Ephesians 5:10

“Find out what pleases the Lord.”

The children of light do not just sit back and let the light flow through them as passive vessels, like a window. In all parts of the Christian walk, we have a partnership with the Holy Spirit. We do things in cooperation with God.

so Paul tells us now that we must “find out what pleases the Lord.”

The word translated as ”find” has a sense of continual testing and proving - as a metal or alloy might be tested. This suggests an experimental approach, a continuing testing of where the Lord is leading us.

there are some boundaries laid down for us in the Bible. We can find out some general expressions in the Ten Commandments and in the ministry of Jesus. These supply, if you like, the boundaries for what pleases the Lord.

within these boundaries there is infinite scope for discovering what pleases the Lord. And as the word “ test” indicates, there may be times when in our creative approach to serving the Lord, we may fail, finding instead what displeases God . But that's not a bad thing, as it helps to define where the boundaries are.

each of us has been called and created to serve the Lord and to fellowship with the Lord in a unique way. Our spiritual DNA is unique, so our own way of pleasing the Lord may be different to others .

religion prescribes only one way, the “Appropriate Way”, to worship God. But in our creativity and in the way we are created, we should all find a way to worship and serve that is designed just for us .

Prayer is the starting point in this. if I do not talk to the Lord about what pleases Him, then I'll never find out what He wants.

Even our way to pray needs to be set free from the confines of religious practice. Some people pray sitting down, others walking, still others lying prostrate. All of these ways of praying are pleasing to the Lord.

when we give generously to a person in need, that pleases the Lord.

when we pray for healing or for a really big miracle and we believe that God can do it and wants to do it, that is pleasing to the Lord. Whenever we do something in faith, the Lord is pleased.

when we talk to our neighbours about Jesus, just from the sheer joy of loving him and not out of the sense of duty, then the Lord is pleased.

when we speak up for the oppressed and downtrodden, then the Lord is pleased.

there is so much that pleases the Lord because he is proud of his children.

each day there will be opportunity to discover what pleases the Lord. Every day will bring us chances to pray and praise, to love our neighbour, and to be like Jesus.

each day I need to ask the Lord “what will I do that pleases you today?” Each day it will be different, because God is always taking us into new places, with new people and new tasks.

this is not duty, this is joy! it is not “I have to please the Lord,” but “ I get to please the Lord!”

This process starts with Scripture, the word of God, but it is completed in prayer and relationship with the Holy Spirit.

key points in this verse:

• finding out what pleases God is an ongoing process

• we each have a unique way to delight the lord

• it is relational not religious