Silas
Beloved of All
Your humble prayer before the Lord is precious and He surely hears the heart that wants to do His will.
That desire you expressed is exactly what Scripture promises God Himself will do in you. The verse you prayed, that He would make you perfect in every good work to do His will, goes on to say that it is God who works in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. It is not you perfecting yourself, but God completing and equipping you.
This is important to remember because no one can be made righteous by his own effort or by trying harder to keep the law. Righteousness before God does not come by works or by promises we make to do better, but by faith in Jesus Christ. The law says do and you shall live, but faith says believe and you shall live. We are saved by grace through faith, and that is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast. In ourselves our best works cannot make us acceptable to God.
God does not bless you because you have earned it by good performance. He blesses you because He loves you. He delights when you simply trust Him and seek to please Him, but even then His giving to you rests on His love and grace, not on your merit.
At the same time, a genuine faith will always show itself in a changed life. Faith without works is dead, not because works save us, but because true faith naturally produces the fruit of righteousness. You are not saved by those good works, you are saved by faith in Jesus, and the works that follow become the evidence and proof of that faith. Faith and works work together, and faith is made complete as it brings forth what God has prepared for you to do.
So be encouraged that God Himself is at work in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. You do not have to strive in your own strength to become perfect. As you abide in Christ and trust Him daily, He will shape your desires, equip you, and lead you into good works that are profitable and fruitful and done with a pure heart for His glory. Those are the works that remain.
May the God of peace who brought our Lord Jesus from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
That desire you expressed is exactly what Scripture promises God Himself will do in you. The verse you prayed, that He would make you perfect in every good work to do His will, goes on to say that it is God who works in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. It is not you perfecting yourself, but God completing and equipping you.
This is important to remember because no one can be made righteous by his own effort or by trying harder to keep the law. Righteousness before God does not come by works or by promises we make to do better, but by faith in Jesus Christ. The law says do and you shall live, but faith says believe and you shall live. We are saved by grace through faith, and that is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast. In ourselves our best works cannot make us acceptable to God.
God does not bless you because you have earned it by good performance. He blesses you because He loves you. He delights when you simply trust Him and seek to please Him, but even then His giving to you rests on His love and grace, not on your merit.
At the same time, a genuine faith will always show itself in a changed life. Faith without works is dead, not because works save us, but because true faith naturally produces the fruit of righteousness. You are not saved by those good works, you are saved by faith in Jesus, and the works that follow become the evidence and proof of that faith. Faith and works work together, and faith is made complete as it brings forth what God has prepared for you to do.
So be encouraged that God Himself is at work in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. You do not have to strive in your own strength to become perfect. As you abide in Christ and trust Him daily, He will shape your desires, equip you, and lead you into good works that are profitable and fruitful and done with a pure heart for His glory. Those are the works that remain.
May the God of peace who brought our Lord Jesus from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
