“How Will God Work in Me?”
This is an adapted excerpt from Square One, Session 9. Check out the full Square One series here.
If you’ve ever tried your hand at a backyard garden, you know it takes patience. You can stare at a plant for hours and see nothing, but a time-lapse video reveals the miracle — a seed sprouting, growing, and bearing fruit. Our spiritual transformation can feel slow, too, like watching a tree grow. But make no mistake, God does make the tree grow, and he brings new life to those who walk with him.
Let’s get into it and put our trust in God’s transforming power. We’ve seen that in following Jesus, we die to our old life and are buried with him in baptism. But what’s next? By the same power that raised Jesus from the grave, we rise to a new life. We are born again — of the Spirit — and everything starts fresh.
Jesus described this new life using the image of a grapevine. He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We aren’t expected to grow on our own; our new life and ability to produce good fruit come from staying connected to him.
The Big Idea
God will work in you as you yield to him in faith. We’re not calling the shots anymore, and we’re not alone as we try to change. Right after the Bible says to “work out your salvation,” it clarifies that it’s God who works in you “to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13)!
This new life is often described as a “walk” because it’s a daily process, not a one-time magical fix. It’s a daily battle to let go of our old, selfish desires and choose to follow the Spirit’s lead. In Galatians 5, the Bible contrasts the destructive “works of the flesh” with the beautiful “fruit of the Spirit” — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). These are the qualities that begin to grow in us as we walk with God.
What’s truly amazing is how the Bible describes this transformation using the language of the original creation in Genesis. It’s as if God is starting over with us, making everything new.
The Bible says that anyone in Christ is a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Paul writes, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). The same God who initiated the first creation with light now initiates our new creation with his own light in our hearts.
Just as God blessed the first creation to be fruitful, his life-giving Spirit now makes us flourish, bearing his fruit in our lives. Just as the Garden of Eden flowed with life-giving rivers, Jesus promised that for those who believe in him, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). He was talking about the Holy Spirit, who God has “poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ” (Titus 3:5-6).
This new creation we experience now is just a taste of the final goal to come. The Bible’s story ends where it began: in a perfect garden city, with the tree of life and a river of life flowing from God’s throne. There, we will dwell with God in joy, where he makes all things new forever (Rev. 21-22). That is the life you were made for.
The Big Question
Are you starting to envision the new kind of person God wants to help you become? May the Lord bless us as we ponder his power to bring renewal and rejuvenation to our lives.