Appreciating His Work

 

 

     Phil. 1: 6. Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

          As we read this Scripture we know that Paul is building up the Philippians believers to remain confident that God is at work on their behalf. But, I can't help but to look at it in a more personal level. As I read this portion of Scripture it dawned on me of how irritated I get when I spend time doing a good work at my job and then having co-workers who don't appreciate the efforts that went into it and basically they end up sabotaging all your hard work. Then, I thought of God working in us. Helping us to become more like Him, and how we get in the way of what He's trying to do in us. Do we find ourselves going forward and then falling backward? Do we really accept the changes that God is trying to institute in us and through us? I looked in the dictionary to see what the word work meant and it had several explanations. This one really stood out, work ? create by expending labor. God is at work in us to create a new us, and as we look at the work God is doing in us do we show thankfulness and appreciation by trying to live the way God would have us too? I know that we are only human and we battle the flesh on a daily basis, but that in itself is just a big cop out. For us to minimize the power of God by thinking that we are inept to be able to grow into the kind of people that Jesus would have us be, is absolutely absurd.

 

           I couldn't help but to think how we as Christians who have received Jesus are also filled with the Holy Spirit and as we witness and present the gospel to people around us how then we are pouring out river of life to those around us. The spiritual part is the Holy Spirit and the science part is the fact of what happens to a life that comes to this river of life. When we receive rain I suppose theirs no one more excited about getting rain than a farmer and I suppose the same would be true of a person truly looking for the redeeming power of our Lord Jesus.

Psalm 37: 5. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him and He will do it.

Isaiah 41: 13. For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, do not fear, I will help you.

 

Romans 8: 31. If God be for us who can be against us.

 

Gal. 2: 20. For it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loves me and gave Himself for me.

 

Phil. 4: 13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

 

James 1: 13. When someone wants to do wrong it is never God who is tempting him, for God never wants to do wrong and never tempts anyone else to do it.

 

           As we see from these Scriptures, we have no excuse. God is their to help us in every way and He will continue His good work. Since we have received Christ, we have become children of God and being His child means that He is going to help us grow and become new people, a new creation. He is going to do a work in us and He will complete that work. We will never be perfect in this life, but when the Lord takes us home to be with Him then we will be, but that still doesn't give us the right to sabotage the work He's doing in us now.

I feel as if it's a slap in the face of God when we say we can't do something when we know that it's not what God would have us do. Why do we try so desperately hard to hang on to things that God wouldn't be happy with. And we know what's in our lives that God doesn't approve of, but we still try to hang on and we block the changes that God has in store for us. We get in the way of His work. If we're getting in His way, then do we really want to be more like God? Then you have to wonder if His Spirit is in us, because if His Spirit is in us then being more like Him seems to be the desiring choice.

 

           What brought this topic up was, the other day as I was praying, I was thanking God for the work that He is doing in my life, and then it dawned on me, that there are times when I get in His way by fighting against the changes that He has in store for me. I suddenly found myself feeling remorse as I thought about the things that God reminds me of that I need to let go of. Things that hinder me from becoming more like Him. My heart was broken and I felt a Godly sorrow that filled me with a desire to repent. I know that God is much bigger than we are and He looks at things way differently then we do but it still bothers me that instead of helping Him in His work I sometimes find myself getting in the way or worse yet fighting against His plans. My job is to let Him function in my life, to make the choices that He would want me to make. When I received Jesus I received His plans for my life and I believe that that is to allow the power of God to be demonstrated in the way I live. His Spirit is righteousness and being filled with His Spirit should spring forth a powerful demonstration of a person's life being transformed from ungodliness to godliness.

I thank God that He is at work in us to create a better us. I pray that we will receive the changes that He has for us and allow them to make us into the people He is making us out to be. I pray that we won?t allow our own desires to gratify the flesh, become more important to us than being obedient to God and making Him Lord over all of our lives.

 

Let the work that God does in you come with appreciation and thankfulness by accepting the change and making the right choices.

 

God bless, Kevin.

God bless and keep you, BUD

 

      <P align=center><FONT size=6>God bless and keep you, BUD</FONT></P>