“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Philippians 2:13 NLT
For fuller context, our Scripture’s premise begins at verse 12
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:12–13 NKJV
We all search for the will of God as we begin to understand that we have been created by God, and for God. His purposes being worked out in our lives, growing in the knowledge of Him, and bearing fruit to His glory becomes the motivation for our days.
John 6:40 — “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life…” ESV
2 Peter 3:9 — “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” NKJV
To know that God is at work in us, both to will and to do His good pleasure, brings the awareness that we can become all that He has created us to be. There is work assigned to each of us—work written by God for the days we have been given to dwell in the here and now. The Apostle Paul knew when he had finished his course, saying; “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7 ESV
While we work out our own salvation, we are governed by so many clear instructions concerning the will of God.
From Micah 6:8, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
From Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus set before us the two greatest commandments: to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. He then added a further commandment in John 13:34—to love one another even as He has loved us.
This requires every believer to go beyond self-interest and to love sacrificially. While Matthew’s Gospel highlights the commandment to love, the Apostle Paul reminds us that, “love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). As new creations in Christ, we are to live by this commandment to love, allowing it to govern all our activity.
Jesus embraced the body prepared for Him through the willing obedience He yielded to the Father. He presented His body to the Father as a living sacrifice for us.
“Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said:
‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
Hebrews 10:5–7 ESV
Knowing the Father’s will for our lives means living in daily alignment with the Word He has revealed to our hearts and trusting Him for the grace He imparts so that we may become doers of His Word.
For it is God who is working in us—both to will and to do for His good pleasure.