HOW GOD WORKS IN HIS PEOPLE

“For it is GOD who WORKS IN YOU both to will and to do for His good pleasure” – Philippians 2:13

Scriptures describe vividly HOW GOD WORKS IN HIS PEOPLE: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, WORK OUT your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is GOD who WORKS IN YOU both to WILL and to DO for His good pleasure” (Phi.2: 12-13). God is always at work in us if we yield ourselves to His Word and His Spirit. Paul exhorted brethren in Christ to “work out” their salvation. He was not calling them to do something FOR their salvation or to gain it by self-effort (v.12). He was calling them to live out the salvation they had received by grace through faith. The impetus to live out our salvation arises from the inward work of God (v.13). In other words: our ‘out-working’ arises from God’s ‘in-working’. Our responsibility to act is undergirded by God’s sovereign activity.

God is at work in us, in terms of the ongoing sanctifying work of His Spirit. In Ephesians 2, Paul wrote about the regenerating work of the Spirit who “makes us alive” when we were dead in trespasses and sins. Furthermore, God’s Spirit continues to work in us, transform­ing and causing us to grow. God changes us from pursu­ing our own interests to loving Him and seeking His interests so that our deepest desire is what Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt.6:10). Following the work of regeneration, God works to renew, strengthen, and cause us to grow.

This work of God’s Spirit is hidden. It is not something we feel. It is like the growth of our bodies. When a young boy reaches his early teen years, he begins a period of physical growth that is so fast one can almost hear his body expanding to fill shoes and shirts that soon become too small. And yet he hardly felt anything in his body was growing so fast! Likewise the spiritual growth produced by the in-working of God’s Spirit, though real, is not something we feel. Only its fruits are visible!

God works in us to will. His work in us is not like a computer programme that causes a robot to act in a predeter­mined way. We are not programmed robots. His work is in complete conformity with our nature as persons with choices and decisions. Furthermore, God’s Spirit does not work like evil spirits that force people to do things they would not do if they were in full control of their faculties (Mk.9:17-26). He works quietly but effectively, in such a way that our will and desires increasingly conform to His will and desires. God works so that we want and choose what pleases Him. He doesn’t force us against our will. No, He rather gently and sweetly transforms our desires so that more and more we want and choose what pleases Him.

God works in us to do or to work for His good pleasure. God’s Spirit not only transforms our will, He empowers us to seek to DO what pleases Him. He enables us to live in line with His precepts: “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Eze.36:27). All our words and actions come from the heart; and those whose hearts are being transformed by the Spirit of God have a growing desire to act in ways that please Him.

Due to the in-work­ing of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to produce fruits and do works pleasing to God (Gal.5:22-23, 6:9; Eph.6:7-8; Col.1:9-10). The goal of His work in us is “His good pleasure” or “His good purpose” – the purpose He has for each of us in His overall plan of salvation. As we seek to please God, humbly obeying His com­mands, seeking the direction of His Spirit through the Word, He will accomplish through us things that surpassing our imagina­tion.