at work in you & me “for His good pleasure”
Today, I am compelled to ponder the question: Who lives in me?
Two melodies command my attention. The first was sung by David as the LORD delivered him from the hand of David’s enemy, King Saul, & the second has been performed by modern-day Christian artist Jeremy Camp. Both melodies need our attention today. Please pause to read Psalm 18 and then listen to “Christ In Me.”
1—
(The Psalms 18: 31-36 NASB)
“For who is God, but the LORD?
2—
And who is a rock, except our God,
3—
The God who girds me with strength
4—
And makes my way blameless?
5—
He makes my feet like hinds’ feet,
6—
And sets me upon my high places.
7—
He trains my hands for battle,
8—
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
9—
You have also given me the shield of Your salvation,
10—
And Your right hand upholds me;
11—
And Your gentleness makes me great.
12—
You enlarge my steps under me,
13—
And my feet have not slipped.”
Thirteen lines quoted that display many ways the LORD girds, strengthens, makes, sets, trains, protects, upholds, enlarges & secures us, His children.
Thirteen is a number so many consider ‘unlucky,’ but God created all numbers for His use, even thirteen. Spiritually, the number thirteen represents a period of growth, of change, as the Christian walks his spiritual journey. God has a plan for His people!
It is Jesus who reminds us of this TRUTH—
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,
(The Revelation 22: 13 NASB)
the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.”
Sometimes, we forget and we even live as if God has sent us into the world all alone. We think it is up to us to muster our own strength, our own wisdom, and our own endurance. We often begin to think this STINKY thought—God needs me to live-out a good Christian life, so I better get busy. Truly, that really is STINKY because first, God does not need us (you or me) but God wants us from the beginning of our creation. So, God pursues us for intimacy with Him through His Son Jesus. The second STINKY thought is that God needs us to live good, but there is not any goodness in us apart from Christ Jesus, so the only good we can do within our Christian walk is because the Goodness in Him. Finally, within this STINKY statement, we find the ending words: “so I better get busy.”
- Busyness is not necessarily godliness.
- Busyness is not necessarily holiness.
- Busyness is not necessarily God’s will.
- Busyness is just us working on our timetable, as in I have an hour to accomplish this task, “so I better get busy.”
God is at work in you & me “for His good pleasure.”
We know so because the Bible says so.
“for it is God who is at work in you,
(The Letter of Paul to the Philippians 2: 13 NASB)
both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
It was God’s plan all along to work in & through us. When we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, Christ lives and works, and moves within us. It’s that simple & that profound.
This morning, as I found myself listening to Jeremy Camp’s melody “Christ In Us,” I noticed how Camp used his same chorus three times—
“So now I’m running free
“Christ In Us”
Into an ocean of mercy unending
So come and empty me
So that it’s You, I breathe
I want my life to be only Christ in me
So I will fix my eyes
‘Cause You’re my source of life
I need the world to see
That it’s [Only] Christ in me, yeah
That it’s [Only] Christ in me, yeah, yeah”
[with the ending lines]
“Only Christ in me
Christ in me”
The world knows God is love! &
The world of humanity can also know the love of God!
We see God’s love everywhere we look, in everything we experience, and within the people we are given to embrace. In his Psalm, David sang well the many ways the LORD girds, strengthens, makes, sets, trains, protects, upholds, enlarges & secures us—from the INSIDE OUT. His children are led by & through & in HIM as we go throughout our lives. These thirteen lines are given to remind us us how the number thirteen is NOT ‘unlucky,’ because God has created all numbers, even number thirteen, for His use.
On this day, I am reminded how in just thirteen days from today, I will be given the precious gift of sharing time with my girls. For an entire week, we will eat together, play together, walk together, laugh together, and embrace together—JUST 13 BRIEF DAYS FROM TODAY!
This day, I am dancing & praising the goodness of God as His Holy Spirit reminds me of the love He has manifested in my life. For many years of marriage, my husband I were married without children, and then on our 13th Anniversary, God allowed us to bring home our little girl, Sydney. Then in 2015, God brought us Marieke.
As we end this discussion, let us be reminded of the way God abides in us & how “His love is perfected in us.”
Without a doubt,
- God has a plan for His people!
- God abides in us & we abide in Him.
May we walk within this truth today.
- God is at work in you & me “for His good pleasure.”
We know so because the Bible says so.
“No one has seen God at any time;
(The First Letter of John 4: 12-16 NASB)
if we love one another, God abides in us,
and His love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in Him and He is us,
because He has given us of His Spirit.
We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,
God abides in him,
and he in God.
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.
God is love,
and the one who abides in love abides in God,
and God abides in Him.”