{"id":5689,"date":"2021-05-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-02T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5689"},"modified":"2021-02-16T19:03:34","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T01:03:34","slug":"he-who-began-a-good-work-in-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5689","title":{"rendered":"He Who Began a Good Work in You…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Everyone has favorite scriptures. If you don\u2019t, you might not be reading your Bible enough. One of my favorites is Philippians 1:6 which says that we can be confident that \u201cHe who began a good work in you will complete it\u2026\u201d (NKJ).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Message Bible puts it this way: \u201cThere has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul sent this letter to the whole church, not just the leadership. It\u2019s addressed to all the saints\u2014 all the believers, which includes you and me (Philippians 1:1). Paul tells all of us that we can have confidence in God. Why? Because God is faithful. Faithful means constant, steadfast, loyal, and devoted. We can believe and trust God. He keeps all His promises.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we became Christians, God began a good work in us. We didn\u2019t just alter our lifestyle and call ourselves Christians. God actually began a work IN us. We were dead to our sins, then God forgave us and breathed life IN us (Ephesians 2:4). We became a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We became God\u2019s work in progress.         <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes we forget this. We make mistakes, fall short of our imaginary perfect Christian image, and even doubt that God still loves us\u2014but He does. We think it\u2019s all about what we do, but it\u2019s not. It\u2019s about what God does. It\u2019s about what God can do through us, in us, and in spite of us. God has a lot of time and effort invested in us and He\u2019s not about to let us go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we face problems, we are not alone. God is with us. When we fall down, God is ready to pick us up. When we doubt, God can give us reassurance. When we feel weak, God is our strength. When we are weary, God carries us in the sand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We get discouraged thinking about how far we have to go. God looks at how far we\u2019ve come, and He can even see the finished us. In His eyes, we are a masterpiece\u2014a priceless art form that He is continuously refining (Ephesians 2:10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When discouragement sets in, I try to remind myself that God began a good work in me and He will be faithful to complete it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.\u201d ~Philippians 4:8 (KJV)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world\u2026 Everyone has favorite scriptures. If you don\u2019t, you might not be reading your Bible enough. One of my favorites is Philippians 1:6 which says that we can be confident that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5689\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}