Faith Pleases God

Faith Is the Assurance Of Things Hoped For!

The hope of the Christian is eternal life. Every true Christian hopes that the promise of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ will come true. Faith is living in absolute assurance in the promises of God. It is not a wistful longing that something will happen. It is assurance that what God says is true.

5 Promises that we can live in every day!

God loves us unconditionally.

God’s love is not dictated by our behavior or circumstances. God’s love for us is based on His character. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord" (). Nothing can separate us from the love of God. There is no sin that you have committed or will commit that can separate you from the love of God! He has demonstrated this by giving His only begotten Son so we could have a relationship with Him.

You are forgiven and promised an eternal dwelling place with Christ

14 “Do not let your heart be troubled; [a]believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Jesus promises us a place in heaven when we die. He

has prepared that place for us and will take us to His preparation at our time of passing. This world is a temporary place that is going to pass away. We all are going to die, unless Jesus returns before that happens. What does your future hold?

God made you for relationship with Him

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

The Lord has made you future for you

God has a treemendous

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

Many claim this verse and apply it to their lives today. It may be that God has this life for you here on earth, but assuredly it will be in heaven. There are some faithful Christians that live very difficult lives and one may ask why this verse is not true for them. It is! It is just not realized this side of heaven. I can assure you that when they pass from this life to the next their future is without the trials of this world.

God gives you strength to navigate this world

“I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me” ()

When you cant seem to go on Jesus will give you the strength to carry on. 7th time down has a song called everlasting arms. These are the lyrics:

I know just how you feel When you're too tired to stand up I know just how you feel I know it's hard to believe When you wanna give up I know just how you feel You can lean on everlasting arms When your strength fails and your faith is worn You'll be safe here from all alarms You can lean on everlasting arms I know just how you feel When you've done all that you can And it's still not enough There is a peace more real There is a place you can rest There's Someone you can trust You can lean on everlasting arms When your strength fails and your faith is worn You'll be safe here from all alarms You can lean on everlasting arms He will hold you up and never let go My God will hold you up, He'll never let go

This is a song of encouragement that lifts me up and reminds me of the strength of God

Faith Is the Conviction Of Things Not Seen.

Conviction of things not seen carries the same truth a bit further, because it implies a response, an outward manifestation of the inward assurance. The person of faith lives his belief. His life is committed to what his mind and his spirit are convinced is true.

The Old Testament people lived this out in their lives. They were promised a Messiah that would redeem them and take away their sins. Christ had not yet come so all they had was the promise of a Messiah. This promise would lead them to a life of obedience. God gave them the law to manifest their faith in God. What I mean is that they lived according to the law because they wanted to live in the light of the promise. They lived their lives as children of God because of the promise of God.

Tell Cinderella story. Cinderella was a princess forced to live as a slave. She bought into the lie that she would be a slave her entire life. She had bought into the lie of her evil stepmother that she was ugly and worthless. But there was a ball coming to town! She was miraculously transformed into the beautiful princess God had made her to be. She went to the ball and the prince fell in love with her. Unfortunately midnight came and she returned to her life of slavery. The prince did not stop loving her, but looked for her feverishly. When he found her he took her out of that life of slavery and she lived as the princess God made her to be. Of course this is a fairy tail, but many people fail to live as God made them to be. Many people see them slaves of sin and live their lives in the dregs and drones of life. They need to see themselves as Christ has made them. Christ has redeemed them and made them heirs to the kingdom. We no longer have to live as slaves, but through Christ we can live as royalty.

Faith in God Through Creation, Sacrifice, and Relationship

Faith In God Through Creation

We can look at God’s creation and see that it was made by a sovereign God. God has always existed, the world has not. He spoke the world into existence.

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was [a]formless and void, and darkness was over the [b]surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was [c]moving over the [d]surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

You can have faith that God made all things. We are not here by accident, but instead by intelligent design. We are not an evolution of a “primordial soup”. If we are, where did the soup come from?

Faith In God Through Sacrifice

Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. God rejected Cains offering and accepted Abel’s. Why? Some Theologians believe that Abel’s offering was more valuable because it required blood. Cains did not. As we know blood represents life which is the most precious thing that we have to offer. Abel was willing to give the precious blood of a sacrifice, while Cain only brought fruit. Fruit is second best. God requires our very best. This will cost us. It cost God!

God gave the precious blood of His Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for our sins. He requires of us to bring our messed up lives to Him, so He can apply the blood of Christ to our lives. Are you willing to give your life to Christ?

Another viewpoint on this is that Abel brought the firstling of his offering. Cain just brought an offering. Abel brought his very best to the Lord, while Cain brought his leftovers. We demonstrate our faith in God by giving Him our very best. Our time, treasure, and talent. What are you bringing to the Lord? It demonstrates your faith in Christ!

Faith In Relationship

Enoch lived righteously in a wicked generation. The Bible says that he walked with God. He had such an intimate relationship with God because he spent time with him. Enoch was pleasing to the Lord. he was pleasing because he knew the Lord. God spared Enoch death because He was a friend of God.

What kind of relationship do we have with God. Can we say that we walk with Him daily? Christ gives us this command:

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

We must deny ourselves - realize that the world does not revolve around us!

Take up our cross - give sacrificially to the Lord!

Follow Him - walk in relationship with Christ!

Faith Is Necessary To Please God.

Christians want to be pleasing to the Lord. The Bible says it is impossible without faith. We need to have faith in God. We need to believe His word is true. This is not merely an agreement with its teachings. This is a living the Word of God out in our lives. We must believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that His sacrifice is enough to satisfy the wrath of God. We do this by not beating ourselves up over our past, but living for the future Christ has created for us. We must have faith in the Holy Spirit. We must be ever aware of His guidance in our lives and follow His convictions.