Things God Wants From Us

Intro: years ago I worked at a lawn service in Birmingham with a crew of about 8 people. A pattern developed every week. We would get paid on Friday, about Tuesday or Wednesday guys would say, preacher, give me a five spot until payday. This went on for a while until some of the guys would forget they got a loan, amnesia I guess, so I cut the loan agency off. As I read the Word of God I am amazed at the thought that God wants things from me. To think the infinite God desires something from little old me is amazing. Today, we will look at what God wants from us.

Things God Wants From Us

1. He wants our heart—as we learned from the Blessed Life God is into hearts. He wants us to give Him the very essence of our life. The problem with many today is the problem of Israel long ago, with their lips they worship me, but their hearts are far from me. God wants more than lip service, He wants us to give Him our best. Heart is the center of our emotions, so to serve God you must do it with feeling, passion. Some want to only reverence God, but God wants more than reverence, He wants to tap deep into the very essence of who we are, our hearts.

2. He wants our faith–without faith it is impossible to please God. God wants us to step out into the realm of the unknown. To believe He can do anything, that nothing is really impossible for Him. This goes against reason or intellect. This is walking into places we have never been before in our lives. Until we operate in faith, God cannot pour out blessings. He doesn’t operate in the natural realm but the supernatural realm. His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts higher than our thoughts. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is a realm that separates us from the world that operate by reason. God’s realm is doing the impossible things in life.

3. He wants our trust-not only does He want our faith to be that He can do anything, but that we trust Him more than we trust anything else. To trust in the Lord with all your heart, your mind, your strength. To believe that God has your best interest in mind. Even when you are going through valleys and trials, you believe that everything is going to work out because you trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding.

God wants us to give Him control of our lives.

4. He wants our love–the first commandment, to love God with every fiber of your being. To love God because He first loved us. This love is greater love than earthly love, it is a divine relationship. Until we love God fully, all other love will be empty. Now abides faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love. Love is the greatest gift we possess but it is nothing until it is given away.

5. He wants our praise–let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. God wants us to offer up the sacrifice of praise continually. We thank Him, we honor Him, we exalt Him above anything else in our lives. Praise is the practice of heaven. Praise isn’t optional, and for thy pleasure they are created, thou art worthy o Lord.

6. He wants our surrender-behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and sup with him, and he with Me. This is yielding to God, giving God absolute control of every area of our lives. The part you don’t give to God the devil will take over. It is the prayer not my will but thine be done. It is Paul’s statement I am a bondslave of Jesus Christ. Surrender means submission to Christ’s authority in our lives. It is raising both hands up to God and saying, I am thine o Lord, I have heard thy voice.

7. He wants our destiny–In my Father’s house are many mansions. God doesn’t want your funeral to be the end of the story, but the beginning of eternal life with God. God wants us to give Him our goals, dreams, plans for our life, so that He can give us eternal life. You invest your life for God, He gives you eternal life for an inheritance. Our plans can interfere with His destiny for our lives. But God is better at choosing our course than we are. Our paths lead to destruction, His path leads to glory.