Pleasing God Through Faith

Pleasing God Through Faith

By Joel B.

Heb 11:6 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.

This is one of my favorite verses in our Holy Bible. It tells us exactly how we need to approach God’s throne. It is simple. We must have faith. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. But when we do have faith, we can be certain that He will acknowledge this and reward us. Lets analyze this further.

Faith is a key to unlocking wisdom. In James 1:5-6 we are told that if any of us are lacking wisdom, we can come before God with faith and it will be given. However, we are warned that those who are wavering, or the double-minded man, will receive nothing. They are like a sea that is tossed by wind.

Faith is also a key to accomplishing great tasks. In Hebrews 11, it mentions a handful of biblical figures that achieved great things through their faith. However, I want to talk about one of my favorite. Samson.

Samson was a Nazarite who had a very special vow before the Lord, and the Lord gave him super strength to accomplish His will. We all know what happens next. The vow gets broken due to Samson revealing the secret of his strength to his beloved and she betrays him by having him sleep on her knees while a man shaves off his seven locks. The Philistines capture Samson, pluck out his eyes, and take him to their temple to make him a spectacle before their god, Dagon. So Samson is put between two pillars, and the Philistines begin to celebrate around Samson, and this is where the faith comes in. Samson prays an unwavering prayer of faith to the Lord asking for his strength back. God grants Samson his strength, and Samson pulls the pillars out from under the temple, killing more Philistines than he had even killed during his life.

So, how much faith does it take to pull down a temple or even to please God? Jesus has given us some very good insight into this matter. He tells us in Matt 17:20 that if we have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed that we can move mountains. In fact, He not only tells us we can move mountains, but tells us nothing will be impossible for us to accomplish. A mustard seed is about 1/20 of a inch. That’s not very big!

Sometimes it’s hard to have faith, but when times like these come just remember that God promises to reward us for our faith, and he only asks us for a reasonable amount of faith in Him. He knows and cares about us and wants us to live productive lives. Sometimes He may challenge us, but this is only to build us up and help to strengthen the body of Christ. Above all, know that God loves you and has a plan for your life.