God likes it when we have faith. It "pleases Him" a great deal.
Heb 11:6a (NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God.I used to think this only concerned salvation; a requirement to get into heaven. Certainly in the ultimate sense of believing in Jesus for salvation this is true. But in the work-a-day temptations where our faith may fail us in a particular aspect--where we turn out in actual practice to be "little faiths" over and again, there is the verse:
2Ti 2:13 (NIV) If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.So it is not up to us after all. <smiles>Just let us not DENY Him... (2Ti 2:12b)
I now understand this verse as applying to me in this way: If I want to please God, if I want to make Him smile, I must have faith for the day to day things. Faith is what gets the Lord amazed and happy and pleased. I think of the verse...
Lu 7:9 (Wey) Jesus listened to the Captain's message and was astonished at him, and He turned and said to the crowd that followed Him, "I tell you that not even in Israel have I found faith like that."Jesus healed many, but never failed to mention how pleased He was when great faith was present.Let us aim to make God smile. To astonish Him!
John 6:29 (NIV) Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."2 Peter 1:2-4 (NIV) Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Mat 13:16-17 (NIV) "But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."
