“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” 

- Ephesians 2:10 ESV

So What Can You Do To Help Hasten God Working In You?

1. Fully trust your life to the Great Sculptor. He knows what He is doing in you even if at times you do not understand and it is painful. Surrender all the areas in your life that are hard to surrender. Don’t leave any room or crevices in your life hidden from the Great Sculptor. Be like a clay in the potter’s hands.
   
   
2. Change in us starts from the heart and mind. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. [Romans 13:14 ESV]. We are in constant process of transformation from our old self to the new creation in Christ. You also need to have a supportive and caring environment for this to work; if you are constantly exposed to a selfish, worldly or uncaring environment, you will end up frustrated. So choose your friends wisely.
   
   
3. You need to be patient with yourself as God is patient with you. If you fall, stand up again and learn from the mistakes of the past. It is like a lifetime of moving some steps forward, but at times we step back.We are slowly being transformed from one degree of glory to another – see 2 Corinthians 3:18.
   
   
4. Learn Kingdom values and principles by being soaked in the Word of God. Do not let any other type of media form your mind, but let God be the primary sculptor of your mind. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. [Romans 12:2 ESV]
   
   
5. Learn Kingdom character and behavior through the Word of God. God is at work mainly involving transforming your character from the flesh to the Spirit, from the old to the new. The Bible is your guide towards what God is doing in you – transforming you to be more loving, kind, patient, gentle, forgiving, etc. - in other words, to be like Jesus Himself. See Galatians 5:19-23.
   
   
6. God is at work in you for a lifetime. Life will throw odd balls at you at times; will you respond as Jesus would? Life’s challenges are there so Jesus can be visible in you. Will others see Jesus in you?

Other Scripture references:

1. But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. [Isaiah 64:8 ESV]
2. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. [Romans 6:11 ESV]
3.  … to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. [Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV]
4. Other references: Jeremiah 18:2-6; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:1-4; and Colossians 3:9-10.
   

For personal reflection or group sharing

What areas in your life is God working on in you at the moment? How patient are you with yourself?

Tom Caballes is the National Senior Administrator and a National Coordinator of the Lamb of God, a community of the Sword of the Spirit with 7 branches located throughout New Zealand. Tom also leads Kairos New Zealand, an outreach program for high school, university, and post-university aged people.  Tom and his wife Mhel and their two daughters live in Wellington, New Zealand.