Philippians 1:6 - Jesus Can Do It! - Will You Let Him?
Philippians 1:6 (NLT) And I am certain that
God, who began the good work within you, will
continue his work until it is finally finished on the
day when Christ Jesus returns.
COMMENTARY PEARL
Good news! You and I don't have to
struggle to find perfection. We are perfected in
Christ, and He is working in us daily, helping us
manifest more and more of His character. God loves us
right where we are on the way to where He knows we
will be. He sees the end from the beginning and
knows all things. God sees and knows things about
us that even we have not realized, and He is
committed fully to finishing the work in us that He
began at the moment we placed our faith in Him and
received Him as our Savior. You can rest in knowing
that there is nothing about you that is a
surprise to God. He knows everything and loves you
anyway!
What blessed rest we find in knowing that
even on our worst day God is still working and
that He will never give up on us. Our part is to
believe, and God's part is to work in us and through
us. Whether you are looking at yourself and
considering changes you desire or looking at others whom
you have been praying for, God has promised to
finish what He started!
Enjoy yourself today right where you are,
or as I often say, "Enjoy where you are on the
way to where you are going."
Father, thank You for never giving up on
me and for working in me daily to make me what
You want me to be. Help me trust You and enjoy
being at rest in You. [My Time with God by Joyce
Meyer]
COMMENTARY
When you believe in Christ, Christ works
a miracle in you. You are permanently purified
and empowered by God himself. The message of
Jesus to the religious person is simple: Its
not what you do. Its what I do. I have moved
in. And in time you can say with Paul, I
myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me
(Gal. 2:20).
If Im born again, why do I fall so
often?
Why did you fall so often after your
first birth? Did you exit the womb wearing
cross-trainers? Did you do the two-step on the day of your
delivery? Of course not. And when you started to walk,
you fell more than you stood. Should we expect
anything different from our spiritual walk?
But I fall so often, I question my
salvation. Again, we return to your first birth.
Didnt you stumble as you were learning to walk?
And when you stumbled, did you question the
validity of your physical birth? Did you, as a
one-year-old fresh flopped on the floor, shake your head
and think, I have fallen again. I must not be
human?
Of course not. The stumbles of a toddler
do not invalidate the act of birth. And the
stumbles of a Christian do not annul his spiritual
birth.
Do you understand what God has done? He
has deposited a Christ seed in you. As it grows,
you will change. Its not that sin has no more
presence in your life, but rather that sin has no
more power over your life. Temptation will pester
you, but temptation will not master you. What
hope this brings!
Hear this. Its not up to you! Within
you abides a budding power. Trust him!
Think of it this way. Suppose you, for
most of your life, have had a heart condition.
Your frail pumper restricts your activities. Each
morning at work when the healthy employees take the
stairs, you wait for the elevator.
But then comes the transplant. A healthy
heart is placed within you. After recovery, you
return to work and encounter the flight of stairs -
the same flight of stairs you earlier avoided.
By habit, you start for the elevator. But then
you remember. You arent the same person. You
have a new heart. Within you dwells a new power.
Do you live like the old person or the
new? Do you count yourself as having a new heart
or old? You have a choice to make.
You might say, I cant climb stairs;
Im too weak. Does your choice negate the
presence of a new heart? Dismiss the work of the
surgeon? No. Choosing the elevator would suggest only
one fact - you havent learned to trust your
new power.
It takes time. But at some point youve
got to try those stairs. Youve got to test
the new ticker. Youve got to experiment with
the new you. For if you dont, you will run
out of steam.
Religious rule keeping can sap your
strength. Its endless. There is always another
class to attend, Sabbath to obey, Ramadan to
observe. No prison is as endless as the prison of
perfection. Her inmates find work but never find peace.
How could they? They never know when they are
finished.
Christ, however, gifts you with a
finished work. He fulfilled the law for you. Bid
farewell to the burden of religion. Gone is the fear
that having done everything, you might not have
done enough. You climb the stairs, not by your
strength, but his. God pledges to help those who stop
trying to help themselves.
He who began a good work in you will
carry it on to completion until the day of Christ
Jesus (Phil. 1:6.) God will change you from the
inside out. [Max Lucado Daily Devotional at
maxlucado.com]
ILLUSTRATIONS
Changing Our Nature
My dog Molly and I arent getting
along. The problem is not her personality. A
sweeter mutt you will not find. She sees every
person as a friend and every day as a holiday. I
have no problem with Mollys attitude. I have a
problem with her habits.
Eating scraps out of the trash. Licking
dirty plates in the dishwasher. Dropping dead
birds on our sidewalk and stealing bones from the
neighbors dog. Shameful! Molly rolls in the grass,
chews on her paw, does her business in the wrong
places, and, Im embarrassed to admit, quenches
her thirst in the toilet.
Now what kind of behavior is that?
Dog behavior, you reply.
You are right. So right. Mollys
problem is not a Molly problem. Molly has a dog
problem. It is a dogs nature to do such things.
And it is her nature that I wish to change. Not
just her behavior, mind you. A canine obedience
school can change what she does; I want to go
deeper. I want to change who she is.
Here is my idea: a me-to-her transfusion.
The deposit of a Max seed in Molly. I want to
give her a kernel of human character. As it grew,
would she not change? Her human nature would
develop, and her dog nature would diminish. We would
witness, not just a change of habits, but a change of
essence. In time Molly would be less like Molly and
more like me, sharing my disgust for trash
snacking, potty slurping, and dish licking. She would
have a new nature. Why, Denalyn might even let
her eat at the table.
You think the plan is crazy? Then take it
up with God. The idea is his.
What I would like to do with Molly, God
does with us. He changes our nature from the
inside out! I will put a new way of thinking
inside you. I will take out the stubborn hearts of
stone from your bodies, and I will give you
obedient hearts of flesh. I will put my Spirit inside
you and help you live by my rules and carefully
obey my laws (Ezek. 36:26"27 NCV.).
God doesnt send us to obedience school
to learn new habits; he sends us to the
hospital to be given a new heart. Forget training; he
gives transplants.
Do you understand what God has done? He
has deposited a Christ seed in you. As it grows,
you will change. Its not that sin has no more
presence in your life, but rather that sin has no
more power over your life. Temptation will pester
you, but temptation will not master you. What
hope this brings!
Its not up to you! Within you abides a
budding power. Trust him!
He who began a good work in you will
carry it on to completion until the day of Christ
Jesus (Phil. 1:6 NIV.). God will do with you what
I only dream of doing with Molly. Change you
from the inside out. When he is finished, hell
even let you sit at his table. From Next Door
Savior [Max Lucado Daily Devotional at
maxlucado.com]
The Man in Black
Im standing at the grave site of
Johnny Cash. Theres nobody else around here at
Hendersonville Memory Gardens. Its just me and the "Man
in Black. Why? Because I've been a fan all
my life. It turns out we are distant
relatives.
But more to the point, we are spiritually
related. Johnny Cash was a Christian. He was a
Christian that struggled with fame, with drugs, and
with his demons.
Cash was a walking, talking contradiction
who identified with the apostle Peter"often
ashamed and lacking the courage to stand up for
Christ . . . in the first half of his life.
All of these traits and foibles were
rolled up into a larger-than-life, one-of-a-kind
personality that put its own unique, indelible stamp on
popular music and pop culture.
He was a devout Christian who divided his
time between sinning and seeking forgiveness,
frequently going from jail to Jesus. He was arrested
several times on account of his addiction to pills
and sophomoric shenanigans. And he knew almost
every hymn and gospel tune ever sung, often
performing them on stage between such hit songs as I
Walk the Line, Ring of Fire, and
Cocaine Blues.
He acknowledged God as the number one
power in the world but viewed Satan as a close
second.
God Almighty is in the business of saving
flawed saints. The Bible is full of examples:
Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Peter, and Paul. Just like
them, God will get us where He wants us to be. It
may take a lifetime, but it will happen. Trust
Him.
Psalm 19:14 NKJV says: Let the words of
my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be
acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my
redeemer.
These words are inscribed on Johnny
Cashs tombstone. Have you ever prayed a sincere
prayer of faith like this one? Do you think God
will honor such a prayer?
He who has begun a good work in you will
complete it. (Philippians 1:6 NKJV)
How do you feel, knowing that God is not
finished with you yet?
Then they came to the other side of the
sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He
had come out of the boat, immediately there met
Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean
spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no
one could bind him, not even with chains,
because he had often been bound with shackles and
chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him,
and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could
anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was
in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out
and cutting himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and
worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and
said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of
the Most High God? I implore You by God that You
do not torment me.
For He said to him, "Come out of the man,
unclean spirit! Then He asked him, "What is your
name?
And he answered, saying, "My name is
Legion; for we are many. Also he begged Him
earnestly that He would not send them out of the
country.
Now a large herd of swine was feeding
there near the mountains. So all the demons begged
Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may
enter them. And at once Jesus gave them
permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and
entered the swine (there were about two thousand);
and the herd ran violently down the steep place
into the sea, and drowned in the sea.
So those who fed the swine fled, and they
told it in the city and in the country. And they
went out to see what it was that had happened.
Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had
been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting
and clothed and in his right mind. And they were
afraid. And those who saw it told them how it
happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and
about the swine. Then they began to plead with Him
to depart from their region.
And when He got into the boat, he who had
been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be
with Him. However, Jesus did not permit him, but
said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell
them what great things the Lord has done for you,
and how He has had compassion on you. And he
departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that
Jesus had done for him; and all marveled. (Mark
5:1"20 NKJV)
Though the Devil and his demons are
powerful, God is infinitely more powerful and has the
power to dispel them and to heal completely. What
influences struggle for control in your life? [Greg
Laurie from Harvest Ministries;
https://www.harvestdaily.com]
CLOSING THOUGHT
If there's one thing I know for sure,
it's that I am a work in progress. We all are.
Life becomes easier when we understand that we
will never "arrive." There will always be areas
of our lives that we need to work on until the
day God takes us home to heaven.
My wife, whom I love more than anyone on
this earth, and I have come to realize that we
don't need to talk about any heavy problems after
9:00 p.m. Were just too tired. We've also
learned that when she says something I strongly
disagree with, I should wait at least ten minutes
before responding. My response will be much nicer,
and sometimes I've even been known to change my
mind from what I was thinking at first. The
bottom line is that there are still aspects of my
personality and temperament that need improvement. God
knows it, my wife knows it, and I know it!
It might be helpful for all of us to make
a list of those areas that still need work in
our lives. Then we can pray regularly that God
will help us grow in those areas.
Father, I still need an awful lot of
work. Thank you for loving me through all the work
that still needs to be done. In Jesus' name,
Amen. [Celebrate Recovery Daily Devotional by John
& Johnny Baker]
LINK FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS PASSAGE
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2015/20150930-1734.html
EXCELLENT VIDEO SERIES ON 28 REVELATIONS OF
JESUS
1st of 28: Divine Dining:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_7j1QIKqmY
2nd of 28: Pictures of the Divine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lNI-OQ7-eQ
3rd of 28: A Dirty Bible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMkPvBuuFd4
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
