There are few things as satisfying as finishing what you started, especially as we strive to finish God’s work entrusted to us.
I love design and creativity so I began a project to update my website for my ministry work. After months of careful research, I bought a slick, premium website theme and dove in, eager to learn the ropes and put it together.
I got about a quarter of the way through the process and got distracted, time-crunched, or task-logged — I don’t know which, perhaps all three — and finally TWO YEARS later, you’re looking at it:
Do you ever feel like you can’t finish what you started, that the ability to finish God’s work is beyond your grasp? Often I feel like a comet catapulting through space with a vaporous path of foundered projects trailing behind me.
Why is it so difficult to finish even exciting, important work?
Today as I look at my desk littered with projects on pause, I’m grateful for the help of a God who always finishes what He begins.
“I AM the Alpha and the Omego,” says the Lord. “Who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Rev 1:8
“I AM the Alpha & Omega . . . who is”
~Fully alive, fully present, fully engaged in the world He created and the work He began. God doesn’t just dip into history, He writes it. It is HIS-STORY, and no one in heaven or hell can stall it, discourage it, or rip it from His hands. God is at work in your story and mine and will provide all we need to finish the tasks He has entrusted to us today.
God is at work in our story and will provide everything needed to finish what He has entrusted to us. Click To TweetWhat resources do you need to finish the work God has entrusted to you? Perseverance? Practical tools? Make a list and ask God for the things you lack. Is time what you need? Schedule an unbreakable appointment with yourself on your weekly calendar. Divide the project into small, manageable increments and complete a portion of it per day, per week, per month, until it is done.
“I AM the Alpha and the Omega . . . who was”
~At work in the vast cosmos and in personal lives, weaving every thread together to bring us to this time, in this spot. God has worked from ages past with an eye to finishing His grand plan in HIS-STORY and to fulfilling our part within it. And He uses our failures to do it.
What history of failed attempts to finish a work is bogging you down with discouragement? God’s mercies are new every minute and that means God provides a fresh start right now! Don’t look back except to learn what didn’t work.Seek God’s help to leverage prior failure and the wisdom gained from it to formulate a new strategy of success.Don't look back except to learn what didn't work. Click To Tweet
“I AM the Alpha and Omega . . . who is to come”
~To bring to full consummation everything He started in us and through us, because God doesn’t get distracted. He doesn’t get pressed for time or burdened with too many tasks, either. “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it . . .” Philippians 1:6 (my paraphrase) When we are focused on finishing God’s work, we will complete everything He has entrusted to us.
What is drawing your focus off the work God is calling you to complete? Identifying distractions and obstacles is half the battle; eliminating them (or rearranging our schedule to reflect His priorities) is the pathway to completion.
For me, I identified the obstacles to finishing my website project. I eliminated what I could, rearranged what I couldn’t, and scheduled specific time to complete the work because if God started the work, He promises to finish it. If God started the work, He promises to finish it. Click To Tweet
Courtesy of Crestock.com
Every time.
It’s that simple. And that wonderful! (The best things usually are.)
Friend, you can finish God’s work. Why not start today?
What work is God calling you to finish?
Featured image courtesy of Photo by Nathan Dumlao
Comments 6
I love how you wove in God’s presence (past, present, future) with the work/project we’ve been called to do.! Very insightful, and timely!
Thanks, Karen!
Bethany, I am so grateful for you. This post was timely for me. With so many setbacks over the last three years, it has been tempting to slip into a pit of discouragement. But in His lovingkindness, God blesses me with His reassuring truth. Today, that truth came from you, Sister. He doesn’t waste our heartaches or our failures. He doesn’t even see failure. When we allow Him to teach us, change us, and even redirect us, we have triumphed not failed. I needed this confirmation, Sister. Thank you for your faithfulness.
What an encouragement you are to me! I praise God that He uses each of us to love and encourage one another through the beautiful picture of the body of Christ working together. Hang in there and hold on to the empowering words of Zechariah 4:6, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”
WOW! Are you looking in my windows or what? Just what I needed from God. So glad He spoke through you. As usual, your insight into God’s character pulled me right in and took me deeper. Thank you! My love your way, friend.
With the study of Revelation, you have a lot of “work”” to finish. My prayers are with you each week!