Prayer and Pleasing God

The Westminster Catechism begins with a delightful truth: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

Bringing pleasure into the presence of God is at the very purpose for which God has created us. It follows that the most basic need or desire we carry is to please Him. And the essential element in a life that pleases God is faith.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

John came to me privately and with tears. “Will you pray with me?” he asked. “My wife and I are working three jobs, but we still can’t meet the bills. We don’t want to take the kids through another financial failure. Only God can end this pattern – this downward spiral.” As an elder of his church, I placed oil, the symbol of the Spirit, on his forehead and we prayed. Between the tears, we managed to say, “God, you’re our God. Help!”

Nothing acknowledges our belief in the existence of God quite so well as actually speaking to Him. Prayer is the most elemental pleasure we have to offer to God. Prayer is the vehicle of faith – and faith pleases God. Every utterance we breathe to God in the privacy of our cubicle or closet, as Jesus called it, is prefaced by the declaration, “There you are, my God. You exist!”

One week later, John came to me again, glorified in smiles. He told me how God delivered him. God seems to have been pleased with John’s simple prayer and belief that God is his help.

Do you pray? Do you act like God is? As simple as it sounds, there is no other place to start…if you want to please Him.