Jun 6: Philippians 2:12-13 — When God Becomes the Source of My Will (Today's Reading: My Utmost for His Highest)
“…work out your own salvation… for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” — Philippians 2:12–13
There is a moment in every believer’s life when the battle inside finally breaks. For me, it was the day my will bowed at the feet of Jesus. I didn’t understand everything then — I only knew the chaos had to end. What I did not realize was that surrender wasn’t the end of the story. It was the beginning of a new way of living.
Chambers says that the deepest part of a person is not sin — it is the will. And when we are born again, God places a new will inside us, one that naturally agrees with Him. That means the real “me” — the true will God gave me — already wants what He wants. The resistance I feel at times doesn’t come from my will at all. It comes from the old stubborn nature, the leftover self‑life that refuses to bow. That stubbornness is not who I am anymore.
So what does it mean that God “works in me to will and to do”?
It means He gives me the desire (“to will”)
and He gives me the power (“to do”).
My part is not to manufacture obedience or force myself into holiness. My part is simply to stay yielded — to keep the will where I placed it, at His feet. When I do that, the Spirit governs my reactions, my thoughts, my choices, and even the quiet desires of my heart. I don’t initiate the spiritual life anymore. I respond to the One who lives within me.
This is what it means to “work out” what God has “worked in.”
Not striving.
Not fixing.
Not performing.
Just living from the surrendered place He created in me.
The will that once fought Him now rests in Him.
The stubbornness that once ruled me now bows to Him.
And the life I live today is not powered by me — it is powered by the Spirit who dwells within.
God’s will is now my will.
And His power is now my strength.
Inhale: You work in me to will…
Exhale: You work in me to do…
~ Quil
1. God the Potter — We are the clay
Isaiah 64:8 — “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand.”
Jeremiah 18:3–6 — The potter shaping the clay as it seems good to him.
Romans 9:20–21 — The potter has authority over the clay.
2. God working in us — “to will and to do”
Philippians 2:13 — “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
Hebrews 13:21 — God “working in you what is well pleasing in His sight.”
Ezekiel 36:26–27 — God gives a new heart and causes us to walk in His ways.
3. Surrender of the will — yielding to God
Luke 22:42 — “Not My will, but Yours, be done.”
Romans 12:1–2 — Presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice.
Psalm 143:10 — “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God.”
4. The Spirit governing the surrendered life
Galatians 5:16 — Walk in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:25 — Live in the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit.
Romans 8:14 — Led by the Spirit of God.
5. God shaping us through obedience
John 14:23 — If anyone loves Me, he will obey My word.
James 1:22 — Be doers of the word, not hearers only.
1 Samuel 15:22 — Obedience is better than sacrifice.
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