Giving God Pleasure

We were planned and created for giving God pleasure.

He was not bored or stuck for something to do when He made the human race. God wanted to create creatures who would, of their own free will choose to love Him and relate to Him.

To make that possible He allowed evil into this lovely setting, and gave us a command to be obeyed - or disobeyed. Naturally, we (in Adam and Eve) made the wrong choice, but God had a plan to reconcile us through the death of His beloved Son, so that we still could make a deliberate choice to love Him.

When we make that choice, and give him praiseful worship, thus giving God pleasure. That's what He had in mind all along! That's why we're here!

There is this intelligent Creator Being who watches our every move, and listens to our very thoughts - all like a devoted and proud Daddy. (True He is still the Judge of all the universe, but for now, let's become familiar with this familial side of God).

He most wants a continuous, daily relationship with each of us. To start it we must believe He is there, and His word as recorded in the Bible. We must admit that we do need a Saviour to take our place in death, and choose quite deliberately to accept His proffered gift of life. Abundant, wonderful, and fulfilling life!

This daily relationship involves checking often to see what God says in His Word (the Bible), and trusting Him, and obeying His commandments as wholeheartedly as we can. Even if things and people in our lives conspire to turn us away from God.

Look at Noah. He had such a close friendship with Him, that God gave him instructions for the Ark, something no one had ever seen before. He withstood the taunts and mocking of the neighbours for 120 years. No doubt his own family went through stages of being dreadfully embarrassed by him. But Noah did not waver. He worked on - and on. His obedience gave God pleasure.

When we praise and thank God, we make Him smile.

When we use the abilities He gave us He is greatly pleased too. The famous Olympic runner, Eric Liddell, of the Chairots of Fire film, is a good example. He said, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel God's pleasure." Later he said, "To give up running would be to hold Him in contempt."

So use your abilities, and develop them to the nth degree. Not for your own glory, but to please God.

When I make craft things, I often have the feeling God is smiling and saying, "Good. That's My kind of work too!"

The heart of worship is surrender - surrendering all we have and are and hope to be to God. Many people, even believers in Christ, are afraid to give up so much, for fear there will be nothing left of themselves. However, those that do, discover a marvellous secret; that's when we gain a new and delightful personality! When we become saturated with our relationship with God, His light and power begins to shine through us, and that's when we can really sparkle like a jewel.

But that is because God made us as unique individuals. We must be totally honest and authentic with Him, but He is great enough to enjoy enormous variety in plants, animals, geography, planets, - you name it, so we should not expect everyone to worship in precisely the ways we do. Yet it is important to follow God's commandments.

We should be accurate, and not make God out to be something that makes His Word, the Bible, a lie. It is important to keep checking often to see that we are not misrepresenting God.

There are naturalists who are inspired to worship when in outdoor, nature settings. They stand in awe of His creative powers.

Some get totally involved with their sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste when they worship. These are sensates. (They could be athletic too).

Traditionalists like beautifully planned programs of worship, and they like it repetitive, so it becomes all familiar and dear to them. Generally, they like the rituals, liturgies, and symbols in church.

There are activists who love God best when they are fighting injustices, confronting evil, and rescuing the underdogs of society. They have a good sense of God's holiness and justice and peace. They want others to recognize it too.

Caregivers love God by loving people, and nursing them, or fixing their problems in whatever ways or skills they have. God's great love makes the biggest impression on them.

We need the contemplatives too. They can sit quietly for a long time doing nothing but adoring God. They think much about His nature and revel in His goodness.

There may be others, but I'm aware yet of intellectuals. They apply their brilliant minds to studying and sorting out great and profound theological ideas. They usually write books or teach classes on these subjects.

Ultimately though, we are to become Best Friends with God, and this has always been a passion of mine since I was a young girl. I did it first and then learned about it. There is such a special love relationship in this, that it is easier to give up the possibility of marriage (mind you, I had struggles over that for quite a while), and if other friends fail - well, I still have the best, most healthy friendship possible.

That is why, when I wrote my first novel, I wanted to show the world what this sweet fellowship was like, and so I made the heroine, Ruthe Veer, reveal her intimate friendship with Christ throughout the book.

I know that many people hunger for this kind of intimacy with God, but they don't always broadcast it. If you are such a person, I want to share with you through the book and through my web site, Ruthes-SecretRoses.com , how you can develop such a blessed friendship with our precious Lord Jesus. How you can be giving God pleasure.

It is developed over time. It can start instantly, but it takes years to mature and deepen. God is more eager for this relationship than you are, so He's going to bend forward to help you.

The key ingredients you need to work into your life to help God nurture this intimacy, are meditation in His Word, and prayer. Lots of totally honest, real-you prayer.

Maybe at first, all you can fill is five or ten minutes. Start with that. The more you fall in love with God, and get to know about Him and His Son Jesus, and the more you involve Him in all the details of your life, the more you'll pine to spend more time with Him. It will become a pleasure, not a chore. (Although dull times do creep in too. Just do not give up!)

After a while you'll have those Ruthe-type running, or conversational prayers. You should still have blocks of time for specific praying, but while you are on the way some where, or doing something physical and mechanical that doesn't require total mental focus, chat with the Lord about whatever you see before you, or whatever absorbs your mind. Speak respectfully, and humbly, but feel free to ask advice, and help with everything.

When ideas slip into your mind moments later, say, "Thank you, Lord!" and go ahead and try that.

Now, there are some who've tried to tell me that such a lifestyle is too presumptuous. I'll try to answer that at another time and place, on another page, but I observe that they don't have the joy of intimacy with Christ, they don't have His comfort when frightened or upset, they don't have a sense of direction and purpose. So why would I give up this priceless treasure? No, I hold on the tighter!

But, what about you? Do you have this intimate friendship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Do you know the joy of He loves you and goes with you everywhere, all day long?

Do you need a Best Friend to whom you can confide every thought and emotion?

Perhaps like me, you are very sensitive and thoughtful, and people around you just don't seem to understand or care, or if they do, they have not got time to listen to you hours on end. Jesus does! It gives God pleasure to listen to those devoted to Jesus.

Nor are you keeping Him from ministering to anyone else, when you have His undivided attention. Wonderfully, as the Son of God, and by the Holy Spirit, He is able to be wholly present with you, and with me, and with everyone else who needs Him at any given time. He is God, after all, isn't He?

Are you moaning, "I wish I knew Him like that! This is all so new to me. How exactly do you do this?"

You know, it would help if you could watch someone who lives this way, right? It happens that in my novel, Ruthe's Secret Roses the heroine, Ruthe Veer, does exactly that. You can go with her through her daily adventures, and see how she prays about various things and gets answers that she knows are Jesus' or God's response to her. I think it would be of great help to you to read this book. Of course, I try to be available to answer questins and to correspond with you by email, but as I have found often through my life, human friendships can only go so far. The only perfect one is the one we are invited to have with the Lord Jesus - by faith.