I will watch you work
Philippians 1:6 NKJ
being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
The AMP says
I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].
Work for food Illus. by Bruce Ball
I like the story of the rich executive who announced to his church one morning that he was going to give up all he owned so that he had to depend on his faith in God for everything he needed.
He sold everything, gave it to the poor, and moved into a rented home down on the bad side of town.
That first night, he prayed that God would furnish him with some food. The next morning, he went outside on the porch and there was no food. That same night, he again prayed for food. The next morning...nothing.
The 3rd night, he prayed again, saying, "Lord, if you do not feed me, I will surely die of starvation." The next morning...nothing.
Then, in a near panic brought on by hunger, he fell to his knees and cried out, "Lord, I have put my faith in you on the line. Why are you ignoring me like this?"
In the quietness of the rented house, he heard the Lord tell him his prayers had already been answered, but he was not looking for the answer.
The Lord told him to go back out on the porch, which he did. Then, the Lord told him to look up! A large sign on the building across the road, in bold letters, said, "WORKERS WANTED -- LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED"
Over the years there have been plenty of people who have watched me at work. I myself have watched others work. Most everyone likes to watch someone work, especially when they’re working for them.
At times when we pray and ask God for our needs and the needs of others in our lives to be met, it’s easy to become distracted and think God is taking to long to deliver the answer we’re looking for.
If we like to watch others work, why do we have difficulty looking for or watching God work in our lives?
God wants us to Trust Him with our future! God wants us to have boldness and confidence in our faith walk and our relationship we have with Him. And in return God promises to be faithful to us and our request, when we bring them to Him!
How many times have we all prayed something maybe just a little bit frivolous, but then later on out of the blue God orchestrates our request to come to fruition in our lives.
And we realized at that point we had forgotten the prayer and the request when we had prayed, but God had never forgotten!
TBS. (the Bible says)
“He who started a work in you, will be faithful to complete it in you!”
Like the man trusting God to feed him earlier, we need not worry if God will provide, however we must be ready to walk into the opportunity of provision and obtain the blessing when He does!
For example, when David the Shepard boy heard he was someday going to be a king in the future. Don’t you imagine he went around like all young boys, dreaming about what they would become when they got older?
I can just imagine David out watching the sheep, like they were the people of Israel and taking his sling to protect his subjects and practicing hitting different targets, as if they were the enemy.
At first he would miss the targets. But each time he missed, he quickly found another stone and imagined in his mind another scenario of how he would protect his people and become their hero!
Time after time missing the target, yet diligently recreating another opportunity to deliver the miracle shot, that ultimately would make his name a household name heard around the world forever!
Little by little, David started to hit the targets and not just some of the time, but every time! With each victorious shot, his accuracy grew along with his confidence! Then finally one day God opened the door of opportunity David had dreamed about so many times.
David walked into the opportunity God provided with confidence and even though everyone else thought what he was willing to attempt was impossible, with Gods help and promise David became victorious and defeated Goliath!
Had it been earlier David might’ve been fearful and missed his moment of destiny! God wants us to have the confidence that when the door of opportunity opens its self by His creation, we can step through the door with confidence and obtain the blessing God has created for us, without fear!
Knowing and resting in the fact, the open door is all part of the plans God has for us, for our welfare, to give us a hope and a future!
While being the hero is always a great part of the story and the victory, the desire and predictability of us being the hero is not always the plan!
Not every answer from God is a giant slaying, mountain high event! While all answers to our prayers are monumental, not all of them are going to involve heroic action on our part!
Psalms 46 MSG
1-3 God is a safe place to hide,
ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
4-6
River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
but Earth does anything he says.
7
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
8-10
Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.”
11
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is when Elijah called down fire from heaven. And fire consumed the sacrifice and everything around the sacrifice including the water out of the trenches, Elijah had poured into them!
It was truly a great victory, The prophets of baal we’re done away with and King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were made out to be the fools they appeared to be!
And while Elijah was truly victorious one moment, the very next moment we find Elijah fearing for his life! Because Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, king of Israel, was seeking to kill him.
So Elijah ran into the wilderness and collapsed in exhaustion. God sent an angel with food and water to strengthen him, told him to rest, and then sent him to Horeb.
It’s interesting to note here, even though while Elijah seems to be in a state of confusion, God is still actively completing the work He started in Elijah!
In a cave there, Elijah voices his complaint that all of God’s prophets had been killed by Jezebel and he alone had survived.
Sometimes in our own battles and struggles, we too feel as though we’re in the fight alone and by ourselves, don’t we?
I think we find the advice God gave and showed Elijah, still holds true for us as well, in our walk and relationship we have with Him!
God instructed Elijah to stand on the mountain in His presence. Then the Lord sent a mighty wind which broke the rocks in pieces; then He sent an earthquake and a fire, but His voice was in none of them.
After all that, the Lord spoke to Elijah in a still small voice, or “gentle whisper.”
The point of God speaking in the still small voice was to show Elijah, the work of God doesn’t always have to be accompanied by dramatic events and miracles.
Silence from God, does not mean inactivity by God!
Learn to find Your Victory, even in the silence!
The accuser is rendered powerless, by our faith during the silence!!
Zechariah 4:6,7 NKJ
tells us that God’s work is “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” meaning that over the top displays of power are not necessary for God to work.
6 So he answered and said to me:
“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the Lord of hosts.
7
‘Who are you, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!
And he shall bring forth the capstone
With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ”
When God tells us to Be still and know that I am God, we should find comfort and take rest in the peace that passes all understanding!
When we are still and willing to wait on God to bring about what we are asking, it is not a sign of weakness! Waiting on God is a sign of faith, watching God work is a sign of diligence and God is a rewarder of faith and diligence!
When God tells us to be still, His instructions are a gift and a promise, God is going to be faithful to bring to completion not only our desired response, but something most definitely better than what we could imagine or even think!
John 3:34-36 MSG
34-36 “The One that God sent speaks God’s words. And don’t think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever!
God is so good to us and God is so faithful to us! God has given us Jesus and the abundance of His Grace along with the abundance of every promise, to cover and comfort us in every situation!
God alone is worthy of all glory and praise, for all situations!
Whatever your need is today, realize the power of what you have been given! Every knee of every living thing is subject to the relationship you have with Jesus!
Gods deliverer of Grace, Jesus is what makes every promise in the Bible yours; to stand on, to hold on to, to bring about in your life and in the lives of those around you!
Fellow Contributors,
If you have found this teaching helpful, I invite you to check other resources and books I have authored available at all online bookstores! Or you can follow me on Facebook at my Charlie Roberts Author page.
Available now:
I AM, I CAN, I WILL “all about exploring God’s Grace”
MY SCANDALOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD “all about exposing God’s Grace”
PARKING LOT FAITH “the realization you already have enough faith to move your Mountains”
