Ephesians 5:10

The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church in Ephesus, a major city in what is now western Turkey, around 60 AD. This short verse sits inside a longer passage calling believers to live as 'children of light' — people whose lives reflect God's character rather than the darkness around them. The instruction to 'find out' what pleases the Lord is active and ongoing — it is not 'follow this checklist' but 'keep discovering, keep discerning.' The word Paul uses implies an ongoing process of testing and learning. He assumes that knowing what pleases God is something you pursue over a lifetime, not something you download once and store away.

Father, I admit I come to you most often with my agenda already written. Teach me to ask what pleases you — and to actually wait for the answer without filling the silence. Give me a heart more interested in your joy than my own comfort. I want to know you, not just know about you. Amen.

Five words that could upend your entire spiritual life if you let them — not 'do what you're told,' but 'find out what pleases the Lord.' There's an invitation buried in this tiny verse that most people miss: the idea that knowing what delights God is something you actively pursue, the way a person who loves someone deeply pays close attention to what brings them joy. You don't 'find out' what pleases a stranger. You find out what pleases someone you are actually trying to know. The verse assumes a relationship, not a rulebook. The honest challenge is this: most of us know what we want, and we ask God to bless it. Far fewer of us sit with the question — genuinely, patiently, without an agenda — 'What actually pleases you, God?' It requires silence. It requires reading Scripture without looking for ammunition. It requires the willingness to hear an answer you didn't plan on. What if you spent five minutes today asking that single question, not petitioning for anything, not confessing anything — just asking what brings him joy and then waiting?