He Who Began

He Who Began a Good Work in You... Philippians 1:6

It is through God’s strength that we have always been delivered, and it will always be through His strength. He is the Alpha and Omega - the beginning and the ending of our faith. The burden for all our salvation has always rested on Him; and that truth is no different for us today. He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Notwithstanding, the promise of deliverance by His mighty hand does not exempt us from following Him. To follow Him truly is to honestly seek to become who He has called us to be. Our cooperation with Him has much to do with the measure of victory that He will give us throughout our lives in any age – and that holds true here at the end of this age, too (John 8:30-32; John 15:9; Acts 13:43; Acts 14:22; Rom. 11:22; Colossians 1:21-23; I Tim. 4:16; I John 2:24; James 1:25; Heb. 3:12-14, 4:11, 6:1-12, 10:23 and 26-39, 12:1-2 and 14-16. We must follow Him today if we want to be confident in being delivered by Him tomorrow. It is His deliverance, but we have a role to play. The problem is that we have not been following well, and we have little time for correction; but because His grace and favor remains at work in our midst, we can still begin to move forward, trusting Him!

Where do we go from here?
We should begin immediately to prepare ourselves for the days ahead. We must start with an honest reevaluation of some of our traditional practices and beliefs in light of what the Word of God actually says. Then, painful as it may be, we must set aside some religious traditions, some old habits and popular notions and so-forth, or anything else that is not reinforced by His Word. Those things will inhibit His work from going forward in the same way they have in the past; and let us not hold back, for even “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.” In doing so, there will be some adjustments, but we can quickly begin walking the Christ-life individually and corporately as never before. All the while we should display a sincere spirit of humility along with God’s empowering grace to remain steadfast as we see Him work. God will be faithful to guide us through His instruction manual, afresh and anew! Remember, all we are doing is renewing ourselves in what He has always said. His directions for today are the same as yesterday, the same as through centuries past.

The bottom line of what He asks us is to truly and honestly yield our lives to Him, exchanging our lives for His. As we do so, He will always speak to our hearts and lead us on a local level in a way that is best for those He has planted here. With that, we will actually begin entering into a stage of maturity that will result in His full measure. It is something that most of us have never done – at least not for very long. Some of the obstacles that have stood in our way are the cares of this life; the pride of individualism; a kingdom-citizen mentality rather than a body-member mentality; and old traditions, habits, random notions, and all kinds of religious forms. Hanging on to any one of those things will continue to choke out His ability to really mature us. It is a process, but one that we cannot afford to avoid, and one that we should want to embrace if we truly love Him.

We should permit the Holy Spirit to quicken our hearts and minds to the lateness of the hour. As He does, we will be spurred onward. Being mindful of the likely potential for overwhelming difficulties ahead pushes us from behind, and honestly desiring to become like Him tugs us forward. In a renewed advance toward authentic spiritual maturity we will be made ready for whatever comes, and we will not be overwhelmed by anything! For He will gladly show Himself strong in our behalf, taking us through until He takes us up! For He is our Deliverer! And what is more, finally, we will have become the fullness of Jesus Christ!

PAUL'S PERSONAL AFFECTIONS FOR THE CHURCH HE FOUNDED AT PHILIPPI IS EXPRESSED THROUGH THIS INTRODUCTION TO HIS LETTER FROM PRISON

Philippians 1:6-7 KJV
(6) Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

(7) Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

Historical records do not reveal whether what Paul desired for the church at Philippi became a reality, or whether they fell by the wayside like so many other early churches. The point of this letter of endearment should ring true, however, that the One who started His "good work" in us is able to complete it! This should be our confidence and joy. The burden to complete the work is His, all we are called to do is to continue surrendering to that work.