His Pleasure & Promise

Psalm 16:¹¹ “Because of you, I know the path of life, as I taste the fullness of joy in your presence. At your right side I experience divine pleasures forevermore!” [TPT].

I was in a mentorship session with about forty or so other pastors some time ago with a great man of God in the United States. And he had us introduce ourselves to each other because we did not know each other. When it got to my turn, and I got up and said, “I am Femi Monehin, and I am from God’s Favourite House in Lagos.” He looked at me and said, how can only you be God’s Favourite House. So, I explained that every church should actually be God’s Favourite House, not by name but every church should be a place where God loves to go because He will get pleasure there. What makes a place your favourite place? It is a place where you find pleasure. For some people, their children are their favourite people, so they love to hang out with them. For some people, their spouse is their favourite, or their homes, or their jobs. Unfortunately, for some people it is their cars.

For us to be God’s favourite people, we must give God pleasure. One of the things that gives God pleasure is worship. As children of God, we must be big on worship. Worship is so important; it is not just something we do to while away time. The most important part of any service is worship. Sacrifice is another thing that gives God pleasure. David said, ‘how can I give God something that does not cost me anything?’ In other words, he does not just do things, he is focused on doing the things that pleases God. No wonder God said concerning David, “I have found a man after my heart.” Worship, sacrifice, and the other things that please God work by faith. Heb.11:⁶ “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.” (NIV). To please God, we need faith. Faith is totally indispensable.

Faith can be defined in so many ways – the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen… and that would be correct. But faith simply means what you can rely on. Faith is all about what you lean on. You probably are sitting on a chair right now, right? We can say that you are leaning on the chair. Interestingly, nobody asks to see the certificate of the furniture maker, no one checks to see if the furniture maker is ISO certified before sitting. You typically just sit. Interestingly also, sometimes you do not even pay attention to the colour of the chair you sit on. The point is, you chose to rely on the chair, right? God wants you to rely on His promises because God’s promises are stronger than the chairs you are seating on. God wants you and I to build our lives on His promises and rely on His promises. We can go to bed with God’s promises. God wants us to hold tightly to His promises. Heb.10:²³ “Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. God always keeps his word.” (MSG, emphasis added).

Prayer: Father, let my life daily give You pleasure even as I delight and keep a firm grip to Your promises to me because You can be trusted, in Jesus Name. Amen!