Promised Prompting

Promised Prompting

It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Philippians 2:13

IN WORD Perhaps the most relaxing of all of God’s promises is that He is at work in us. He does not tell us to conform to the image of Jesus and then leave us alone to do it. He does not send us out on a mission and then cross His fingers for our success. He does not urge us to live godly lives and then blow up when we fail. No, every step of the way He is there. And, as this verse indicates, He is not just working on our behavior from the outside, He is transforming us from within.

That’s what it means for God to work in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. His values shape our will, our inner drives, our ambitions and dreams. And then His Spirit helps us with the follow-through, acting on those inner impulses that He has placed within us. Far from being handed a religion that tells us to shape up, we are handed a Savior who gets inside to shape us. The promise of transformation is that God is busy gutting our temple and renovating it from within. He’s a master Craftsman at work.

The comforting part of this promise is that when we have deep internal desires to do something entirely consistent with the stated purpose and plan of God, those desires are probably God-given. And when we are driven to act on those desires with a strategy and a worthwhile agenda, we are likely driven by God Himself. The fact that He is at work in us both to will (desires) and to work (behavior) for His good purpose is a tremendously relaxing fact. Once our prayers have determined that we’re motivated by the Spirit and not by the flesh, we can trust that our work is not just our agenda, but also His.

IN DEED That means, of course, that He will see it through. The sovereign God who sees the future doesn’t abandon projects midway through. If He started His work in you, He’s committed to it. Rest in that truth, and trust what He is doing in your heart. There is a holy agenda shaping your life.

A man’s heart is right when he wills what God wills.

—THOMAS AQUINAS