Before we can work out our faith, God needs to work salvation in us. It’s always God first, then we are able to respond. God enables our faith. We are not even authors of our faith. God is. He is the miracle worker, not us. We can’t make ourselves worthy of God’s love or grace. But God can and he is continually at it. Let’s let God work in us freely. Then we can work out our faith for his glory.

So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]. ¹³ For it is [not your strength, but it is] ^[aGod who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. (Phil. 2:12-13, AMP,*)

God enables our faith

How can we then work out our salvation? Is there any way we could ‘cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity’ as the Amplified Bible puts it? Yes, there is. It all starts with God but he is more than willing to help us along. It is God’s strength that is at work in us. God enables our faith by strengthening, energizing, and creating in us the longing and the ability to do what God has called us to. Our role is to stick to Jesus. When we abide in Him, the Holy Spirit works in and through us.

Why then is it sometimes so hard to stick to Jesus? Our enemy tries his hardest to separate us from Jesus. He knows it is the easiest way to disrupt God’s plans in our lives. Hence we need to be vigilant and stay alert. Only by abiding in Jesus we can continue to gracefully grow in maturity. It’s all God but we need to abide in him so he can keep on working in us.

When we learn to abide in Jesus, we soon realize it’s the sweetest place on earth. No matter what happens, we are safe and happy in him. Jesus is our hope, our joy, our life.

Gracious God,
Thank you for preparing everything for us to follow you.
We could not follow you without you first stimulating our desire to do so.
Thank you for providing everything we need to persevere on our faith journey.
Enable, empower, equip us to work out our faith for your glory.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: God enables our faith – how do you feel about it?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you allow God to work in and through you!

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash. Linking up today with Five-minute Friday.