Today we continue our series entitled, “Pursuing Grace-Based Success!”
Here are our foundational scriptures:
(Ephesians 2:8-10 ERV)
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.
9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about.
10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.
(1 Corinthians 1:30,31 NLT)
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
(2 Timothy 1:9 NKJV)
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
For the past couple of days, we looked at Philippians 4. Today we will back up to chapter 2. A few weeks ago, I taught you from Philippians 2:13. I am led to go back to it again today.
In Philippians 2, the Apostle Paul commended the believers in Philippi for living upright before God while he was there. They followed Paul’s example, and they submitted themselves to God. Now that he was no longer with them, Paul urged them to continue to live lives that are pleasing in God’s sight – lives full of Christian witness, fruit-bearing, and life-giving. In other words, Paul wanted them to succeed in Christ, become the people God called them to be, and exemplify the God living in them.
After giving them this charge, the Apostle Paul encouraged the Philippians. Paul knew that God would never expect them to do anything He had not already, by His grace, equipped them to do. So Paul said, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13 NIV). I will give you this verse in a few other translations as well.
(Philippians 2:13 NLT)
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
(Philippians 2:13 ERV)
Yes, it is God who is working in you. He helps you want to do what pleases him, and he gives you the power to do it.
(Philippians 2:13 TPT)
God will continually revitalize you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases him.
(Philippians 2:13 MSG)
That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.
Paul asked something of the believers in Philippi and then told them that God Himself would actually be the one performing the work through them. God would give them the “will” and then, along with the will, actually perform the “act .”God does this, Paul said, “in order to fulfill His good purpose.”
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. God made plans for you before the world began, and He wants to see you fulfill those plans. He did not send you to the earth to fail. It is God’s desire that you succeed. He wants you to become the man/woman He birthed you to be. So He gave you the grace (empowerment) to do everything He called you to walk in. In this way, the grace of God has set you up for success.
2. God loves you so much that He gives you the desire to want to please Him, and He then turns around and gives you the power to do what He gave you the passion for. Think about how amazing that is. God implants inside of you a desire to WANT TO do what He birthed you to do, and along with the desire, God gives you the supernatural POWER to do it. This is an excellent picture of why I teach grace-based success. When you understand what Paul was saying in Phil 2:13, you pursue success, but you know that true success only comes in accepting God’s passion and performing God’s will for your life by God’s grace. It’s all about HIM!
3. The fact that you have the desire in your heart to do something that far exceeds your ability is evidence that God has already given you the grace (power) to perform it. The desire (passion) comes from Him, and the empowerment (grace) to do it comes from Him as well. The more understanding you get concerning what I am teaching, the more you will have to acknowledge that you are who you are by the grace of God!
4. God will never give you the desire for something He has no plans to accomplish in your life. If He gave you the desire, it is only because He also gave you the power to get it done by His grace. In other words, God will never give you the desire (passion) for something that He knows you will never accomplish. Because if He did, you would die unfilled. God gives you the desire (passion) for things that He has also given you the grace (power) to do, so you walk in His grace, fulfill His purpose, and die satisfied, knowing you did what God called you to do!
5. Take a moment to think about the desires and dreams God has placed in your heart. Now think about the fact that God has ALREADY, by His unearned grace, given you the power to do it. That’s good news! That is part of the gospel of grace. Not only did God save you from hell by grace. But He also called you to your purpose by grace. And He then gave you the grace to do what He gave you a passion for. That’s amazing. God is SO good! The more you understand this, the more you will WANT to live a life that aligns with His plans and purposes.
6. God loves you enough to help you WANT to do what He has CALLED you to do. God wants you to serve Him and His purpose, but God does not want you to do it with the wrong attitude. He does not want you purpose-driven but miserable. So He helps give you the desire (passion) to do what He called you to do (purpose). When you have passion for your purpose, and you also have the grace to get it done, you get to live an amazing life:
— You will experience success beyond your wildest dreams.
— You will get to walk in divine favor, where people go out of their way to help you do what God called you to do.
— You walk in a level of wisdom that exceeds your education and experience.
— You enjoy every step of the way because God did not just give you the power to perform. Along with the power, God gave you the desire. This means you get to live every desire with a passion for doing what God called you to do and with the satisfaction of knowing that you are walking in your divine purpose.
This is #TheGraceLife, and I believe it is how God wants us to live.
That’s grace!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me about grace-based success.
The more I study Your grace, the more amazed I am at how much You love me.
Not only did You make plans for me before the world began, but You also pursued me while I was not living for You at all. You sent people to me, over and over again, to tell me about Your goodness. You did this until I accepted the gospel message, and I received Jesus, Your Son, as my Lord.
After being Born-Again, You still pursue me. You don’t want me to die with my purpose still locked up inside of me. You want me to get it all out.
You tirelessly pursue me to accomplish Your Kingdom’s plans and purposes through me.
You put thoughts in my mind that line up with my purpose. You help me to WANT to do what You have called me to do, and You then turn around and actually DO IT through me.
You give me the DESIRE and the POWER for my divine purpose. So Father, understanding all of this, I believe I will be successful in life. I will accomplish what You birthed me to do. But I will never take the credit. For it is You who is working through me, both to WILL and to DO Your good pleasure.
Living this way, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
