Work out your own salvation

Philippians 2:12‭-‬13

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

A powerful verse indeed! Work out your own salvation. Read the verse carefully, it doesn’t say work for your salvation. You can’t earn salvation, no matter how much you work for it. You have received salvation not because of what you did but because of what Jesus has done. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus has given you salvation. It’s a gift made available to you by the blood of Jesus. You possess salvation from the moment you received Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. What is Salvation?

This verse says, work out your own salvation. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗽𝗵𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗲 “𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁” 𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀. Manifest your salvation. Show your salvation to the world. Work out your salvation means to bring it to fulfilment or completion. It means to show the fruits of salvation. It’s like you are telling a mango seed to work out a mango tree. A mango tree is in the mango seed.

Because you have salvation, you have wholeness, therefore remember these points.

– you don’t need deliverance, you are delivered. Work out your deliverance.

– you don’t need healing, you are healed. Work out your healing.

– you don’t need prosperity, you are as prosperous as Jesus. Work out your prosperity.

– you have received God’s nature, work it out.

– you have received every spiritual blessing, work it out.

– you have everything you need for life and godliness, work it out.

It’s your responsibility to work out, manifest and express the salvation that you received through the blood of Jesus Christ.

You are not trying to work it in, you are working it out. You already have it. Manifest salvation.

How do I work it out?

Well, first of all, understand that you are a spirit, you have a soul and you live in a body. The salvation that you have received is in your born again human spirit.

Many sincere believers question, Why can’t I see salvation? Why can’t I experience deliverance? Why am I still sick? The wholeness that a believer has received is in his spirit. It’s a spiritual reality therefore we can’t experience it and feel it with our physical senses. Every believer must work out their own salvation. Bring out and manifest what’s on the inside. If you don’t bring it out, it will never manifest. Think about this, you will never see what’s in the mango seed unless you sow it, water it and nurture it. You have received salvation in your spirit. Bring it out from your spirit and manifest it to your physical senses and to the world.

So, How do you work it out? You can’t work it out with your own strength. You can’t manifest your salvation without the Holy Spirit. It’s impossible. The Holy Spirit is the one who helps you in working out your own salvation. You can’t do it alone.

Look at this verse again,

Philippians 2:13
for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

It is God – the Holy Spirit working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. It is God’s work in you that cause you to work out your own salvation. The Holy Spirit is working in you right now! This is why it’s so important to be in fellowship – fellowship with Jesus, fellowship with His Word and fellowship with other believers.

John 15:5

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Abiding in the Vine enable you to manifest the fruits of salvation. Fellowship is key! When you maintain a lifestyle of intimacy with Jesus through His Word, His Spirit and His Body; you position yourself where you allow the Holy Spirit to work effectively in you.

Position yourself, just like a patient positions himself for the surgeon to operate on him. When you become one with the word and a consistent doer of God’s word, you position yourself. When you develop a habit of speaking in tongues, you position yourself. When you cultivate a lifestyle of worship, you position yourself. As the Holy Spirit works in you, the fruits of salvation will be seen in your life. He will destroy worldly desires and give you godly desires. Not only will He give you godly, holy desires but He will also give you the power to do those desires. There will be a mighty transformation – you will move from I have to serve God to I want to serve God, this is my life. However, you must allow the Holy Spirit to work!

For example, if a believer is sick. He may think he is in need of healing. But he comes to know that He has salvation and therefore He has deliverance, preservation, safety and soundness. He has wholeness therefore He already has healing. This divine healing is in his spirit. All he has to do is to work out the healing. Work out the deliverance. Work out the prosperity.

Whatever you want to manifest, take the respective Bible verses and sow it in your spirit.

This person is in need of healing so he takes healing verses from the Bible and abides on those verses. Becomes one with those verses. He begins to meditate on it, He begins to say it and He begins to celebrate this reality. He speaks in tongues. He worships the Lord. He refuses to believe what is seen and felt on the outside. He chooses to believe what’s real on the inside. Like the Apostle Paul, he chooses to focus on the invisible, eternal things rather than focusing on the visible, temporary things.

II Corinthians 4:18

while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

By doing so, He positions himself for the work of the mighty Holy Spirit who is in him. The healing manifests. The deliverance manifests. The prosperity manifests. What’s real in your spirit becomes real in your body. What’s real on the inside becomes real on the outside.

All of the spiritual blessings and everything you need for life and godliness are in your spirit. Work it out. Sow the seed of God’s Word in you spirit by speaking it, meditating on it and by doing it. Abide in His presence. Live there. From the Vine flows the supernatural life and energy that causes the branches to bear fruit.

You will see the harvest.

You will be glad.

You will rejoice.

Your time has come!

Live in victory.

Live from victory.