No matter what you’re going to face this next week, you’re not going to face it alone. God is with you, he is in you, and he is for you.
Philippians 2:13 says, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (NLT).
“God is working in you.” The word “working” in Greek is the word energos, from which we get the word “energy.” God is the energy driver in your life. You’re not just going on willpower. You’re not just going on your own power.
Happiness requires letting go and learning to forget. Worry won’t change the past, so forget what can’t be changed and focus on the future.
Philippians 3:13-14 says, “I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (NLT).
You only have a limited amount of energy. That’s why you get tired. That’s why you get fatigued. That’s why you get worn out.
Following Jesus is a decision and then a process for the rest of your life. You can’t follow without walking. You’ve got to have movement!
Philippians 3:12-13 says, “I don’t mean to say I’m perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers, I’m still not all I should be” (LB).
When Paul wrote that verse, he was an older man in prison in Rome. He’s at the end of life. He’s an incredibly mature person. Yet he says he hadn’t arrived.
Paul discovered that. He says in Philippians 3:10, “For my determined purpose is that I may ... progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly” (AMP).
There is a difference in knowing about someone and knowing someone. I know more about Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian than I want to, but I don’t really know them. I know my wife and I know my kids because I spend time with them. I have a relationship with them.
Paul became deeply and intimately acquainted with God because he had a relationship with him and took the time to get to know him.
You don’t get to know God by accident. It’s a determined purpose. It’s something you have to do something about. You have to invest your time in it