Faith My Eyes

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:3-11 ESV)

So Paul begins his letter to the Philippians. Most believe this letter to be a thank you note from Paul to the church in Philippi. It’s a beautiful letter and one that I go back to often. The tone of the letter is encouraging. When I read it, I feel happy and content.

I have been meditating on, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Paul was confident that God would bring about the maturity of the Christians in Philippi.

As I think about what God is doing in Ypsilanti through our church planting effort, I feel very much the same. God has begun something here. He has started something different from the norm. Through this church planting effort Christians and non-Christians are talking to one another about things that matter. Christians are growing in their faith in real ways. We are beginning to see the beginnings of multiplication. These are all things that many said couldn’t happen.

We didn’t begin by hanging a shingle and starting a cool worship service. We knew if we did this, we could collect a bunch of Christians. That wasn’t the work that God called us to do. He called us to make disciples and a people who multiply their lives. We can see this beginning.

I am so hopeful and encouraged.

I am confident that this thing that God has begun, he will bring it to completion.

The post Faith My Eyes appeared first on Daniel M. Rose. It was written by Daniel M. Rose.

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