Faithful Friday Faves - Philippians

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

How funny is it that I posted a verse from Philippians yesterday?? I totally spaced that Philippians was this week's FFF book.

Good thing Philippians is chock-full of noteworthy nuggets, eh?

I actually memorized Phil. 2: 1- 11 a number of years ago just because it's one of my most favorite (as opposed to simply favorite, you know) scriptures.  What a challenge to us...to have the same attitude as Jesus.

But I'm picking a different verse this morning...and, once more, the closest Bible happens to be a New King James, so that's the version I'm using:

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure - Phil 2:13
  

I *love* this verse!  It was years and years ago that it first hit me and I went back and re-read it to see if it said what I thought.

It did and it does.

See, we, as fallen humans, don't necessarily WANT to do what is good and right and in line with God's plan.  But this verse encourages me so much, because it says that as I work out my salvation (that's from the previous verse, which I probably should've included in the quote but didn't), God works in me so that my WANT TO changes.  He changes my self-centered WANT TO so that I start to WANT TO do the things that please Him, and then He also works in my life to enable me to do those very things.

God does not throw down a list of  Do's and Don'ts and then stand over us to see if we'll live up to that; He is constantly and consistently working in us so that we not only do His pleasure, but find it satisfying as well...because it becomes the very thing we wanted all along.