Jewish Bible)

 Dear Readers,

I really want to thank you all for allowing yourself to be ministered to by reading this blog.For several months now, we have been considering the life of Joseph, a young man who eventually got to the Palace. What you may not know is that this series was not originally planned as a series but one that the Lord took me through when I was going through a particular difficult period some years ago. As it seemed that there was one bad thing happening after the other, the Lord gave me comfort as I looked at the life of Joseph.

However as we enter a new month, I feel  we should take a little break and share on what I have been learning recently .I have been studying the book of Colossians and do not seem to have moved past chapter 1 verse 10. The verse talks about “ pleasing God”.  This little phrase occurs in a prayer rendered by Apostle Paul in a letter to the saints in Colossae .

Paul heard about these saints from Epaphras (Colossians 1:7 )who had brought the gospel to them. Although he had never seen these believers, Paul challenges us with the fact that he prayed for them daily( Colossians 1:9 ). What is further challenging is the content of his prayer which has been written to admonish us. In addition to the prayers recorded earlier( Colossians 1:9 ), Paul also prayed  that the kind of lives the Colossian Christians  live would be one that would be fully representative  of the gospel andpleasing God . Paul was interested that their faith being expressed in their everyday lives(  Colossians 1:6 ), he wanted them to walk the talk.

This is not the first place Paul talks about pleasing God. In his second  letter to the Corinthians( 2 Corinthians 5:9 ), he actually mentions that one of his goals or rather his main aim is to please God and because this was his own desire, he could pray the same for these saints. In the heart of every true believer and I believe in your heart also , is a longing to please God  and this is usually in response to his love for us. Naturally ,we want to   please those we love .There is something about pleasing them brings us so much delight that we   do not mind whatever the hassle as long as we receive the reward of seeing the contentment and delight on the faces of our loved ones after we have done some things. 

God wants our lives to please him but we must also make a choice to please him at all times. Apostle Paul helps us further in the letter by giving  four different things that must characterize a life that pleases God ( Colossians 1:9-11) .There is much to learn about pleasing God  but it starts first with a desire and hopefully, we shall be considering  a life that pleases God   in more detail in the coming months.

Choosing to please Him,

Grace Tom-Lawyer