God's Work In Us

Philippians 1:6 “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  CSB

There are many things in my life that I was excited about starting.  For example, I remember when I was younger, I saw this picture in an old ‘Sears’ catalog of a model car. I told my mother I wanted to build one. She went to the store and got me a model car. I started the task with enthusiasm. I took the pieces apart and separated them. I followed the instructions to the letter and began building. Somewhere along the line, my excitement dropped. The car I was building did not look like the picture on the box it came in. Eventually I quit and the result was ‘half a car’.

The scripture above talks about God starting a work in us and, “...carrying it on to completion…” You see God won’t start and not finish. What is so powerful is that even if we want to quit, God won’t. This year focus on the text above. We just came out of 2023 with some situations we may not have wanted to be in, but know that God will not let anything stop His work in us. So we must not quit, especially if He will not quit on us. 

As we enter 2024, let us embrace and practice four things, from Dr. Charles Stanley’s devotional, as we endure and allow God to know how grateful we are that He will not quit on us.

1. Believe and trust in the Lord. (Only by viewing life from a scriptural perspective can we understand His purposes in our trials and trust His wisdom in allowing them.)
   
2. Accept the situation as coming from God: (either directly sent or permissively allowed.)
   
3. Submit to God in the Circumstance. (Although we may not like the situation, knowing that God is good and does good, should allow us to confidently place our lives under His authority.) 
   
4. Draw from Him the strength to endure. (Draw from God what you need to help you get through.)
   

Let us make this year count when it comes to our spiritual maturity. It is in this maturity where God will reward us with that ‘resurrection power type of blessing’ He has uniquely created for all of us. And it was created by Him to complete His work ‘in’ us, no matter what we are going through. May God keep you safe in His arms as we journey through the new year in Jesus’ name.

Amen