Finishing Up
By Margaret D. Mitchell
Week of July 2, 2023
God likes good endings.
If we pay attention, as we work right alongside Him, we can see that He’s finishing up loose ends to complete some promises He made to us awhile back. In this, we can remember that every finish line He brings us to is a victory marker for His grace of a new beginning.
God has some surprise blooms for us as His ways continue to prevail. He’s giving us a new outlook as He lightens our loads and makes life more enjoyable.
I believe many will hear the echo of Matthew 25:21 NIV: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!"
As we have kept our eyes on Jesus and delighted His heart, He’ll continue to bring us into rewards.
Many are stepping into the outworking of true freedom they’ve never had. What seemed to allude them their whole lives will finally be theirs. All the deep work was leading up to a better life and even public expressions of God’s glory.
I believe our Lord would say to His beloved, “Continue to step into the light and do not fear. I’m with you all the way.”
It’s imperative that we remain faithful throughout. Because, when we slip into fear, we tend to do things our way, opting for impatience and taking the reins away from God. After all, we’ve been waiting a long time. And sometimes, it feels easier on our flesh to trust our reality of personal experiences more than God in the unknowns.
But don’t fall for this temptation to give up on God.
Paul is quick to warn us through Galatians 3:3-4 NIV, saying, "Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain?"
The word “flesh” here means opposition to Holy Spirit. And the word “experienced” here means suffered. So, Paul is, essentially, asking the Galatians: After all you’ve been through, are you so mindless and unwise to think that you can turn away from God and still win?
Also, in Galatians 6:8 NIV, Paul reminds us that “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
It’s a John 10:10 choice of God’s ways over any other way, including our own. And we’ll be tested in this, as Holy Spirit ties up loose ends and escorts us more fully into the new He has for us (Galatians 5:13).
Paul strongly encourages us to make the suffering we endured count for more than surviving prolonged pain.
The heart of Jesus is that we trust Him to bring us all the way to His finish line in His way and time and enter into His outward blessings as our new reality, which is a beautiful and honorable reflection of Him (Galatians 6:9).
Just as brighter lights and elevated roles await runners who cross the finish line of victory, God is turning up His light on those who were faithfully refined by His Glory fire in the last season and have completed their courses. They’ll begin anew and join others, who also aligned with God.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV has been on repeat lately and says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
Even as I hear Mac Powell’s New Creation song (again on repeat), many are beginning to see distinct changes for which they have prayed. God is on the move and many will even experience physical relocations to new places, events and roles they’ve dreamed of for a long time as God’s grace comes into place.
For many, there will be a sense of coming full circle, with relationship dynamics made better than before, because of the deep grace work God has done over the years in people’s hearts. Many will see, even more, that God has built them in wisdom and expanded their reach.
Many will experience God’s kindness in new ways, new areas and on new levels. It may feel strange at first due to all the past hardships. But God desires that we leave it all behind and step into it as it awaits us, without hesitation; because this is the future for which we have prayed.
Not only will you have help for the near future but also for right now. God is surprisingly stirring people to help with tasks at hand. They may even be people who wouldn’t have stepped up in the past but are now ready. Part of their motivation is God’s new grace making their lives easier, too. I believe we’ll see a lot more of this as He continues to bring us more into His wholeness.
So, we can keep expecting God’s best and continue to pray His protection over these helpers and ourselves as He progresses us.
To Him be all glory, honor and praise. Amen.
Margaret D. Mitchell is the Founder of God's Love at Work, a marketplace outreach purposed to share God's greatest power source - the love of Christ.
Originally published Sunday, 02 July 2023.
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