How to Live God’s Way—Simplified

How to live God's way - simplified

Living for the Lord is extremely rewarding, but sometimes it is so difficult to understand what God is doing or to know what He wants us to do!

Two things complicate this: our lack of understanding of God’s character and ways, and our desire to do things our way.

So let me simplify how to live God’s way:

Just try to PLEASE Him in every way!

If that’s the case, we need to find out what pleases Him (Eph 5:10). Below is a list of some of them.

  • Praise, worship, and thanksgiving (Ps 69:30-31; Heb 13:15-16; Eph 5:19-20)
  • Sacrificial living (Rom 12:1; Heb 13:15-16)
  • Sacrificial giving (Phil 4:18)
  • Obedience (1 Jn 3:22-23)
  • Live by faith (Heb 10:38; Heb 11:6)
  • Be controlled by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:8)
  • Truth and integrity (1 Chr 29:17; Pr 20:23)
  • Sincerity of heart and purity of motives (Mt 5:8)
  • Serving God and using our gifts and abilities (Mt 25:14-30)
  • Live a holy pure life (1 Thess 4:1-12)
  • Lead a quiet life (1 Thess 4:1-12)
  • Love each other (1 Thess 4:1-12)
  • Stay away from evil (Eph 5:11)
  • Living a life worthy of the Lord (Col 1:10)
  • Being fruitful in every good work (Col 1:10)
  • Growing in the knowledge of God (Col 1:10)
  • Suffering for doing good and enduring it (1 Pet 2:20)

Jesus always sought to please the Father and always did (Jn 5:30, Jn 8:28-30), and the Father was well pleased with Him (Mat 17:5, Lk 3:22). Therefore, we should also make this our goal (2 Cor 5:9). And as we saw in the previous blog of why God’s way is best , it is for our benefit. 

If we would simply ask the Lord before every action and about every attitude, “Is this pleasing to You, Father?” it would go a long way in accomplishing this goal of pleasing Him.

But how in the world can we get to this mindset of always wanting to please God more than ourselves or others? Here are 3 keys in

 How to live God’s Way—in a manner pleasing to Him

1. Have a compliant heart attitude

We get this submissive attitude by:

  • Renewing our minds through the reading and application of His Word. (Rom 12:2)
  • Humbling ourselves before our rightful King
  • Remembering it’s about a love relationship with our Maker—not about earning a right standing with the Lord, but of being in a right standing with the Lord through Jesus Christ. We want to please the ones we love.
  • Accepting that every sin (i.e. not living God’s way) is displeasing to Him.
  • Repenting when we do sin, thereby restoring our broken fellowship.
  • Reminding ourselves that surrendering our way to God is minuscule in comparison to what Christ did.

2. Increase our awareness of His presence

If you and I are conscious of the fact that Jesus, the One we love, is always with us, we would not hurt His heart as much. Personally, God’s pleasure in me is my biggest motivator to live rightly. See my blogs Sensing God’s Presence and God Moments: Touches of His Presence to help you.

3. God enables

He is the One who teaches (Ps 25:8-9, Jn 16:13-15), directs (Pr 3:5), and empowers us (2 Pet 1:3). We simply cannot live a life pleasing to the Lord on our own!

In times when we’re not sure how to live God’s way, we can go to Him and just ask—He will not turn us away (Jas 1:5). (See my blog series on How to Know God’s Will for specifics) 

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. (2 Thes 2:16-17)

So until next time, my friends, make it your goal to please the Lord. I guarantee you, based on the Word of God, He will help you to do so and be smiling all the while!

 

Scripture taken from New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.