Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)………for real !!!

I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior at age 16. Although I was such a young man, I made up my mind to give God and His Word a try. I attended church faithfully and was heavily involved in the youth department. I was even chosen to be in a major play at the church that was to be performed at several other churches as well. This is when I had my first faith experience as a new convert.

It all started when the annual youth department Fun Day was scheduled to take place one Saturday. Oh yes Fun Day. A day of fun and games, competition, laughter, and.....and..... well you just had to be there. The anticipation of the day alone was exhilarating enough for us as youth. In addition, the big play was also to be performed on that same day. A day that will never be forgotten.

The Friday evening before the exciting Saturday, I was at the church when I received some surprising, yet disappointing news. Due to the time conflict between the youth Fun Day and the play, I was not going to able to attend one of them, and it wasn't the play. I knew the play was scheduled, I just wasn't aware there would be a conflict in time. Although, this came as A CRUSHING BLOW TO A FAITHFUL MEMBER OF THE YOUTH DEPARTMENT WHO LOVES TO HAVE FUN!!!..... I'm sorry, I got carried away. Anyway, back to what I was saying. Although this news came unexpectedly, believe it or not, with the strength of God , I responded with, "It's Ok. I understand". After all, I was the only one assigned my role in the play. I had to be there.

I returned home that evening convinced that I would not make Fun Day the next day. I even started to get out my clothes and the other equipment I needed for the play. But a still, small voice down inside of me (none other than the Holy Spirit) would not allow me to let it go. I was even reminded of a sermon my pastor had preached entitled,"Stepping Out On Faith".

All of a sudden, I started preparing to attend Fun Day as well as the play. I'm talking shorts, tennis shoes, socks, the works. Crazy huh? My sister was present when I was given the news about the conflict in the schedule, so imagine what she thought when she saw what I was doing. She proceeded to ask," What are you doing? You were told you can't go to Fun Day". My responce to her was simply, "I know", but I was still motivated to continue packing. I didn't know what was happening.

Early the next morning, I got out of the bed, put on my Fun Day gear, grabbed my things for the play, sat in the living room, and waited. Waited for what, I wasn't sure. My sister had also awakened, and once again I was greeted with the question of all questions,"What are you doing?"
I responded, "I'm waiting." Fortunately, she just left the room.

Not too long after, the telephone rang. It sent chills through my body. I wasn't even waiting on a call. I answered it and it was for my sister. For some reason I felt deflated. But I realized then, God was letting me know in some peculiar way that I was waiting on a call. From whom, I didn't know. The phone rang again and it was for me, however it wasn't the call I was waiting on. But then the amazing happened.

After I hung up the phone, I continued to wait. Less than five minutes later, the phone rang once again. It was one of the youth who was at the church that morning waiting to leave for Fun Day. She said to me that the Driver knew of my situation and said that if I could get there in a few minutes, he would make sure I would make it to the play on time after Fun Day was done. I lived less than ten minutes from the church. I got there in five. I learned what faith in God was all about through that experience (or so I thought).

For instance, a couple of years or so later, the youth department had another event I wanted to attend. I used the same faith, prepared the same way, and didn't go. God was letting me know, it was time to grow...up. Time out for the faith of a child, it was time to learn the faith of a man. As we grow and mature as believers, not only should our faith grow, but our knowledge of faith should mature.

It's like the first time we trusted God for a close parking spot. As soon as we drove to the front, someone pulled out and we pulled in. Coincedence? I think not. But now, we either have to drive around ten times (we could have been in the building) or we end up parking in any available spot, maybe in the front, but most likely in the back. We used the same childhood faith, the only problem was we were adults. We needed to walk.

Any loving parent wants to give their child anything they ask for. But they know that is not a responsible thing to do. It will only cause the child to become spoiled and selfish. The child may even have a right to everything they ask for but the parent has just as much of a right to say no. The child may kick , scream and say to the parent," You never let me do or have anything". Eventhough last week they were the best parent in the world when they said yes to what their child was asking. The parent may even look like they are being cruel but any good parent knows what's best for their child. A responsible parent knows that objecting to certain things that their child may ask for, trains the child to grow up and become respectable and responsible. It also teaches them to honor those who have rule over them.

God is the same way with His chilren. He doesn't want us to grow-up to be spoiled spiritual brats no matter how much faith in Him we have.
He wants us to understand that just because we use our faith to name it and claim it, blab it and grab it, and even seek it and speak it, doesn't mean we will receive it just because we believe it. Just like children we may do our kicking and screaming as well. When God answers us right away, we praise Him with, "You are such an awesome God!" But when He doesn't He has to hear, "Don't you love me? What about me? What about my needs? God where are you? God responds with, " I'm in the same place I was in yesterday when you were praising me for saying yes immediately".

God wants us to have the faith to know that if we call, He will answer. He wants to supply our every need. He just wants us to be mature enough to wait and learn what our needs really are. Not our wants, but our needs. He wants us to learn what real faith in Him is all about.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added (Matthew 6:33). Moreover, Without faith it's impossible to please God......for real!


When reading or quoting this scripture, the word “faith” is so often the focus. In reality “to please God” is the key part of the scripture.

Hebrews 11: 1 describes faith as “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of
things not seen.” Another way to describe faith is to believe and trust at the beginning even though you have not seen the end. Did you know that you can have faith and still not please God? A person can have faith in so many different areas that pleasing God can get lost in the shuffle.

For instance, there are those who have faith in nature. Their belief is to let nature take its
course and whatever happens happens. The main problem with this theory is that nothing
takes its course unless God allows it to.

Another example that we hear so often is “Have faith in yourself”. Although this may be considered a very positive thought, the reality is without God we can do nothing.

A final example is having faith in faith. This is usually tied to a religion, denomination or even a state of mind. You may have heard some people say “I am of the Catholic faith” or even “the Protestant faith”. Or they may even say “You may not know it, but I have faith on the inside,” while the whole time not realizing that you can be connected to a religion or denomination, or even have faith from the top of your head to the sole of your feet and still not please God. Not to mention, no matter how much faith you have on the inside, faith without works is dead. Real faith in anything shows action.

Even some of us who are considered the body of Christ have missed the mark when
it comes to this scripture. Yes, a number of us who have accepted Jesus as our personal savior and have been saved for a long time, have been misled when it comes to what it really means to have the faith that pleases God. So many of us have known the Word, just not the revelation of the Word.

In this day and time that we live in, the Word of God has gotten so distorted that it is
not about what God wants but about what we want as children of God. We read the Word to find what will please us and not what will please Him. We’ve even compromised certain scriptures to meet our own needs and desires. For example some of us quote John 15:7 as “Ask and it shall be given”. But the scripture actually reads “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask what you will and it shall be given”.

Another example is Psalm 37:4. So often this scripture is quoted, “The Lord is going to give me the desires of my heart”. Another misquoted faux pas. The Word of God tells us to,“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart”. We may be interested in asking and receiving or even getting the desires of our heart while God is more interested in us abiding and delighting in Him. When we really have faith in God and understand the real meaning of the scripture, we will find it is not about what we are trusting God for or what we are trusting Him to do. It is about the intimacy that should be building while we are waiting for Him to do what we are believing and trusting Him for. That’s right, real faith in God builds intimacy (into me...see).

That’s what the wait is for. Please know that God can do what we ask Him to do as soon as we ask Him. He knows our needs before we even ask. The reason He takes His time is because He wants to get closer to us and He wants us to get closer to Him. So close, in fact, that what we are believing Him for becomes secondary. God wants us to have an attitude of faith. A true attitude of faith is the attitude we have while we are waiting and trusting God. An attitude of faith builds character. It is the things we say, the way we think , and the things we do. Are we complaining during the wait? Do we become critical toward others or even toward God while we are waiting? Do we take matters into our own hands because we don’t want to wait, we are tired of waiting, we don’t think we should wait, or we think that God is being unfair?

This is when God wants us to exercise our faith with "waits". Just as it is important to our physical man to conquer weights, it is just as, if not more important, for our spiritual man to conquer "waits". Weights strengthen, builds, and forms our outer man. Whereas, "waits" strenghthen, builds, and transforms our inner man. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord (Psalm 27:14).

God wants us to praise Him for what He has already done even though it looks like He is not doing anything right now. He wants us to become content and satisfied with knowing that He is always with us and He loves us, and that no matter what happens in our lives we realize we belong to Him, and that’s what pleases Him.

There is no doubt that whatever it is that we are having faith in God for will perish. It may be for deliverance from trials and tribulations, situations and circumstances, healing of sickness and disease, or even provision for a house, car, money, etc. It will all pass away. But when we have an intimate relationship with God, that never perishes. He knows you and He wants you to know Him. As a result, you don’t have faith in Him because of what He does; you have faith in Him because of who He is. He is ever-loving, ever-present, all-knowing, and almighty. He is God.

Until next time,

Keep faith real