Everything Starts with Faith
Did you know that you can please God? We often talk about the various commands and regulations that God gives, and we talk a lot about the good things God gives us. But have you ever considered the ways you can please God?
The first thing Hebrews 11:6 tells us is that we need faith to please God. Those who do not believe in God cannot please Him.
There is a difference between having a true relationship with God and performing religious tasks without faith. We don’t have to earn a relationship with God because it is something He gives us freely. Those who have faith can please God, not because we have to, but because we get to. When we have faith in God, our hearts are changed, and we begin to desire to please God through our words and actions.
Hebrews 11:6 also tells us that God rewards those who seek Him. This doesn't mean God will give us whatever we want in life, but rather, it means that those who genuinely seek a relationship with God will find it.
And in this passage, God Himself is the gift we receive!
Jeremiah 29
English Standard Version
Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles
29 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; ...