Ph. 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
Ph. 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Ph. 2:12 says that we should continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Then Ph. 2:13 goes on to say that it is God who works in us and makes us to will and to act according to His good purpose. Do verses 12 and 13 of Philippians 2 contradict each other? Verse 12 seems to support “We are saved by works”. Verse 13 seems to support “We are saved by grace”. The reality is that the two verses do not contradict each other and it is important that we take the two together.

The Holy Spirit is a gift of God to us so that we can be supernatural. (www.ft111.com/thetrumpet.htm) If you receive a gift that you are not used to from somebody, you need to find out how to put that gift to use. Putting the gift to use means that you are doing something to the gift so that the gift will accomplish some purpose for you. God’s gift of the Holy Spirit needs to be operated in order for the Holy Spirit to work in us or for us. In order to help us to understand, let us look at how God operated His own Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit would accomplish a great purpose.

Ge. 1:2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Ge. 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

In the above scenario, we see planet earth in its early days. So many chemical elements and compounds were still in gaseous form in the atmosphere, so much that sunlight could not reach the hot ground. It was an unpleasant situation. (Just imagine the life of a human being described as being formless, empty and void. How can we turn the life of this person around by the Holy Spirit?) The wonderful thing is that the Holy Spirit was present right in the middle of the unpleasant situation, and yet the situation never changed, until God operated the Holy Spirit. God operated the Holy Spirit by sending His word.

Ps. 107:20 He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

In order to get God to work in us and for us through His Holy Spirit, we must learn to move the hand (or Spirit) of God by speaking His words. That is the reason why God gave us His words. Through God’s words, we are able to operate the Holy Spirit and get the Holy Spirit to work in us and for us.

Working out our salvation with fear and trembling basically means to continually be speaking words of God. As we speak words of God, the Holy Spirit works in us and for us.

Jo. 1:8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Ro. 10:10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

2Co. 4:13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” [Psalm 116:10] With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak.

See the following:

https://www.nairaland.com/8106482/spiritual-experiment