Phil. 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
God works in us through His Holy Spirit. But why is the Holy Spirit working in us? God works in us for two reasons:
- To will
- To do
Firstly to help us have resolve or to bolster our will with His sweet Spirit. How sweet it is to know that God will help strengthen our will and resolve in the power of the Holy Ghost! All we need is His Spirit dwelling inside of us. How is this accomplished? Through accepting His gift for us.
He also provides power of action. Things we could not reasonably be expected to accomplish he can do through us and through influencing those around us (even our enemies). A man is not an island so the saying goes. Well, a man cannot stand alone and obtain his own salvation. We must rely on Jesus for his saving grace. Only through the final sin offering of His death can we obtain life.
So why does God’s Spirit help us to will and to do?
The Holy Spirit helps us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
What does this phrase mean?
- ‘Of His good’ is a translation of a single Greek word, ὑπέρ (huper), which means ‘for the sake of’.
- ‘Pleasure’ which is εὐδοκία (eudokia) in the Greek means ‘kindness, wish or pleasure’.
Put this together and we have ‘for the sake of His wishes’. What the Holy Spirit allows us to do through the bolstering of our will; and providing energy to assist in our acting on His wishes and desires for our lives. This verse is a part of holiness and is a sigh of relief to the weary Christian. We now know of assurance through God’s will that our God will give us the energy and resolve to be more like Him: To be Christ-like if you will or strangely enough to be Christians!
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