It's Not My Job!

Philippians 2:13 "...for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. "

What does that mean anyway? It sounds nice. But what does it mean?

I have a bible verse that is sent to me via email every day at work. Yesterday it was Phil. 2:13. But a different translation. This time it was the New Living Translation I was reading and all of a sudden the light went on.

"For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants."

So...

1. God is at work in me.

2. First he helps me to want to obey him.

3. Then he helps me to obey him.

How simple is that? It really doesn't have much to do with "me" at all, except that I have to cooperate with God in his work. Cool. All I have to do is give my will over to him. He'll do the rest.

No wonder I've had such struggles! I thought it was all on my shoulders.

He says elsewhere (John 15), "If you love me, you will obey me."

This evokes striving in me as a stand alone verse, but coupled with Phil 2:13, I can see that I should not be striving at all. If I love him, I will rest in him.

If I am in a loving relationship with him - then he will help me first of all to want to do it his way, and then he will be there with me to help me follow through. I don't have to do anything. Except co-operate.

How cool is that?

All I have to do is JOIN HIM IN HIS WORK. The work he's already doing. It's not my work. It's his work. And I can rely on his strength!

So THAT'S how it's supposed to work!

Sighhhhh!

(P.S. Happy Birthday, Bren!)

Comments

Belinda said…
Yes, happy birthday Brenda, if you happen to read this comment. I've been thinking of you since this morning when I saw the note in my Daily Light, "Brenda G." :)

And Susan, I love your post. It's what we read about in Sit, Walk, Stand by Watchman Nee. It's why the first day man lived after his creation was a day of rest. All the work had been done by God, establishing a pattern that we have been so blind to seeing.

We will probably struggle (what a paradox that is) with that for the rest of our lives, but I pray that the glimpses of truth grow more and more frequent.
9:03 PM
Angcat said…
Hi Susan,
I love this post.
It just resonated with what I am learning in a study with friends. We are doing Henry Blackaby's "Experiencing God". It's a wonderful study, and all about 'joining God wherever He is working'. This is such a release, instead of having to sort out everything on our own, God just beckons us to join Him.
And it's so exciting that Belinda noted that this is taught as well in "Sit, Walk, Stand" and now you are writing about it.

MMM....I think God might be saying something.
I love when that happens.

:-)
10:14 PM
Joyful Fox said…
Susan,


I just let out several sighs and read it again, sighed again. I'm still learning over and over, to rest in Him, cease striving and trust that He is indeed working in me. I seem to go in circles. Sometimes I let go and grab it up again to release it when I'v made a complete mess and then relinquish it.

May I find the place of which you speak and learn how to stay there instead of just camp for a season.

ugh....I'm a slow scholar
12:10 AM
Brenda said…
Hmmmm. I see he's teaching all of us. I'm struggling right now from having taken on something that I didn't check out with Him first. It seemed like a good thing to do at the time but now I see I did it for all the wrong reasons. Submitting all things to Him first is what I'm learning. It's all about Him and resting in Him. Then the work is easy if you know His will for your situation. I guess it's about sitting still for long enough to listen for what He wants you to do and then joyfully doing it in His strength.
6:57 AM
Susan said…
Brenda, you should have written the blog this week. For me!

Wait a minute. You just did. Thank you. But I still have to get out of the mess I'm in before I can start doing that sitting still thing. :o)

Thanks everyone for the encouraging comments. I thought this post was a total dud. I mean it meant something to me, but I didn't really think anyone else would get anything out of it. Just goes to show ya... God is full of surprises. What joy to walk with him and be learning his ways...
9:41 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Movies

A few nights ago, I touched on our conversation over dinner at cell group--a continuation of one we'd started the week before about our favourite movies. Sam had led an icebreaker where we had shared our favourites and it was surprising, funny and revealing to hear what they were. Here are some of them: Ron-- Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Richard-- The Godfather Brenda-- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Susan-- The Miracle Worker and Chariots of Fire Paul's were A Christmas Carol and Groundhog Day , and mine were: The Colour Purple and What About Bob All week though, I kept thinking--what was it about those particular movies that spoke to people--and that's what we discussed over dinner on Tuesday. It was as much fun finding out why people loved them as finding out what they were. We laughed loudly as Ron recounted some of the scenes in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure as they traveled back in time and collected historical figures for their history a
Read more

Ere Zij God--Glory to God in the Highest! A Dutch Carol

Image
By Belinda This beautiful Dutch carol was shared today by a friend of Dutch ancestry, on Facebook. I had never heard it before but absolutely loved it. It moved me deeply, especially at the end after the crowd leaves the church and then breaks into spontaneous singing again around a brazier, with the sound of chiming church bells in the background. Listen to it with headphones or a good speaker to get the full effect of the harmonies. And happy first Sunday in Advent!
Read more

Samson Beaver and his Family

Image
I first posted this in 2009, a little show and tell about one of my favourite photographs. Back then it hung on a wall, but now it's in my bathroom where I see it every morning! I'd forgotten the history behind the story, researched when I first posted this and thought that current readers might enjoy it--a story from a time when this land was still being discovered, not so very long ago. This photograph was taken by Mary Schaffer; artist, photographer, writer and naturalist, in 1907. It is of a Stoney Indian named Samson Beaver, with his wife Leah and daughter, Frances Louise. I bought the photo on a postcard, on a trip to British Columbia and it hangs framed, on the wall I face when sitting at my laptop. I love it. Don't you just feel as if you could gather Frances Louise up in your arms and cuddle her? I get a deep sense of peace and happiness when I look at this family, sitting in the grass of a long ago fall. They are dressed in their best, beautiful c
Read more