God saved us for a reason — to do good works.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:8-10)
God doesn’t, however, save us by His grace and power and then intend for us to go off in our own wisdom and strength, to figure it out on our own. Rather, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).
God’s Intent for Us to be Thoroughly Equipped
When God commissions us to do His work here on earth, He provides all we need to do it as seen in a number of Scripture passages like:
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life … (2 Pet. 1:3-4)
has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Eph. 1:3)
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. (Jn. 1:16)
for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Phil. 2:13)
But, the verses we will focus on for the next several posts come from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 —
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
(Click on image to go to Pinterest for an enlarged version and repin.)
What It Means to be Thoroughly Equipped
The phrase “thoroughly equipped” stems from two forms of the same Greek word, one an adjective, artios, and the other a verb, exartizo. They both bring the idea of completeness. The verb is the furnishing, providing, fitting, or supplying part of completeness. The adjective describes how thoroughly that process is accomplished. By using these two forms of the same word so close together, God obviously wants to make a point, emphasizing how much He intends to provide for us to do His will. — We are furnished completely complete.
As noted in the other referenced verses, we have everything we need, every spiritual blessing, grace upon grace, to accomplish “every good work” according to His power and grace.
Make no mistake: God’s aim is for us to be thoroughly equipped. In the upcoming posts we will examine 2 Timothy 3:16-17 to learn:
Perhaps you have tried to 
