"There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you will keep at it and bring you to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears." Philippians 1:6 The Message

This is a known verse so I thought you might enjoy reading it in "The Message" version. The interpretation may not be accurate, but for our purposes it works well. Thank God He is working in us, because without Him, nothing would be accomplished!

We cannot change ourselves or others. I thought I could change my Dad, but spent many years of frustration trying to turn him into me.
God has a specific plan for each life, and I knew this but still wanted him to live a better life. There's nothing wrong with this, except he was always bent on being himself.

All of us want to be "ourselves". We can't be anything else, but we can be the best version of ourselves, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God will not make us, or push us into becoming like Christ. 

He moves gently in our lives, and only after we have given Him permission. He, the Holy Spirit, will not usurp our will. If we push Him away, He will go away. If we open to the will of our Father through the Holy Spirit, He will come in and do extraordinary things!

As a younger person, I thought I had given all of me to God, but now I can see I didn't. I didn't realize the depth of His wisdom and love for me, until I surrendered more. There possibly is more I will find to surrender in the future.

It's God who does the work. Prayer is what will change us, and others. I don't know if my Dad changed any, but I trust God heard my prayer for him, and made himself known to him at some point before he died.

One day we may see Him, with our own eyes, here on earth. It is incomprehensible to me to understand this but I know it could happen. I believe it could be in my lifetime. Are you able to grasp what this means to us?

The Creator of our Universe, and any other universes, wants to return to this earth to be with us, and set up his millennial rule here.
Can you comprehend such a thing?