What Does the Bible Say About Pleasing God?

1 John 3:22 ESV / 80 helpful votes

And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 23 helpful votes

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 18 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2 ESV / 16 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 8:5 ESV / 14 helpful votes

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

Hosea 6:6 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Mark 12:33 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

James 5:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Colossians 1:9-10 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Romans 8:8 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

John 8:29 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

Psalm 40:8 ESV / 7 helpful votes

I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

Philippians 2:12-16 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Proverbs 10:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.

2 Peter 3:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

John 5:30 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Psalm 51:12 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

1 Chronicles 29:17 ESV / 5 helpful votes

I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.

1 Timothy 2:8 ESV / 4 helpful votes

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;

Philippians 2:2-3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

1 Corinthians 15:12-16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

Romans 12:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Philippians 2:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Romans 12:3-8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ...

Luke 3:1-38 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, ...

Proverbs 12:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

29 Bible Verses about Pleasing God