Give God Something to Work With

 

by Alexandra Copeland

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that it is impossible to please our Heavenly Father without faith. Why do you suppose that is? We've heard this verse a million times, but hardly anyone ever explains why faith is such a crucial and necessary component to one's relationship with God. Well, fortunately for us, Heavenly Father didn’t keep the importance of faith a secret but revealed the explanation in His Word. Hebrews 11:6 goes on to tell us that when we come to God, we must believe that He exists. But here's the big whammy, we must believe that He will reward those of us who put a sincere and diligent effort into seeking Him out. This is incredibly important information, because there are many people that have been praying for something to come to pass in their lives, and they are very disappointed when they don’t witness any movement. The verse in Hebrews 11:6 points us in the right direction. It tells us how to come to God, and it also tells us what to do to receive His rewards.  

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus Christ tells us to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first, before we do any other thing. Isaiah 55:6(NLT) says, “Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.” Heavenly Father wants us to seek Him, but again, how we seek Him is very important. The attitude of our hearts and minds will signify our desire to give God the honor and praise He overwhelmingly deserves. This means there must be an understanding on our parts of who God is. He is the Creator of the Universe. He’s a Righteous Judge, and an all-powerful God who never changes. He’s Alpha and Omega. He is holy, a quality unmatched by anything in all of eternity. An appreciation and understanding of His magnificent glory and power gives us the right attitude to seek Him.  

We must have the highest level of reverence for our Heavenly Father, because again, He is so deserving of it. He deserves to be sought. A person would not bother to look for something that isn’t valuable to them. They wouldn’t put the time and energy into the search unless they believed it would prove to be beneficial in some way. This is how we humans are, and God knows it. He knows that we seek the people and things we value, and this is why He must be sought, because there is nothing in all of creation more valuable and precious than God. 

When we seek God with a mind and heart that reverences Him in the way He deserves, we will find Him, because we had faith that indeed we would. He likes this very much. Heavenly Father looks for an opportunity to bless us. 2Chronicles 16:9 says that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro, throughout the whole earth, because He’s looking to bless those who have a heart that is fully committed to Him. This allows you and I to see that we must hold up our end of the bargain. Let’s give our Heavenly Father something to work with and seek Him with our whole hearts. This conveys our faith and reverence for Him, and He is so incredibly worthy of our full commitment.  

When we understand and appreciate who God is, we can also understand and appreciate who He has made us through Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:10(NLT) tells us, “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Because of Christ, you and I are complete through the salvation he made available. Faith is so important to our relationship with God because our trust in Him through the Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest expression of our love and gratitude. So, we must always remind ourselves how blessed we are to have the honor and privilege to seek God diligently. Our continued prayers, and our trust, and confidence that He is a Rewarder demonstrates that our hearts are truly committed to Him. We must never lose faith in our God!■ 

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Give God Something to Work With”, by Alexandra Copeland © 2019. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.