No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” (Psalms 84:11) “The Lord God is a sun and shield the Lord bestows favor and honor. “‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper I will not fear what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5–6) “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8) “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) “Fear not, for I am with you be not dismayed, for I am your God I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)
Of these, the one I have used most often is Isaiah 41:10. Here are ten such promises to help you get started. Then, act - believing that God is acting in your acting! Finally, when you are done, thank him. Then, call to mind one of your memorized promises, and trust it - put your faith in it. Memorize a few promises that are so universally applicable, they will serve you in almost every situation where you face a task to be done “by the strength that God supplies.” Then, as those tasks come, admit you can’t do that on your own.
#That having all things done and all your strength how to#
So, here is my suggestion for how to do this. “Act - believing that God is acting in your acting!” That is, we hear a promise and we believe it for a particular need, and the Holy Spirit comes to help us through that believed promise. Paul says that God supplies the Spirit to you “by hearing with faith” (Galatians 3:5). When Peter says, “Whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies” (1 Peter 4:11), we do this not only by praying for that supply, but by trusting in the promise of the supply in specific situations. Then, we don’t just pray for help hour by hour we trust those specific promises hour by hour.
Hour by hour how do we do this? We do it by reminding ourselves of specific, concrete promises that God has made and Jesus has bought with his blood (2 Corinthians 1:20). Paul says we “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7) and “live by faith” (Galatians 2:20). And say to God, “I believe you help my unbelief. But this robs us of a very powerful step.Īfter we pray for God’s help, we should remind ourselves of a specific promise that God has made. I need you.” But then, we move straight from P to A - Pray to Act. Most of us face a difficult task and remember to say, “Help me, God. This is the step I think is missing in most Christians’ attempt to live the Christian life. Trust a particular promise of God’s help. He says “expect to get the help you asked for.” Then, with that expectation, “go to work with a good will.” I say, T. Pray for God’s help for the task at hand. Admit (his word, “acknowledge”) that you can do nothing. My five steps omit his first one (“note what tasks are in front of you”).
Augustinian holiness is hard working holiness, based on endless repetitions of this sequence. Fourth, you thank God for help given, ask pardon for your own failures en route, and request more help for the next task. Third, you go to work with a good will and a high heart, expecting to be helped as you asked to be. Second, you pray for help in these, acknowledging that without Christ you can do nothing-nothing fruitful, that is (John 15:5). He calls it “Augustinian holiness teaching.” It calls for “intense activity” but this activity “is not in the least self-reliant in spirit.” Instead, he says, “It follows this four-stage sequence”:įirst, as one who wants to do all the good you can, you observe what tasks, opportunities, and responsibilities face you. Packer published Keep in Step with the Spirit, and gave the very same steps on pages 125–126. In 1983 I gave my answer in a sermon, and to this day I have not been able to improve on these five steps summed up in the acronym A.P.T.A.T. “We don’t just pray for help hour by hour we trust specific promises hour by hour.” But there is a way that our serving is the effect of God’s gracious power. “Whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies” (1 Peter 4:11). But there is a way to do it so that it is God’s energy and God’s doing. “I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29). “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). But the willing and the working is God’s willing and God’s working. for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13). So, we are to do the sin-killing, but we are to do it by the Spirit. put to death the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). Here are some passages from the Bible that press this question on us:
How do you do a task in the strength of another? How do you exert your will to do something in such a way that you are relying on the will of another to make it happen?
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