“As you grow in Me, you will begin to realize the work that I am doing in you. You will understand two of the steps that are part of your growth pattern when serving Me. When you first come to Me through Jesus, you learn to make choices between those things that are against My will or those things that are within My will. In essence, you are making choices between good and bad.

"As My heart develops in you, your choices become those of a more spiritual nature, rather than those of your sin nature. You will be making choices between doing good things and doing those things that are specifically of Me. They are no longer choices between good things and bad things, but between good things and God things.

"I am raising you to a place that, when presented with the opportunity to decide whether to do the usual good things or do things that refine you and send you deeper with Me, you choose the latter. “Deeper with Me” is leading you to the heart of Jesus. It is a place of training for His remnant bride. It is preparing you for His soon arrival.”

Jeremiah 10:23 AMP

O Lord [pleads Jeremiah in the name of the people], I know that [the determination of] the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man [even in a strong man or a man at his best] to direct his [own] steps.

Matthew 16:22-23 NIV 

22) Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23) Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Out of my sight, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

I remember when I first came to the Lord. I was so full of worldly sins - yet so full of love for my newfound Lord - that I would fluctuate between extremes of overpowering desires to sin and then a rush to repentance immediately after my sin was committed. My life was a roller-coaster ride of high praise and deep repentance, a desire for the fulfillment of my lusts and an equally strong desire to no longer sin. I feel like I have sinned more since I’ve come to the Lord than I did before I accepted Him as my Savior. At least it seems that way because I now know what sin is.

The Bible says that the kindness of the Lord brings us to repentance. Over the years, the reality of this verse and the promised effectual working of the Word in my life have changed the complexion of my sin. Offenses that I once was powerless to overcome, no matter how hard I tried, have become distant memories and manageable temptations through the power of the Lord. The change has little to do with me and everything to do with what God has done in me. It is His covenant fulfilled in each of our lives, as we seek the Lord and choose His ways over ours every day.

As Paul changed from the hapless sinner who agonized over his helplessness in doing what he didn’t want to do - and was not able to do what he really wanted - to the person who only wanted to know his Lord and the power of the resurrection, we too are changed from glory to glory. Our purposes for living, our attitudes of service, and our focused desires all change as the work of the Lord is continually being completed in each of us.

Only You can complete what You’ve started, Lord, 

Jim Corbett