Pleasing God 3 of 5 Lifewords 4.6.11

I'm praying for you and myself this morning according to Colossians 1:10 that the Holy Spirit will help us to "walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."   Fully pleasing to the Lord! How He delights in us as we yield ourselves to Him, not motivated by pleasing ourselves, or pleasing others, but honoring HIM.  A life fully pleasing to the Lord is a collection of days where we made the decision to submit ourselves to obeying Him in our thoughts, our words, our intentions, our actions, our desires. One day at a time. Trust Him for THIS day!   What does a "life fully pleasing to the Lord" look like? It is a life of loving Him and worshipping Him.  It is a life of delighting in and obeying His Word. It is having a pure heart toward Him and a hatred for sin.  It is a lifestyle of prayer.  It is a life of faith, because we know from Hebrews 11:6 that "without faith it is impossible to please Him." It is a life of loving people with God's love and rescuing them from darkness, because this is the heart of God. It is being consumed with the Commission He gave us. It is loving justice and being His ambassador in the Earth. Our example is the life of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, seeing that He  "only did those things that please the Father." (John 8:30)   A life fully pleasing to the Lord is not so much a checklist, but a heart attitude of yielding to Him, joyfully, with childlike faith. It has nothing to do with an external legalism, but is born out of  relationship with Him. It is lifting our hands in worship to Him at the beginning, middle and end of each day, saying, Lord I love you so much and I yield all to You.   I'm thinking of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He yielded His will to the will of the Father's saying "Nevertheless, not My will, but Your will be done." This is the key to a life fully pleasing to the Lord--daily submitting to the will of God, through help of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  Prayer for Living a Life of Pleasing the Lord   Lord, I belong to you.  I love you. I live for You. I trust in You.  I humble myself. I don't want my own way. I don't want to have any other motivation than what pleases you.  Search my heart.  Reveal areas in which you want to bring me into victory and freedom. Thank you for forgiving me of my failures.  Because you forgive me, I forgive myself and I extend forgiveness to every person in my life. Help me today to please you and honor You in all.   Holy Spirit lead me,  guide me and fill me afresh today. Help me to love well, and live for your purposes. Deliver me from myself and help me walk as a new creation in Christ, not pleasing men but you alone.  I desire to take my thoughts captive to Your will, and to set a guard over my lips that my words would be words of life love and wisdom. Help me to understand Your leading and obey Your Word. I delight in your Word. Help me to choose Your Way, Your path, and Your will. Not my will but Your will be done. Expose selfishness.  Help me to live a life fully pleasing to You this day. In Jesus Name. Amen.