The More You Work in Faith

Paul was an extremely intelligent man that was well trained and even exceeded his teachers. He was zealous for his religion and functioned under absolute commitment. After meeting Jesus as his Savior, he called all of his accomplishments as dung, (Phil 3:8). His education was worthless, his zeal was wasted effort, and his commitment a waste of time. The only thing that mattered was what God performed through Paul. The harder he worked in faith, the more God’s grace performed.
1 Corinthians 15:9-10 says 9) “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
When we get to heaven, our reward will not be based on what we have done FOR God, but on what we have allowed God to do THROUGH us. We must develop a symbiotic relationship with the Holy Spirit in order to be successful in this life. God wants you to heal the sick, save the lost, deliver the oppressed, and set the captives free (Luke 4:18). You can’t do any of this unless the Holy Spirit is empowering you with God’s grace.
This is the concept that Paul understood when he made the statement that he could do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthened him (Phil 4:13). He did not deserve strength or ability to do things, but God’s grace provided it for him anyway.
You, also, can do all things if you will accept His grace and allow it (the grace) to work in and through you. Please grasp this fact: if you deserved grace then it would no longer be grace. Grace is only for the undeserving! It is not merit that brings grace to you, but your lack thereof. We don’t get grace because we deserve it; we get grace because we need it.
Romans 1:5 says, “By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name. The word here for grace means the power and equipment for ministry. Paul was not only called by grace, but the same grace equipped him to perform the ministry. He did not deserve this grace for ministry; but he got it in spite of himself. You, too, need to take God’s grace and begin to minister to your friends and neighbors.
Hebrews 12:28 says, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:” The only way we can serve God acceptably is to do it His way through His ability. When we start doing things in His strength and stop doing them in our strength, we will be well pleasing to God. Our acceptance of His grace gives us all the strength we need to fulfill His calling in our lives.
The things God has made available to you and me includes power and strength, ability and equipping, miracles and signs and all of these are available for the taking.
Passive Christians will be powerless Christians because everything God has for us must be taken and made your own personal property. If you are waiting for God to hit you with some magical wand and make you successful, you will wait a very long time, because is just does not happen that way.
You can see from studying Paul’s works that he worked to please God, and the more he did all things as though he were doing them for the Lord, and the more he worked in faith, the more God could do through him.
This is true because Hebrews 11:6 says “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” 
This, my friends, is also true for you. Don’t worry about all the big words used by big ministries. Don’t worry about past failures, just allow yourself to get quiet with God and allow Him to lead you. Once you learn to make that connection with the Almighty, you will become a force with which to be reckoned because it will all be God.
Allowing God to work in and through you is keeping the church alive. It is keeping alive the Gospel Message, the power in the name of Jesus, the power in the shed blood of Jesus. It is keeping alive the promises and protections of God. Being used by God will build your confidence so you can do more.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
If you are not walking in those good works, you are not pleasing to God. He desires to have you work with Him in the biggest relief effort ever to hit this world. 
The harder you work in faith, the more God’s grace can perform through you to help others. In fact, the greatest gift you can give to God this holiday season is the gift of your faith in Him and to submit yourself to His thoughts and His ways.
In His Service,
Doc