POWER TO RECEIVE

“For it is God who is working in you, (enabling you) both to will and to act for His good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13) CSB

The book of Philippians is known to be a book which encourages the reader to be joyful. However, the Apostle Paul is describing the challenges a follower of Christ faces in Christian living. He also points out that God must work in us prior to working through us. We see this principle at work all through the Bible. Just consider the lives of the Apostles, Moses, David, and others. God had a unique purpose for each one to fulfill in His Master Plan – and no one is cloned after someone else! It took Moses 40 years to be trained to reach the point where God could use Him to lead the people of Israel. But during that period while Moses tended the stinking sheep of his father-in-law, God was working in him until the season came when God could work through him.

It seems that God is more focused on the workmen than in the work assigned to them. Too many of us obey God on account of the external pressure; not taking into consideration the internal power at our disposal. The Apostle Paul offered a word of warning to the believers in Philippi: the presence of our spiritual father should not be motivation, but instead our fervent desire to obey and please God ought to be our driving force. (Philippians 2:12) So, we ought to be sensitive to God’s inner promptings. Learn to be alert to that energy – God’s energy working deep within us to bring Him pleasure. This is how the Spirit of God endows us with the power to receive His enablement to fulfill God’s good purposes in and through our life.