Will and Work!

Will and Work!

For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. PHILIPPIANS 2:13 AMP

Man's achievements pushes him into the deceit of self-sufficiency and pride. I take a look at bank account balances, paper certificates and physical possessions, and I could be tempted to think I got it all figured out. However, for the more important walk and work of salvation, a different outlook, perspective and focus will be required. God can use your possessions, certificates and bank account balance to achieve great things, but that is not the start point. The first and most important factor,  is my understanding of who I am, the reason I am where I am and the purpose for all that I have received from God. When I know that, my life's pursuits and priorities are set right.

No man seeks God by his own willpower. God draws us to Himself with cords of love, supplying the energy and desire for us to seek and follow Him closely. It is in God that willpower and the ability to work meet and find expression in and through us. We are the mirrors of God's amazing power and mercy, all at the same time. The reason why God supplies both the willpower and the ability to work to us is so that we learn quite early that it had nothing to do with us in the first place, but it was all about the mercy and grace of God.

And He keeps supplying the grace. He keeps seeking men and women who will surrender their own quantity and take on his own quality. Fulfilling purpose isn't tied to my own qualities, but to the total embrace of who God is and all He offers. If He births it, He will sustain it. If He has nothing to do with it, it does not matter how much zeal is applied to it. I surrender to God today; use me how best you please so I can achieve all you have created me for. His time of favour is here.