God Will Perfect the Work He Started in You

Introduction

On the first day of July, Canada's national holiday, Newman N'GORAN led a "7 to 9" gathering carried by a single intention: not to pray as usual. Not to slip into religious routine, not to replay familiar formulas, but to let the Holy Spirit lead. The evening opened with praying in tongues, drew on Psalm 118, moved back to Philippians 1:6, arrived at John 5:20, and closed with intercession for Canada.

The thread running through it all is simple. Six months of the year have already gone by. Some of the works God began in your life are not yet finished: a partial healing, a half conversion, a stubborn character trait, a fire for evangelism that has gone out. Newman invites you to step into the month of July with the same conviction as the apostle Paul: the One who began the work will bring it to completion. And he is going to astonish you.

The message at a glance

1. Do not pray as usual: let the Spirit lead

The starting point is an admission. "We do not know how to pray. We do not know what is right to say or to ask for." Newman leans on Romans 8:26: "The Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans." Our words are limited, our vocabulary is capped by our own understanding. French is not enough to translate the joy of the heart. Neither is English.

That is why the preacher begins with an extended time of praying in tongues, drawing on 1 Corinthians 14: the one who speaks in tongues is not speaking to people but to God, speaking mysteries, building up his inner self. "Tonight we want to pray as spiritual men and women, seized by the Spirit, led by the Spirit." Prayer is not calibrated by what the eyes see, by what emotions communicate, by the state of the soul. It lets itself be guided.

2. Welcome the person of the Holy Spirit

Second movement: an extended invocation of the Holy Spirit. "It is to your advantage that I go away," Jesus says in the Gospel of John. If Jesus had not gone away, the Comforter could not have come. The Holy Spirit is Jesus' promise, our advantage in this world.

Newman picks up the image of the gates lifting from Psalm 24: "Gates of the month of July, lift up your heads! Let the King of glory, in the person of the Holy Spirit, come in." This is not a matter of feeling. It is a matter of communion. "This month of July, we welcome you, Spirit of God." The Spirit comes where he is honored, where he is desired, where hearts pour themselves out before him, where hearts humble themselves.

3. Celebrate on credit: Psalm 118 and the memory of victories

The preacher then opens Psalm 118 and reads from verse 1. "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever." He pauses at verse 15: "Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: 'The LORD's right hand has done mighty things.'"

The application is direct. Whatever the first six months looked like, the trials, the rejection letters, the complicated situations, the LORD has watched over you, preserved you, shown the strength of his right hand. Our part now is to celebrate. A celebration that does not wait to see everything before breaking out. "I celebrate on credit because I believe in your faithfulness." Your neighbors do not understand why you are applauding, why you are shouting for joy. But you know where you have come from and what God has already done.

4. Philippians 1:6: God perfects the work he started

Here comes the heart of the message. Newman quotes Philippians 1:6: "I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Paul does not hesitate, he is sure. There is not a shadow of a doubt.

The preacher draws a sports analogy. The first half of a soccer match can be disappointing. You were dominated, you missed chances, the score does not reflect your effort. But the match is not over. The second half of 2026 is beginning, and it begins with the month of July, the seventh month. Everything Christ starts looks small; everything Christ finishes becomes perfect. "With Jesus, there is no mistake. With Jesus, there is no falling short."

Concretely: the healing that had started and seemed to be slipping back, Jesus is coming to perfect it. The paperwork that had been dragging on, the file that stalled at the last minute, the deliverance that was not complete, the character that resisted forgiveness, the love that could not quite love for real. All of this is brought before the One who finishes what he starts.

5. John 5:20: step into God's astonishment

Newman continues with John 5:20: "For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel." The context is the healing Jesus performed on the Sabbath. The people are offended. Jesus responds by promising something even greater.

The watchword for July is therefore astonishment. Not only in your circumstances: in your capacity to love God, in your desire to fear him, in your prayer life, in your fellowship, in your understanding of the Word. "By the end of July you need to look back and say: I have never been this set on fire by the love of God."

This God does not operate according to human capacity. Where the math says "impossible," he stretches out his hand. Where you gave up on the case, he remembers. Astonished doctors, the barren woman who bears a child, the debt wiped clean, the end of the lease season, provision day after day like manna in the wilderness: all of these are signs the preacher names one by one to summon faith.

6. Praying for Canada: breathing the fear of God

The evening then turns to intercession for the country. Newman recalls Proverbs 11:11: "By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down." And Joshua 1:3: "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you." We are not tenants, we are spiritual owners of the land where God has planted us. We therefore have the right to speak over it.

The main request is not economic, it is missionary. Canada's first blessing is souls saved. Newman then intercedes for every province, from ocean to ocean. He then draws on Isaiah 11:2, which describes the spirits resting on the Messiah: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. It is this last one he asks for on behalf of an entire people, echoing Acts 2 ("fear came upon every soul"). May God breathe a wind of fear, a wind of massive conversion, a wind of confusion over the agendas seeking to corrupt the generations to come. The evening closes with a cry: "Jesus has already won in Canada."

Key takeaways

• Praying "according to the Spirit" starts with admitting your own inability (Romans 8:26). Your words are not enough, and that is exactly where the Spirit intercedes.
• The Holy Spirit comes where he is welcomed, desired, honored. It is a matter of communion, not of feeling.
• Celebrate before you understand everything. God's right hand has already shown its strength in the first six months; Psalm 118 invites you to shout for joy in your own tent.
• Philippians 1:6: Christ does not stop halfway through. What he starts, he finishes. The second half of the year is the ground where his perfection plays out.
• John 5:20 promises even greater works. Expect astonishment, not the status quo.

Personal application

1. Take ten minutes this week to pray without "asking" for anything: simply open your mouth and let the Spirit lead you, in tongues or in your own language, with groans rather than plans.
2. Make a list of three works God has started in your life that are not yet complete. Name them before him and ask him to finish them this month.
3. Celebrate "on credit": find a moment, alone or with others, to thank God for what you have not yet seen but already believe. Psalm 118 can give you the outline.
4. Write down what a divine astonishment would look like for you by the end of the month. Be specific: what healing, what reconciliation, what salvation, what deeper fellowship.
5. Intercede by name for your country and your city. Ask for the fear of the LORD over the authorities, the schools, the families, and the salvation of many.

Verses cited

• 1 Corinthians 14 · The one who speaks in a tongue speaks to God.
• Romans 8:26 · The Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words.
• Matthew 6:33 · Seek first the kingdom of God.
• John 16:7 · It is to your advantage that I go away, so that the Comforter may come.
• Psalm 24 · Gates, lift up your heads, that the King of glory may come in.
• Psalm 118 · His steadfast love endures forever; shouts of joy in the tents of the righteous.
• Philippians 1:6 · He who began this good work will bring it to completion.
• John 5:20 · He will show him greater works than these, so that you may marvel.
• Proverbs 11:11 · By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted.
• Joshua 1:3 · Every place your foot treads, I have given to you.
• Isaiah 11:2 · The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
• Acts 2:43 · Fear came upon every soul.

FAQ

What should I do when I no longer know how to pray?

Newman invites you not to force it. Admit before God that you do not know what to say or ask for. Open your mouth and let the Spirit take over, in tongues if you have received that gift, or through groans, cries, simple words. Romans 8:26 says precisely that the Spirit intercedes for you.

How can I keep believing God's promises when the first half of the year has been disappointing?

Look at Philippians 1:6. Paul does not say "maybe," he says "I am sure of this." What Christ starts, he finishes. The disappointment of the first half does not dictate the final score. The second half of the year is made for the perfecting of what has already begun.

Does the divine astonishment of John 5:20 really apply to me today?

Yes. Jesus promises works greater than the ones he has just done, precisely "so that you may marvel." This astonishment is not reserved for spectacular circumstances: it also touches your prayer life, your capacity to love God, your understanding of the Word. Expect from God what goes beyond your own calculations.