Saturday, April 7, 2012
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13 KJV).
Today’s Scripture tells us God’s “good pleasure” is to work in and through us to accomplish His will. When we place our faith in the sound (dispensational) Bible doctrine that tells us what God is doing today (Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon), then God the Holy Spirit will use that doctrine to transform us from the inside (soul) out (lifestyle)!
Epaphras prayed that the Colossian believers “would stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (4:12). Compare that to Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonian believers: “Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:11,12; cf. Philippians 1:9-11; Colossians 1:9-11). The goal of God’s working in and through us is to glorify “the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in [us],” and to “glorify [us] in him.”
God wants “the word of Christ” to “dwell in [us] richly in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16)—to fill us with sound (dispensational) Bible doctrine that will literally “dwell” (live) in us (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:13)! The indwelling Holy Spirit takes the sound Bible doctrine we believe and He uses it to form Christ Jesus in us, so that the sound Bible teaching (Christ’s life) is literally transferred to us, and then our lifestyles better reflect God’s grace (Titus 2:11-15).
The “fruit of the Spirit” (evidence of the Holy Ghost working in us) will then be manifested in our lives: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22,23).
What does God want you to do? He (Jesus Christ) wants you to allow Him to live His life in and through you (Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21) as your study and believe His Word His way (dispensationally).
333 Words of Grace 