Have you noticed the strange ideas some people have about what it takes to please God? They say, "Well, you'd just better not slip up." Or they think, "I'd better read my Bible an hour a day or God won't bless me." Some folks have given up altogether saying, "Man, I've messed up my life so bad and fallen so far there's no way God could ever be pleased with me again."

They seem to be trying to please an angry God Who can only see their imperfections - a God Who is waiting to knock them down in their health, finances or relationships to teach them some kind of lesson. They are being robbed. The truth is, Satan is the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy.

God wants to have fellowship with them as a Heavenly Father Whose only desire is to pour out the riches of heaven on His children. Pleasing Him is simply a matter of getting into position to receive all that is in His heart to give. That's why Hebrews 11:6 says, "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."

Being "without faith" is not talking about another law or standard by which you are judged. It's talking about a broken connection with a Father Who wants to bless you. It is impossible to please God without faith because faith is our connection to God. With faith we are in place for our Heavenly Father to do what pleases Him most - to bless His children.

So let's turn this verse around from the negative to the positive: If it is impossible to please God without faith, then we know it is possible to please Him with faith. In fact, if you'll think about it, trusting what someone says is the only way to create a pleasant atmosphere and establish a meaningful relationship with them.

Key to Pleasing
I had many opportunities to learn this as a teenager and young adult. On more than one occasion before I left home, I went to my earthly father, A.W. Copeland, with things in my life that seemed messed up beyond hope. What a relief it was to always hear him say, "Well, now, this thing is not as bad as it looks."

"Boy, that's good," I would often say, "because I thought I'd messed up for life."

Then he'd usually say, "No, now let's think about this a little bit."

As we talked about the situation, my father would bring up things that I hadn't considered, or didn't know. Soon, relief and peace would begin to settle into my spirit, and I would think, "Whew, I'm going to get out of this. Thank God...and thank Daddy!"

Why did this happen? It happened because I put faith in my father's words and rested in the integrity of what he said. I put my confidence in his desire for my success. Because I was willing to make decisions that honored his word and his commitments to me, Daddy had opportunity to do what was in his heart for me.

If I had continued to walk in that as I grew older, instead of thinking I was smarter than he was, I could have enjoyed many more benefits in our father-son relationship.

But I didn't. I rebelled. When I got old enough to think I knew more than Daddy did, I got deeper into trouble. That was stupid! Daddy knew how to get me out, but I wouldn't listen. Without faith in someone who knew better, I continually made decisions that worsened my situations.

The atmosphere of mistrust I created drove a wedge between my daddy and me. Did his love for me change? No. Did my actions make him less willing to do everything he could to help me? Not at all. The choices I made hurt him because, eventually he could no longer reach me, and I couldn't reach out to him. None of it was his fault-it was mine.

It's the same way in our relationship with God. His love and commitment to bless us never change. We shut the door to that blessing when we refuse to honor what He says.

What would you think of a son who told his father, "Dad, I really love you, but I don't believe a word you say"? A child's declaration of love is meaningless if he will not take action on the promises, or counsel of his parents. His statement is an insult.

This is the same problem many believers face because, as the last half of verse 6 tells us, when we come to God we must "believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." You can tell many believers aren't doing this by the way they treat His promises, like 1 Peter 2:24: "By [His] stripes ye were healed."

"Well, yes, I know it says that, Brother Copeland. I know God can heal, but I just don't know whether He would or not. You see, I believe that God doesn't heal everybody. He just heals one here and one there. I don't believe I'm one that He does. My religion doesn't believe it. I just don't think it could happen."

What an insult to a loving Father!

You might as well call God a liar to His face. That's absolutely awful to blame God when all the time it's us who are not receiving.

Don't Draw Back
The person who approaches God and His promises that way is described in Hebrews 10:38: "If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." In other words, the person who draws back from trusting what God says He will do robs God of the pleasure of blessing him. Pleasing God requires that we trust His Word as we would the word of an honorable man. It demands that we let Him pour out His blessings on us as vessels of His glory in the earth.

Faith pleases God because it gives Him access into your life. Psalm 35:27 says: "Let them shout for joy and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant."

Your faith gives God an opening to come into your life. He needs access in order to remove burdens, destroy yokes and make you a living demonstration of His desire to bless men. But He has that access only when you "believe that He is" and, "that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

Acting on His Word gives Him opportunity to heal your body, to prosper you, to save your children, to deliver your children from drugs - whatever it is you want and need. Faith gives Him access into your life, and gives you access into the grace of God - His divine favor and blessings.

Do you need further proof that God's desire is to bless you, and not to teach you a lesson? Read 3 John 2, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."

Look at what His prosperity includes. To prosper, by the dictionary definition, means "to excel in something desirable, to go forward." You desire to be well. You desire to be born again. You desire to go to heaven. You desire to please your Heavenly Father. You desire to feed your family. That's prospering.

God wants you to excel in the entire realm of human existence: spirit, soul, body, financial and social. He wants you to be born again, baptized in the Holy Ghost, learning about faith, and walking by faith. He wants your mind renewed to His Word and walking in His wisdom - the God-given ability to use knowledge.

His desire is that you know His healing power and walk in divine health. God delights when you have your financial needs met and are able to give to every good work. In every relationship, He wants you to be a strong witness and lighthouse of His love, His way, His will and His power, to help others to prosper and know the Word of God.

God has committed Himself to your success in every area of life. You need to keep this thought in mind all the time: My God receives pleasure from my excelling by faith in every area of my life.

Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka:  Kenneth Copeland Ministries