Second Touch – Partners in Growth

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For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants.
Philippians 2:12-13


We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything
to work toward something good and beautiful
when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan. 
From the distant past, His eternal love reached into the future.
You see, He knew those who would be His one day,
and He chose them beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son
so that Jesus would be the firstborn of a new family of believers, all brothers and sisters.
As for those He chose beforehand, He called them to a different destiny
so that they would experience what it means to be made right with God
and share in His glory.
Romans 8:28-30

 In the process of growing to be Jesus-like, (those who would be His one day, Father chose them beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son) we are not on our own. We have a partner whose singular purpose is to help in our development. “God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants.” This is precisely what Jesus promised before his crucifixion. (John 14:15-18)  “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper…. The Helper is the Spirit of truth. (Mentor of Life)  He lives with you, and he will be in you. I will not leave you all alone like orphans.” (John 14:15-18) Note,In our progression we are never alone.“Remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) The basic task of The Helper is to facilitate our becoming like Jesus. He employs three fundamental methods: coaching, counseling and correcting.
 
The Spirit has unlimited scope In His operation. “We can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”  (Romans 8:28)“ “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us ALL THINGS? (Romans 8:32) Yes, that includes everything we classify as “BAD.” We might even think/say: “What good can out of this!” Well, absolutely nothing is beyond the Spirit’s power to transform it for our good! Now then, we must remember what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit. “Only God’s Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.” (John 3:8)
 
 What’s “the good” as stated above? There is but one primary purpose in the Spirit’s operation. “He chose them beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son!“ Put a set of glasses on. The glasses will determine the way by which you see everything. If the glasses blur your vision, you will see everything indistinctly. That’s the way it is. Without the glasses of the Spirit you will have no clarity about the events of your life. In partnership with your decision “to live according to His plan” the Spirit will correct your vision so that it’s 20/20.
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