How God Builds: Discovering the Forming Work of God in Scripture
A Companion Guide to the Article:
Stay the Course: How God Builds — and How We Cooperate With His Work
by Raimer R.
by Raimer R.
COMPANION GUIDE > How God Builds: Discovering the Forming Work of God in Scripture — A Scripture-based discovery guide exploring how God reveals, calls, establishes, joins, strengthens, forms, and advances His people, helping readers recognize His work and learn to cooperate with Him more faithfully.
God does not merely begin His work in us and leave us to figure out the rest. Scripture reveals a God who patiently works in people over time—revealing, calling, establishing, joining, strengthening, forming, and advancing. This guide is designed to help you discover that pattern for yourself.
The seven movements are not rigid stages that happen once and in order. God may be working in several of these ways at the same time, and we return to them throughout our lifelong apprenticeship to Jesus.
As you read, resist the temptation to rush toward an answer. Pay attention to what God actually does in the passages. Notice how people respond. Look for patterns. Then consider what those patterns might mean for your own life with Jesus.
Use the same questions with each group of passages:
What do you see God doing in these passages?
How does He do it? What actions, relationships, circumstances, truths, or processes does He use?
How do people respond to what God is doing? What helps or hinders their responsiveness?
What does this reveal about how God works in forming His people?
At the end of each section, put the pattern into your own words.
God reveals — He makes Himself and reality known so that His people can increasingly see truthfully and respond faithfully.
Genesis 12:1–9
Exodus 3:1–15
1 Samuel 3:1–21
Matthew 16:13–17
Luke 24:13–35
Psalm 119:18, 105
John 1:14–18
John 14:6–9
2 Corinthians 4:6
Hebrews 1:1–3
What do you see God revealing?
How does He make truth known?
What changes when people begin to see more clearly?
What does this teach you about the place of revelation in God's forming work?
Based on these passages, how would you describe the way God reveals Himself and helps His people see reality more truthfully?
God calls — He invites people to trust Him, follow Him, and respond faithfully to what He reveals.
Genesis 12:1–9
Exodus 3:7–12
1 Samuel 3:1–10
Matthew 4:18–22
Luke 5:1–11
Mark 8:34–35
John 10:27
John 12:26
Ephesians 4:1
1 Peter 2:9–12
What is God calling people toward?
What does responding to His call require?
What do you notice about trust, surrender, or obedience?
What does this reveal about the relationship between God's initiative and our response?
Based on these passages, how would you describe the way God calls people into life with Him and faithful participation in His purposes?
God establishes — He roots His people in Himself, developing stability, endurance, and patterns of life that can withstand pressure.
Exodus 16:1–30
Joshua 1:1–9
Daniel 1:3–21
Matthew 7:24–27
Acts 2:42–47
Psalm 1:1–3
Colossians 2:6–7
Ephesians 3:16–19
Hebrews 6:19–20
1 Peter 5:10
What appears to establish God's people?
What kinds of roots, practices, convictions, or relationships develop?
How does being established prepare people for difficulty or responsibility?
What does this reveal about the kind of stability God desires to form?
Based on these passages, how would you describe the way God establishes His people so that they can remain faithful over time?
God joins — He forms people into a community in which they belong to Christ and increasingly learn to live, grow, and serve together.
Exodus 18:13–27
Ruth 1:14–18
Mark 3:13–19
Acts 2:42–47
Acts 4:32–35
John 13:34–35
Romans 12:4–10
1 Corinthians 12:12–27
Ephesians 2:19–22
Ephesians 4:15–16
What does God bring people into?
What do people receive from one another?
What responsibilities come with belonging to God's people?
What does this reveal about why formation cannot be reduced to an individual journey?
Based on these passages, how would you describe the way God joins His people and uses shared life as part of His forming work?
God strengthens — He supplies what His people need to endure, remain faithful, and continue when their own strength is insufficient.
1 Kings 19:1–18
2 Chronicles 20:1–22
Nehemiah 4:1–23
Luke 22:39–46
Acts 18:5–11
Isaiah 40:28–31
2 Corinthians 4:7–18
2 Corinthians 12:7–10
Ephesians 3:14–21
Philippians 4:10–13
Where do you see weakness, fear, pressure, or limitation?
How does God strengthen His people?
Does His strengthening always remove the difficulty?
What does this reveal about relying on God rather than on self?
Based on these passages, how would you describe the way God strengthens His people for enduring faithfulness?
God forms — He reshapes the whole person so that our minds, loves, motives, character, and actions increasingly resemble Jesus.
Genesis 32:22–32
Exodus 34:29–35
Mark 8:27–9:1
Luke 22:24–34
John 21:15–19
Romans 8:28–29
Romans 12:1–2
2 Corinthians 3:18
Galatians 5:22–25
Colossians 3:5–17
What is God changing in the person?
What do you notice about the relationship between truth, desire, character, and action?
What role do correction, surrender, suffering, practice, or time play?
What does this reveal about the kind of person God intends to form?
Based on these passages, how would you describe the way God forms people into increasing likeness to Jesus?
God advances — He sends and works through formed people so that the life, message, and mission of Jesus move outward to others.
Matthew 10:1–20
Luke 10:1–20
Acts 2:1–41
Acts 8:1–8, 26–40
Acts 13:1–4
Matthew 28:18–20
John 20:21–22
Acts 1:8
2 Corinthians 5:17–20
2 Timothy 2:1–2
What does God entrust to His people?
How does previous formation prepare them for what they are sent to do?
What role do the Holy Spirit, community, and obedience play?
What do you notice about God's work reproducing through ordinary people?
Based on these passages, how would you describe the way God advances His work through people He is forming?
Now look again at the seven movements:
God reveals • God calls • God establishes • God joins • God strengthens • God forms • God advances
Consider the whole pattern:
What larger picture of God's work emerges when you place these seven movements together?
Which movements seem especially connected to one another? Why?
Where do you see God working in more than one of these ways at the same time?
What surprised or challenged you about the way God forms people?
Where do you recognize God's forming work in your own life right now?
Where might He be inviting greater trust, surrender, or cooperation?
Then complete this sentence in your own words:
God forms His people by...
Understanding how God works is meant to help us participate more faithfully with Him.
Return to the seven movements and ask:
Reveal: What might Jesus be helping me see more truthfully?
Call: What response might He be asking of me?
Establish: What needs to become more deeply rooted in my life?
Join: Who has God given me to walk with, receive from, or serve?
Strengthen: Where do I need to rely on God rather than sustain myself?
Form: What is Jesus reshaping in my mind, loves, motives, or character?
Advance: Where might faithful action now carry the life of Jesus outward?
Choose one.
What would one faithful response look like?
These seven movements are not a formula for mastering God's work. They are a way of paying attention. God may reveal something today that leads to a new call tomorrow. A calling may expose where we still need strengthening. Community may reveal something unformed in us. Formation may prepare us for a responsibility we could not have carried earlier. And then the process deepens again. We never exhaust the inexhaustible Christ.
The invitation is to keep walking with Jesus — learning from Him, responding to Him, and increasingly recognizing the patient ways God is forming us into people who can faithfully carry His life into the world.
What is God doing?
How is He doing it?
And how might I cooperate with Him?