“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:4-6 NIV
I am encouraged when I read this passage and I hope you are too!
Even in the middle of a bad day, week or month it encourages me.
Paul writes about how he prays for the Philippian believers who are partners in the gospel or said another way, makers of disciples. He knows they love and seek to serve Christ in spreading the good news and reminds them that it’s not all up to them.
How often does it feel like it’s all up to us and things are not going well?
This applies to our own lives and those who we minister to. We struggle and fail, and people let us down. We try and sometimes we wonder why we try.
But Paul says to them and to us that’s it’s not all up to us. God, who began the good work will carry this work on to completion. Completion means wholeness, fulfillment and fruit being borne.
Do we do our best?
Do we persevere even when it seems it’s all going wrong?
Yes, and we do it by trusting God will bring to completion the work HE started in and through us. He uses us in ministry but He also takes it farther and better than we can possibly do on our own. And that is a real encouragement to me.
Take some time and rest in this passage.
God’s got your back and He will bring to wholeness what He has begun.
It might not look just the way you think it will or even the way you think it ought to. But we need to trust and depend on Him through it all.