A few months ago, I'm reading along in Ephesians 5, while writing a bible study for my kids, and a very inconspicuous, wee little verse jumps off the page at me and smacks me, in a gentle but very firm way, over the head! I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. This is why I love God's Word.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
....kinda like that. Ephesians 5:10. Wow! 7 words.
So since these words played like Annie songs over and over in my head....(Add as many over and overs as you like to enhance the reality. Just don't come to my house without expecting at least one performance of a song from the Annie score sung in it's entirety with a dance and the command to "CLAP!" after it. It's a daily experience. Over and over.)....it was time to dig in and see what God wanted to teach me, tell me, show me and challenge me to live by.
I started in the Proverbs: 15:8 Prayer pleases Him, 15:26 Pure thoughts & gracious words please Him, 22:18 Keeping wise words in your heart pleases Him.
I Samuel 15:22 (New International Reader's Version) asks a question and give us the answer:
"What pleases the Lord more? Burnt sacrifices or obeying Him? It is better to obey Him than to offer a sacrifice..." So I go on to find out more about what this means and guess what I learn....
Did you know that God enjoys when we speak LOVE LANGUAGES to Him? I knew that my husband did. I know that my kids have a specific love language. Brad's is Acts of Service, Luke's is Quality Time, Grace's is Physical Affection and Moriah's (so far) has to be Words of Affirmation. ("CLAP!") :) We love to speak and be spoken to in love languages at our house, but God.....God is pleased when we speak these to Him as well.
God's Love Languages
QUALITY TIME- Romans 12:1 "Offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God." When we off ourselves to Him in full, we can't help but obey Him, which is again, pleasing to God.
ACTS OF SERVICE- Romans 14:18 says that serving Christ with righteousness, peace and joy is pleasing to God.
GIFTS- Philippians 4:18 says that when you give gifts that supply the needs of a brother, you are a fragrant offering that is pleasing to God.
WORDS OF AFFIRMATION- Hebrews 13:15 God is pleased with continually offering a sacrifice of praise with lips that confess His name.
And since we know that Jesus was the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3)....we can take his example of how God would give and receive the Love Language of...
PHYSICAL AFFECTION-
"At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them." Luke 4:40 [His touch heals.]
"People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them." Luke 18:15 [His touch is gentle.]
"Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly." Mark 8:25 [His touch changes how we see things.]
How do I know these things were pleasing to God?
John 5:30 Jesus said "...for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me."
John 8:29 Jesus said "I always do the things that are pleasing to God."
So we make it our goal to please him (NIV)....our ambition to be pleasing to Him. (NASB)
2 Corinthians 5:9
Prayer from Hebrews 13:20-21
Now may the God of peace...equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
