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Turn your Bibles to Hebrews 11:6. This is a verse you cannot preach on faith without referencing. Let's read it together:
"Without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must first believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him."
Today we're going to talk about the faith that pleases God—the kind of faith that makes God look at you the way He looked at Abel's sacrifice, so impressed that He was caught staring.
Have you ever wondered what it would say if God wrote a report on your life of faith? Would He be pleased? The Bible tells us that God has preferences, just like we do. He has things that please Him, and He rewards them. Genesis 1:31 tells us that when God created everything and took a step back, He saw that it was very good. He was pleased.
Proverbs 16:7 says: "When a man's ways please God, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." If you have enemies that are not at peace with you, the question is not your enemies—the question is whether your ways please God. Because when your ways please God, even your enemies cannot help but be at peace with you.
God is very clear about what pleases Him, and He is very clear about the kind of faith that pleases Him.
The first characteristic of faith that pleases God is this: it seeks to please God and not to get things.
Hebrews 11 is known as the Hall of Faith. It contains a list of people who lived by faith. But notice what verse 2 tells us about the primary function of faith:
"For by it the Elders obtained a good report."
The Greek word here means to bear witness—to affirm that one has seen, heard, or experienced something. Different Bible versions say it different ways:
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There is a faith that pleases God. The first function of faith is not to get things that you want—that's the secondary reason. The primary function is to please God.
We often miss this. We think faith is primarily about getting what we want. But the Bible says:
"Without faith it is impossible to please God."
You cannot please God without faith. And faith is principally for connecting with God, for pleasing God, not for pressuring God to give you what you want.
Look at Abel, the first person mentioned in this Hall of Faith. Genesis 4:3-4 tells us:
"In the process of time Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering."
The word "respected" means to look at—God was so impressed with Abel's sacrifice that He was caught staring. But why was Abel's accepted and Cain's was not? Hebrews 11:4 tells us:
"By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Through it he obtained a witness that he was righteous."
Abel's sacrifice was powered by a desire to please God. When you're trying to please God, you want to find out what it is that He likes.
Sidebar: Worship is not singing the song you like. Worship is singing the song God wants to hear. If we're truly worshiping God, then we would be seeking to discover what pleases Him, not what pleases us.
Look at Enoch. Genesis 5:24 says:
"Enoch walked in habitual fellowship with God."
This is what faith looks like—habitual fellowship with God. Hebrews 11:5 tells us:
"By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death. For before he was taken he had this testimony: that he pleased God."
God was so pleased with Enoch that He did not wait for death. He took him directly. God wrote a report card on Enoch's version of Christianity, and it said: "I am pleased."
Say this with me: My faith is primarily to please God.
Romans 10:17 says:
"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
What is heard has to be an expression of the word of God. Look at the conversation God had with Abraham, the father of faith. Genesis 15:1-6 tells us:
"The Lord spoke to Abraham in a vision and said, 'Do not be afraid, Abraham, for I will protect you and your reward will be great.' Abraham said, 'Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son?' The Lord said, 'No, your servant will not be your heir. You will have a son of your own.' And the Lord took Abraham outside and said, 'Look up at the sky. Count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you're going to have.' And Abraham believed the Lord."
Abrahim believed because of what God said. He didn't have a Bible then. All he had was the word of God. And the Bible says Abraham took God at His word.
There's a song we used to sing as children: "God said it, I believe it, that settles it."
I'm not blessed because the pastor said so. I'm blessed because the Bible said so. I'm not healed because someone told me so. I'm healed because the Bible said so. That means even if I never see anybody healed, I will still believe I am healed—not because of my experience, but because of what the Bible says.
Most of our beliefs are based on other people's experience. If we don't have exposure to the reality of a truth, we tend to doubt it. But the truth is the truth whether or not somebody is capable enough to manifest it.
Look at John 4—where we get our name, The Well Church. The woman at the well encountered Jesus and invited her village to come and see Him. Verse 39-41 tells us:
"Many Samaritans believed because of what the woman said. They came out to see Him and begged Him to stay for two days. After He stayed there, many more believed because of His words. They said to the woman, 'Now we believe not because of what you said. We have heard Him ourselves.'"
They started with what the woman said, but they quickly moved to what the Bible said for themselves. They didn't rely on someone else's experience—they got their own revelation.
This is why we preach at a pace you may not be able to keep up with. We want you to go read the Bible for yourself. We want you to know where these scriptures are. We want you to verify them yourself.
Why should you believe the word of God for yourself?
Psalms 119:89 says:
"Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven."
Matthew 24:35 says:
"Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away."
Isaiah 40:8 says:
"The grass withers, the flowers fade away, but the word of God stands forever."
Hebrews 6:18 says:
"These two things cannot change: God cannot lie, and when He makes an oath, He cannot lie."
Isaiah 55:11 says:
"So also is my word. I send it out and it produces fruit. It shall accomplish all I want it to and prosper wherever I send it."
The word of God is seed. It produces fruit. It accomplishes what God intends.
The challenge is that most of us don't believe the word of God. We believe the DoorDash notification on our phones more than we believe the word of God. We believe that our Uber driver is here because an app told us so—and we open the door, grab our bag, and go. We have faith in that app.
There is also a Bible app on your phone that says, "God shall supply all your needs." But we don't believe it as much as the Uber app.
Here's the reality: If you believed the word of God, it would translate into your actions. It would change how you live.
Say this: I have faith based on the word of God.
Real faith doesn't have any if in it. God said it, I believe it, that settles it.
The prayer of faith has no if. The language of if is a language of doubt and uncertainty. If is hesitation, vagueness, and subsequently fruitless prayers. If means you're trying to tame your expectations so that you don't get disappointed if God doesn't do what He said.
Many of us have prayed prayers where we prayed them, but in our hearts we were ready with a backup plan. We pray but we don't really pray. We pray with an if.
Praying with an if is like praying for God to part the Red Sea but organizing some wood to build a bridge just in case. It's like David coming to Goliath but telling the archers, "Just in case this stone doesn't work, can you fire at him?" It's like praying for a spouse but remaining romantic options open.
Having an "if" in your faith is an assault to God's ability. It questions whether God can do what He said He would do. It makes God an option instead of your certain source.
Most of us still have an if in our faith because we haven't seen the promise in the word yet. We don't know what the Bible says, so we don't know how to pray with certainty.
Somebody recently shared this profound statement with me: "Faith begins when the will of God is known. But the will of God cannot be known without engaging the word of God."
When you get a revelation of the word of God, it's like light turning on in a dark room. Nobody has to tell you the light is on. It was dark, and now it's not. That's how revelation feels. You get a conviction in your heart.
The Bible says in Hebrews 13:5:
"He Himself said, 'I will never leave you or forsake you. So we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper."'"
When you see what God has said, you will boldly say it. The reason you're not boldly saying it is because you haven't heard and seen what God has said. The moment you grab it in your spirit—the moment that word comes alive—you will boldly say it.
Once you hear what God has said, you will boldly say: God said it, I believe it, that settles it. No ifs, no buts, no maybes.
Once you get a promise from Him, it's settled. There's no more discussion.
Faith compels us to pay attention to a realm that we would otherwise ignore. Faith acknowledges the natural, but it does not focus on the natural.
Faith acknowledges feelings but overrides those feelings by focusing on what the word of God says. Faith acknowledges the difficulties, the challenges, the obstacles. "Yes, I know it's hard. Yes, I know it seems impossible. But God said it's possible, and I believe God more than I believe my circumstances."
Faith acknowledges the hurdles but focuses on the race—on the fact that God said you will win.
When you're running a race with hurdles, they tell you: don't focus on the hurdles. If you focus on the hurdles, you'll trip over them. You focus on the finish line.
I saw this video where a runner was doing a bold run, really confident, and then at the first hurdle—pow—he fell. That's how most of us are. We're more interested in reacting to the obstacles than in focusing on the finish line.
Stop focusing on the process. Focus on the promise.
Look at Abraham. Romans 4:17-20 tells us:
"God made him Abraham, the father of many nations. And this was true before God, even though Abraham had no children and was almost 100 years old. Sarah couldn't have children. Abraham was well aware of this. But his faith in God did not become weak. He grew stronger in faith as he grew older."
The more aware Abraham became of the obstacle—the older he got, the less chance Sarah had of conceiving—the stronger his faith became. Why? Because he was more aware of what God said than he was aware of the natural circumstance.
You are too aware of what you're dealing with, and your faith is weak. You wake up on your 40th birthday, and you've been told that your bones begin to ache at 40, so you feel the pain. You believed it, so your body aligned with it.
Here's what I need you to do: Be fully aware of the challenge, but be even more aware of what God said.
"I'm fully aware that nobody in my family has gone to college. I'm fully aware. But I'm also aware that the Bible says I can do all things through Christ. I'm more aware of what God said."
"I'm fully aware that the doctor said I have six months. I'm fully aware of the diagnosis. But I'm also aware that the Bible says by His stripes I am healed. I'm more aware of what God said."
"I'm fully aware that people like me don't get things like that. I'm fully aware that I don't have the qualifications for the job. I'm fully aware that I don't have the capital for the business. But I'm more aware of what is true before God about my life."
Israel, don't get distracted by the giants that you're supposed to possess the land from. Moses, don't get distracted by the Red Sea—hold up that rod until the Red Sea is parted. David, don't get distracted by Goliath—remember that God helped you kill a lion and a bear.
Don't get distracted by what your natural eyes can see.
I don't have to look like a pastor of thousands of people until I become one. I don't have to look like an author until I become one. I don't have to look like a business owner until I become one. I don't have to look like the promise until I get the promise.
There's a process I go through, but the process doesn't have a gradual appearance. The Bible says it will appear suddenly. You move from here to there. It wasn't sudden in my spirit—it was gradual. But in my body, it catches up suddenly to what's already true in my spirit.
Stop looking for signs externally. When you do that, you insult God.
You pray for healing and then you check—you keep checking to see if you're healed. Stop. When you check, you're saying you don't believe. Do what you could not do before. That's different from testing to see if God healed you. That's insulting God.
When you run a race, they don't tell you to check for the hurdles. They tell you to focus on the finish line. When you speak a promise, you don't focus on the process of how it's going to happen. You focus on what is true before God.
Genesis 9:1 tells us about Joseph:
"Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, the captain of the guard, bought him. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful and prosperous man."
Joseph was a slave. But God called him successful and prosperous. How does God call a slave successful and prosperous? Because God is not looking at the chains on your hands. God is looking at the dream in your heart. In your spirit, you are free. In your spirit, you are a leader.
The faith that pleases God speaks in the tense of God. It doesn't say "I will be prosperous." It says "I am prosperous."
This is where we separate hope from faith.
Hope speaks to the future and hopes for a future. Faith believes it is now.
Hebrews 11:1 says:
"Now faith is..."
It's now. Not tomorrow. Not when you see it. Now.
Mark 11:24 says:
"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."
You have to believe you receive it in your spirit before your hands can handle it. You have to catch a clear picture of yourself enjoying what it is you're praying for.
I was speaking to a couple about believing God for a child. I said, "Why don't you begin to see yourself dropping off your child at school? See yourself coming to talk to the teacher about something your child did. See yourself having a conversation with the principal." Why? Because all of that assumes you already have the child. You're not praying for a future child—you're speaking from the place of already having the child.
Look at what God did with Abraham. Genesis 17:4-5 says:
"Behold, My Covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram [exalted father], but your name shall be Abraham [father of multitudes], for I have made you the father of many nations."
Stop. Abraham doesn't even have a son yet. He's still trying to attain one son. And God changes his name from Abram—"exalted father"—to Abraham—"father of multitudes." God is calling him "father of multitudes" when he has zero children.
I haven't even applied for my master's degree yet, and God is calling me a doctor. I don't have the capital yet to start one store, and God is telling me there will be multiple locations. I don't have a son yet, and God is talking to me about descendants.
When boxers box, they don't box to where they're going. They box past where they're going. God doesn't talk to where you are or what you're believing. God talks through where you're believing and starts hinting at things that have no basis in your current reality.
We're not even at 1,000 people yet, and God is talking about impacting billions. It doesn't make sense to me, but that's how God's faith works.
God doesn't have a tense of the future. God has a tense of faith, and the tense of faith is present—it is now.
You must have been weird walking around as Abraham thinking, "Well, I haven't even gotten the first answer from God, but He's calling me nations. He's calling me nations. I need to upgrade my thinking. I need to start thinking like nations."
When you're barely thinking city level, God is calling you to think county level. When you're thinking county level, God is calling you to think state level. When you're thinking state level, God is calling you to think nationally. When you're thinking nationally, God is calling you to think globally.
God will call you to a level you don't yet occupy. That's faith talking. God calls things that do not exist as though they already exist.
You have to upgrade your thinking. You have to upgrade your language. You have to employ the tense of faith.
The tense of faith is present. I have it now. I don't feel like it. It does not look like it. The bank account does not say it. But I have it.
I am prosperous. I am healthy. I am healed. I am successful. I am the pastor of thousands. I am a bestselling author. I am impacting billions of people every week.
Do you know what happens? People look at you like you're mad. But here's what's happening: What is true before God in the Spirit realm is beginning to manifest in the physical realm.
The Bible says in Hebrews 10:23:
"Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering."
Hold fast to your confession. Don't let the enemy snatch it from you. The word "confession" means to "say the same thing as." Once you download what is true before God about your life, you have to fight for it. You have to keep saying the same thing that God says.
God says: "You are healed." Don't say, "I'm going to be healed." Don't say, "I hope to be healed." Say, "I am healed."
God says: "You are prosperous." Don't say, "I'm going to be prosperous." Say, "I am prosperous."
The doctor is looking at you like you're mad. Your limbs are hurting, and you're walking around saying, "I have a sound mind. My body is doing well. I am healthy." The doctor is like, "Are you mad?"
No. You're just paying attention to a different kingdom.
True before your physical eyes is that you're limping. True before God is that you are well. And you keep your language in the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of your senses.
Walk around your house speaking this:
You look around—200, 300 people. But you're speaking what is true before God.
Did you know that when David killed Goliath, songs had already been composed about it in heaven? There was a heavenly rehearsal. When David did the thing in the physical, the song that was already prepared in heaven came down and manifested.
When you stop looking at your natural circumstance and step into your promise, things begin to happen outside you.
People call it overnight success. But it's not overnight. It's just that people didn't see the internal work while you were holding fast to your confession.
Stop insulting God by focusing on what your eyes can see. Start speaking what God has said. Start living from a place of faith. Start employing the present tense of God.
The faith that pleases God:
How many of you are ready to have a faith that pleases God? Let us stand on our feet and pray.
