Among the heroes of faith is one who his exploits were not itemized but their summation was highly recognized. This is the person of Enoch. Enoch was a man of faith although not as we define men of faith in our times. In our times men of faith are men who use their faith to heal the sick, raise the dead, perform miracles, signs and wonders and command some natural and physical results. Although these are good, But they were not what made Enoch a man of faith as revealed in scriptures.

The scriptures in Hebrews 11:5 says, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." Hence, Enoch was called a man i.e Hero of faith because he pleased God. This makes us understand that pleasing God is the greatest manifestation and display of faith not miracles signs and wonders. This means that a man who pleases God with seemingly no miracles signs and wonders is a man of faith in God's sight when compared to a man with miracles, signs and wonders who does not please God. This is contrary to our popularized carnal judgement of who a man of faith is of is not. In our times, we judge a man to be a man of faith on the grounds of the results we see not his faithfulness to God, and this has been the greatest undoing in the church.

Pleasing God is the highest and greatest operation, manifestation and proof of faith. Hebrews 11:6a says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him:". We learnt in one of our previous lessons that Faith is from and it is totally centered on God not man. This means that God is the only one who determines whether a man is pleasing Him or not i.e living by faith or not. Hinged on this truth, we can conclude that, God gave us His faith for only one purpose which is to please Him. Faith used for any purpose other than pleasing God, is not God's faith but man's faith, and it can lead to any place other than God's heart and abode.

Therefore, as believers in Christ our pursuits should not be results, miracles, signs and wonders, our pursuit should be PLEASING GOD.

What does it mean to please God?

Please is from the Greek word εὐαρεστέω: euaresteō and by definition means to be well pleasing, to be well pleased with a thing or to gratify entirely. Thus, to please God is to;

How can we achieve this?

After Enoch, no other human had this recognition of pleasing God in this magnitude again except He who created and enacted the New covenant that is, the person of Jesus. (Study: Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; 2Peter 1:17). The only way to please God is to perpetually and continuously live, move and walk in Jesus, the beloved of the Father in whom He is well pleased. The scriptures in Acts 17:28a says, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being;"

Grace to you.

Jesus is Lord.

Ps:Listen to this teaching, God has something in it for you