What God Really Wants From You

A. W. Tozer once said, “The whole outlook of mankind might be changed if we could all believe that we dwell under a friendly sky and that the God of heaven, though exalted in power and majesty, is eager to be friends with us.”

God? My friend? Hard to comprehend, isn’t it? Yet, it really can be true for you. When it all comes down to it, it is not religious activities or the keeping of rules that pleases God. He wants your life and your heart to be in an intimate joyful relationship with Him.
 
Ephesians 2:8­9 NLT 
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
 
Your Usual Response to God 
Some people take what has been called a salad bar approach to God’s commands. The ones that they like that seem to be reasonable, they obey; and the ones they don’t like that seem unreasonable they choose to disregard. This can never be fulfilling, because we cannot successfully live a compartmentalized, schizophrenic Christian life.

It is my educated guess that most of the Christians in your life really do love God but live nowhere near the life God desires for them. There is a reluctance that seems to flow from misguided ideas on what it means to surrender all to Him. Misunderstandings of God’s intent destine you and me to be anxiety­ridden followers of Christ. If we are angry at Him, afraid of Him, or distrusting of Him, our view of His plans and desires for us will be distorted. The truth is that your view of God will determine how you view everything else in your life. Having an accurate view will define what surrender to Him really means.

The Response That Satisfies the Lord 
The missing power to please God in our actions can only be accessed when we apply the truth of Romans 12:1. The Apostle Paul writes, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice­ the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” NLT. 

He wants the same place in our hearts as He has in all of creation­ first place. Creation gives it to Him involuntarily; He wants it from you and me voluntarily. He wants you to bring everything to Him, knowing that He has you covered in all you do and in everything you face.

Hebrews 11:6 NLT 
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

Let’s take a journey to find out what it means to trust in and surrender to God