…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Philippians 2:12-13b NKJV
Have you ever felt like you just weren’t enough? You’re not brave enough, smart enough, strong enough, equipped enough, or articulate enough.
I just recently had this conversation with someone who is daring to take a step of faith into something new, and they were feeling inadequate to the task.
The thing is, we don’t have to be enough. Our job is to stay connected to the One who is MORE than enough.
That’s what this verse is talking about. We work out our own salvation. That means day by day we need to live for the One who died for us. We need to seek Him about His plan for our lives and endeavor to walk it out.
But we don’t do it alone. God works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. To will means to want to. My mom was always nervous about surrendering her life to God because she was scared to death He would make her go to Africa. I told her, “Mom, if God wants you to go to Africa, you’ll want to go.”
He gives us the desires of our hearts. That means He puts the desire in us to do something and then He brings us to it.
He doesn’t just work in us to will. God also works in us to do. He gives us everything we need to accomplish it. Jesus said more than once “It’s the Father in Me that does the work.” We just need to live connected to Him, and He will give us the power and strength and ability to get it done.
Let’s pray together.
Father, we lift up Your Church in the city of Warren to You and ask You to work in them to will and to do according to Your good pleasure. Put the desire in their heart to want to do what You have planned for them. And give them everything they need to accomplish it. In Jesus’ Name, amen.