Hi everyone, my name is Joaquin Evans and I am the Senior Leader of Bethel Church in Austin, Texas, and I want to welcome you to God Today. I want to talk to you today about understanding the pleasure of God. We all know that we have a good Father. He is a loving God, but how much do we really understand our ability to bring pleasure to the heart of our Heavenly Father?
I want to read a verse to you today and then we’ll talk about it. The verse is from Colossians 1:19 and 20. It says this, “For it pleased the Father, that in Him [speaking of Jesus] all the fullness should dwell. And by Him to reconcile all things to Himself by Himself whether things on Earth or things in Heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
I love that. I love these verses and I especially love the fact that it starts with “For it pleased the Father…” I don’t know about you, but anything that starts with “For it pleased the Father,” I want to be in. I don’t even need to know what it says next. If it starts with that, sign me up. You can tell me what it says next, later. But understanding this thing of our ability to bring pleasure to our Heavenly Father is so key. We know in John 15, He says, “I no longer call you servants. I call you friends.” But how much have we allowed the love and the nature of God to move us into that place of sonship and out of that place of being restricted as servants?
You know, I read that verse that I just read to you a long time ago and I have read it dozens and dozens of times before. But this one particular time, I read that verse and God spoke to me. He said, “Do you know for way too long my bride has interpreted when they read that verse, or when they read about bringing pleasure to my name anywhere in the Bible, that they actually, in themselves, have interpreted instead of pleasure, they have interpreted “appease”. The Bible doesn’t say we are just supposed to appease God. That would be the seed of a servant which means just keeping God happy enough that He is not mad. A servant is given a list of tasks to do. And “Did you mop? Did you clean? Did you do it well enough?” You check off the list and the master says, “You did a good enough job, I am not going to get upset with you today.” That is appeasing.
That is not our role as sons and that is definitely not our role as friends. He is inviting us into a place as friends. A friend is not trying to appease, a friend is trying to figure out what your best friend’s heart loves, and how do I sow into that. How do I bring pleasure into your life? It is such a powerful key that we know that God is love and we know that joy is a fruit of the Spirit and we know that those are emotions. We also have to give ourselves permission to recognize that God has the emotion of pleasure. You and I, as born again believers, have this unique privilege that we get to bring the emotion of pleasure to our Heavenly Father.
What brings Him pleasure? To reconcile all things. All things. Whether it is a broken relationship, or a broken bone, or broken finances. It doesn’t matter. But we, as ministers of reconciliation, we get to call that that has come out of alignment back into alignment. When we do, God’s heart explodes with pleasure.
Let me give you an example. The Bible says we are created in the image of God. That means you and I who have been believers for a long time, and even those who are not yet believers, are still created in the image of God. When somebody hurts their knee, that knee created in God’s perfect image has come out of alignment. We have the ability to speak to that knee, release healing, to pray and see that knee come back into alignment. When it does, our Father’s heart explodes with pleasure. “Yes! This is the way that I have created it to be. It has come back into alignment.”
The same with the broken relationship or broken finances. Or you name it. The key is that He is inviting us to approach Him, not as servants, not as “Did I do enough today to appease my Father? Did I finish the task list? Did I check all the boxes?” That is not the highest relationship that He has invited us into. He has invited us into the place of friends. Friends ask, “What brings pleasure to my friend?”
God is inviting us into that place. I want to invite you to approach God that way too. I want you to ask yourself today, “What brings pleasure to my Heavenly Father?” When we capture that place of emotion, it makes stepping out for God so easy. It makes serving Him so easy. It makes believing for breakthrough so easy. I don’t have to do any assignments, I don’t have to fulfill a task I get to move out in what brings the emotion of pleasure to my Heavenly Father.
I want to pray for you today that that revelation would come upon all of us. Father, I thank you for everybody who is watching today. I pray that by your love and by your grace, you would move us out of the seats of servants, God. You are not a taskmaster, you are not a harsh God. You are a loving Father and you are a good friend. God, I pray by revelation you would start to introduce the concept to our hearts, the question to our hearts every day. “What is going to bring the emotion of pleasure to my Heavenly Father? God, I pray that your friends get to partake in that emotion, that we get to celebrate with you together, every time that we see something that is out of alignment come back into alignment. I pray that revelation, that grace, and that breakthrough upon you today as you learn to partner with your Heavenly Father’s pleasure. In Jesus’ name. Amen.