1. Communication = KOINONIA = partnership, participation. Our partnership with the Holy Spirit and participation in the faith becomes effective as we acknowledge what is in us through Christ.
a. Philemon 6–And I pray that your participation may become effectual, as you come to acknowledge every good thing which is in you to Christ. (Montgomery)
b. Philemon 6–The purport of my prayers is that their participation in your fidelity may, through their gaining increased acquaintance with every good gift that is in us Believers, prove effective in promoting Christ’s cause. (Wade)
2. Because of what God the Son did for us on the Cross (paid for our sins), God the Holy Ghost now indwells us to apply the benefits of the Cross to us and to fully conform us to the image of Christ.
a. His work in us, partnership with us, becomes effective as we acknowledge who and what is in us — the person of God, the power of God, the life of God.
b. Acknowledging = EPIGNOSIS = full discernment, recognition.
1. It is vital that we study God’s word to see what has happened in us as a result of being born again and having the Holy Spirit come to indwell us.
2. Then, we need to agree with it — believe it and speak it out.
c. And, as we do that, what has happened to us, in us, becomes effective. Effectual = ENERGES = active, operative.
3. Remember how the saving work of Christ on the Cross became effective in you — you believed and spoke the facts of the gospel. In others words, you acknowledged what God had done for you.
a. That process is to continue after you are born again. Confession is made unto strength, unto healing, unto victory, unto guidance, and unto everything else the Cross has provided.
b. Confession = HOMOLOGIA = saying the same thing as. You say what God says.
4. God has already fully provided everything for us through the Cross — but how much we experience of that provision in this life depends more on us than on God.
a. You must understand that there is a legal side to Christianity (what God has already provided through the Cross) and a vital side to Christianity (what we actually experience).
b. The Holy Spirit is here to give us the experience as we cooperate with Him.
5. Phil 2:12,13–Paul told Christians to work out their salvation. That does not mean they need to work to be saved–they are saved. To work = to fully accomplish or bring about.
a. What has happened to us inwardly is supposed to show up on the outside.
b. God is working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
1. Work = ENERGEO = to be active; same word used in Philemon 6.
2. For it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you — energizing and creating in you the power and desire — both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. (Amp)
c. Our partnership with the Holy Ghost becomes effective as we acknowledge what or Who is in us — God is in me giving me the energy and power and desire to want to do His will and to do His will.
6. Every Christian is familiar with Phil 4:13. How does that verse become effectual or vital in our lives? By acknowledging Who and what is in you.
a. I John 4:4–God is in me, the Greater One is in me to put me over in life.
b. Phil 2:13–God is working in me both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
c. Heb 13:21–God is working in me that which is well pleasing in His sight.
d. Phil 1:6–He who has begun a good work in me will finish it.
c. Phil 4:13–I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
7. When we become God inside minded, it will revolutionize our lives.
8. So often, we look at our circumstances and try to figure out what God is doing.
a. That is a mistake, because most of His work is unseen, behind the scenes.
b. Instead, cooperate with God. Acknowledge what the Bible clearly says He is doing and wants to do. He is working in you to make you like Jesus.