April 9, Be Joyful - God is at Work in Your life
Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6
God does not begin a work at random. That which He has begun in your life will in no way be left incomplete. He will perfect His work in you.
Of this we can be assured: God will move His church forward, and God will finalize all things according to His perfect will. But personally, God has called you by grace, He has revealed His Son to you, and He has quickened you from being spiritually dead to living regenerated as a new creation. You must trust His work from the beginning of a new creation to personal holiness. Be confident that God will perform His good work in every soul. And God will also complete and perfect this very work in you. Wesley wrote, “He who has justified you hath also begun to sanctify you, and He will carry this work on until glory.”
This is the work of God. We are often lost in the ideals and preferences of how God should work in our churches, homes, communities, and in our personal kingdom enterprises and plans. But there must be pause in our rigorous spiritual advances to embrace the joy of which Paul referenced: confidence that God will perfect His work in us and through us. This is God’s work indeed.
The work of God expresses both His personal work of salvation and His gospel work of evangelization. Jesus said, “the work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” (John 6:29). God’s work is of faith unto salvation in the individual soul. Paul wrote of Timothy, “see to it he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is doing the Lord’s work just as I am.” God’s work is reflected in the ministry of the Gospel and the church evangelizing the message of salvation forward in this world.
Paul encouraged his beloved friends at Philippi in both expressions of God’s work with the promise that God would indeed perfect and bring each to a wonderful completion. This idea of completion is an intensive form in Greek terminology and emphatically proclaims God’s work will be carried through to the end. This promise exists at this very moment for you.
Your life as a follower of Jesus was (1) begun by God Himself, (2) under His perfect will for you, (3) and represents an intentional and perfect design.
God has begun His work in you, and no reliance for the complete work of salvation should be placed on others, or your own faculties, insights, intellect, resources, training, or reputation. The work is God’s alone.
God’s work reflects His perfect will for you. What began as a work of grace in the soul is developing into a life that truly reflects and honors Jesus Christ and His righteousness. This is indeed God’s will for you, your sanctification (I Thessalonians 4:3).
God's work represents His perfect and intentional design for your life. Why was I born in this way or that? Why was I born in this place or that? Why was I given or not given certain skills and opportunities? All the “why’s” that can burden the mind dissolve under the fact that you are intentionally designed for His purposes and His glory. His work in you is perfect.
“In you!” This becomes the personal emphasis. “In you” reflects that His work is in your heart and soul as much as it is among you or around you. With these truths brought to reality through faith in Jesus, why be discouraged, deflated, disappointed, or derailed by any circumstance, including this present struggle?
Be encouraged today. He is at work in you as much as He is at work in the world. Ask God to give you the spiritual eyes to see this. Take great confidence in this fact and go forward in renewed joy.
Blessings.
READ
Read Philippians 1:1-7 and rejoice in the work of the Gospel in you.