Moving in God is to become the latent principle of the normal Christian life.
“And I went up by revelation…”
Galatians 2:2
Movements in God are the joy of life. In our development, we transition from a busy life to a “led” life, where His movements, His compassion, and the inspiration of His Will become natural and filled with the ease of His resources.
“For in Him we live, and move…”
Acts 17:28
There may be no other scripture that so clearly depicts the true Christian life. It is only as we are IN Him that we are capable of living the Christian life. He is THE LIFE; regardless of my “understanding” of things about God, unless I abide in Him, His Life will remain out of my reach.
On a recent mission trip, I shared at a remote tribal village about the necessity of our relationship with Him. I was struck with the thought of the vast difference between a branch sitting on top of the Vine and one that is grafted into the Life of the Vine. We indeed trust on the finished work of Jesus, but the power to live godly in Christ Jesus only comes as we believe into the person and wonder of Christ.
INTO HIM
Many of the English translations of the scriptures present the phrase “believeth IN Him” rather than “INTO” Him as the original Greek clearly presents to us. For example:
“John 3:16: “For- G1063 God- G2316 so- G3779 loved- G25 the- G3588 world,- G2889 that -G5620 He gave- G1325 His -G848 only begotten -G3439 Son,- G5207 that- G2443 whosoever- G3956 believeth- G4100 in- G1519 Him -G846 should not- G3361 perish, -G622 but- G235 have- G2192 everlasting- G166 life.- G2222 ”
John 3:16 (KJV with the Strong’s annotation)
G1519 (Word Study) εἰς
eis; prep. governing the acc. with the primary idea of motion into any place or thing; also of motion or direction to, toward or upon any place, thing. The antithesis is expressed by ek (G1537), out of.
– Dr. Spiros Zodhiates
The ONE thing that differentiates the Christian experience from all other religions (including many that call themselves “Christian”) is the indwelling Christ! No amount of teaching and instruction can rectify the human condition. The Christian Life is the result of believing INTO Christ, not upon Him.
The branch resting upon the vine may have confidence because of trusting ON His finished work, but it will never touch the power of His Life that causes us to live, and more importantly, to MOVE in concert with His Spirit.
It is “IN Him that we live and move”; our movements are the result of His Life unconsciously affecting us in the flow of everyday life.
May God move us from believing ON the precious work of Christ’s atoning work (a very critical truth) to the place where we believe INTO His person, whereby we become partakers of His Life.
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature…”
2 Peter 1:4
Why are the great promises of God given? So that we, by believing INTO Him, become partakers of the divine nature. As we partake of Him, we share (fellowship) in His essence and wonder. The Christian life, though filled with temptations, trials, and suffering, is one of being occupied in the discovery of His resources through them all.
Related Post: In Him We Live and Move
Moving in God
is the supreme joy of life.
“It was necessary for the Son to disappear as an outward authority, in order that He might reappear as an inward principle of life. Our salvation is no longer God manifested in a Christ without us, but as a “Christ within us, the hope of glory.”
— F. W. Robertson
(continued)
Brian Troxel
Pruning
Jn 15:2
2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.(NKJVS)
The Greek word for prune here is kathairo and it means to cleanse from fillth and impurities. Also it entails cutting of or pruning off useless shoots.
With the above said I had a vision where I saw the bark of a tree or vine being stripped away along with branches being cut off.
In the pruning process useless branches are cut off so that they do not take from the nutrients of the useful branches.
What I heard here was dead works. Dead works take our time and energy but do nothing to increase fruitfulness. Relationships are sometimes the things that the Lord must cut out of our lives. Remember the branch is being cut from a living tree and is in effect a part of that tree just as a bad friendship is a part of an individual just as a dead work can be. I have had friendships, long lasting friendships, cut out and removed from my life. Looking back at the situations where the prunings occurred I am glad that the Lord removed me from the relationship as they were toxic although it was painful at the time. Pruning exposes the bare flesh of the tree and in human terms this is emotionally painful but if we are to grow, necessary. We will be judged according to fruitfulness which is, I believe, Christ likeness . We’re not going to be judged on how we prophesied or cast out demons or laid hands on the sick but by how Christ like we are.
Branches that grow inward and not outward are to be pruned because they are not healthy for the tree/vine. Inward mentality verses an outward mentality. Again we were called to bear fruit. Fruit is much easier grasped on outward branches.
Pruning is said to be done in the fall or when the tree is dormant. The Lord is the master Gardner and knows when to do the pruning to make us more fruitful
Pruning is a necessary and yet painful part of our journey. Only the fruitful branches get pruned. I am sharing on the three teacher vision with in my other email list. May He keep us, prune us and make us fruitful in Him.
Blessings
BT