{"id":774,"date":"2012-02-27T06:00:01","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T06:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/"},"modified":"2012-02-27T06:00:01","modified_gmt":"2012-02-27T06:00:01","slug":"god-is-already-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/","title":{"rendered":"God is Already at Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Weekly Overview:<\/h2>\n<p>In response to knowing the heart of God we are called to share the wonders of his invisible nature with a world in desperate need of him. God has chosen to use us to reveal himself. He\u2019s filled us with the Spirit and empowered us to proclaim the good news of salvation and restored relationship with our Creator. May you discover this week that you were made to share God\u2019s heart. And may you find joy and passion in God\u2019s longing to use you in powerful and unique ways.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Scripture:<\/h2>\n<p><em>\u201cIt is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.&#8221;<\/em> Philippians 2:13<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"worship\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Worship:<\/h2>\n<h3>Unstoppable God (Live) by Elevation Worship<\/h3>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"display: block; margin: auto auto 30px auto; width: 100%; float:left;\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: block; margin: auto; float: left; border: 1px solid #000000; background-color: #484846; padding: 2px; -moz-border-radius: 3px; -khtml-border-radius: 3px; -webkit-border-radius: 3px; border-radius: 3px;\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/De6gZZT1690?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Devotional:<\/h2>\n<p>God is calling you and me to a lifestyle of joining him where he is already at work. Foundational to co-laboring with God is acknowledging that he is in constant pursuit of humanity. There is nowhere you can go that God won\u2019t be. There is no one you could talk to whom God doesn\u2019t already see, love relentlessly, and have amazing plans for.<\/p>\n<p>Sharing God\u2019s heart begins and ends with his grace. His grace empowers us to step outside of ourselves and love others. In grace he pursues us, even in our sin. Grace sent Jesus to die for us that we might have salvation through him. And it\u2019s by grace we receive that free gift of salvation.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to understand God\u2019s grace because without it we work in vain. If we operate under the perspective that salvation, healing, deliverance, and freedom for others hinges on our ability or our mercy, we will achieve nothing. But when we understand that we are merely carriers of God\u2019s heart and fellow recipients of God\u2019s lavish grace, we work from a place of power and truth.<\/p>\n<p>1 Timothy 2:3-4 says, <em>\u201cThis is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.&#8221;<\/em> And Philippians 2:13 says, <em>\u201cIt is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.&#8221;<\/em> You are not called to go off on your own into the darkness. God doesn\u2019t just meet you when you read Scripture or spend time with him and then send you off to do his will. He is always with you. He is always available to you. And he always longs to empower you.<\/p>\n<p>Cultivate a lifestyle of seeing where God is at work that you might co-labor with him. Ask the Holy Spirit for eyes to see the way he is pursuing people. Ask him for his heart for your friends, family, co-workers, and those you might only encounter once. God\u2019s most likely not asking you to drop everything and move to an unreached people group right this moment. Instead, he\u2019s asking you to be used by him to minister to others you encounter in your daily rhythms of life.<\/p>\n<p>Meet God where he\u2019s already at work today and seek to share his heart with a world that desperately needs to know a God who passionately pursues them.<\/p>\n<h2>Guided Prayer:<\/h2>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n<p><strong>1. Meditate on the truth that God is already at work.<\/strong> Allow Scripture to change the way you see co-laboring with God.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThis is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.&#8221;<\/em> 1 Timothy 2:3-4<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIt is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.&#8221;<\/em> Philippians 2:13<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Ask God where he is already at work around you.<\/strong> Ask him to bring to mind a person or a group of people whom you can minister to today.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Ask him how he is already at work.<\/strong> Ask him for a revelation of what you can do to see his kingdom advanced through your life today. Ask him for specific ways you can love others well. Journal his response and pray to receive courage and empowerment by the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Healing didn\u2019t happen in Scripture because a disciple had a greater level of mercy or compassion, but because a disciple chose to co-labor with God where he was already at work. God is constantly loving, beckoning, and drawing everyone you know to himself. And he will work through you if you seek to join with him in his purposes. If you want to live a life of purpose that has eternal value, you need not look any farther than the faces of those you see every day. May you love others as God does. May you show mercy and compassion in response to God\u2019s mercy and compassion. And may God\u2019s kingdom come to earth around you today as you minister with God.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Extended Reading:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Philippians+2&#038;version=ESV\" rel=\"alternate\">Philippians 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Weekly Overview: In response to knowing the heart of God we are called to share the wonders of his invisible nature with a world in desperate need of him. God has chosen to use us to reveal himself. He&#8217;s filled us with the Spirit and empowered us to proclaim the good news of salvation and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":636,"featured_media":777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first15"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>God is Already at Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Weekly Overview: In response to knowing the heart of God we are called to share the wonders of his invisible nature with a world in desperate need of him. God has chosen to use us to reveal himself. He&#8217;s filled us with the Spirit and empowered us to proclaim the good news of salvation and&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God is Already at Work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Weekly Overview: In response to knowing the heart of God we are called to share the wonders of his invisible nature with a world in desperate need of him. God has chosen to use us to reveal himself. He&#8217;s filled us with the Spirit and empowered us to proclaim the good news of salvation and&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"First15 Daily Devotional\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-27T06:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/450\/2021\/02\/4.24-550x367.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"367\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cdenison\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"God is Already at Work","description":"Weekly Overview: In response to knowing the heart of God we are called to share the wonders of his invisible nature with a world in desperate need of him. God has chosen to use us to reveal himself. He&#8217;s filled us with the Spirit and empowered us to proclaim the good news of salvation and&hellip;","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"God is Already at Work","og_description":"Weekly Overview: In response to knowing the heart of God we are called to share the wonders of his invisible nature with a world in desperate need of him. God has chosen to use us to reveal himself. He&#8217;s filled us with the Spirit and empowered us to proclaim the good news of salvation and&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/","og_site_name":"First15 Daily Devotional","article_published_time":"2012-02-27T06:00:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":550,"height":367,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/450\/2021\/02\/4.24-550x367.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cdenison","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/","name":"God is Already at Work","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/450\/2021\/02\/4.24.jpeg","datePublished":"2012-02-27T06:00:01+00:00","dateModified":"2012-02-27T06:00:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/#\/schema\/person\/ab397c9ca5ade37b7fc66fefa43eb0cf"},"description":"Weekly Overview: In response to knowing the heart of God we are called to share the wonders of his invisible nature with a world in desperate need of him. God has chosen to use us to reveal himself. He&#8217;s filled us with the Spirit and empowered us to proclaim the good news of salvation and&hellip;","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/450\/2021\/02\/4.24.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/450\/2021\/02\/4.24.jpeg","width":4800,"height":3200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/2012\/02\/god-is-already-at-work\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"God is Already at Work"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/","name":"First15 Daily Devotional","description":"Scripture, reflection, prayer and more","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/#\/schema\/person\/ab397c9ca5ade37b7fc66fefa43eb0cf","name":"cdenison","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/author\/cdenison\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/636"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/first15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}