The Work of God

The Work of God

“This is the work of God,
that you believe into Him whom that One sent”
John 6:29 (LITV)

This may be one of the most exciting scriptures found in the New Covenant. It never ceases to amaze me how much Jesus speaks within the brevity of a few words!

“The work of God” is to bring, to carry and to so affect us, that we “believe INTO” Christ the living vine. Many translations miss the power of the Greek word “eis”. It means so much more than “on” or “in”. These poor renderings of all that Jesus said leave us with the concept of Christ being something external to “believe” in or on; a mere teaching outside of ourselves. Any truth disassociated from Him will have little or no impact upon the human heart. The relationship of which Jesus spoke is one of a growing oneness and intimacy.

“I am the Vine;
you are the branches…”
John 15:5

There has never been a day like the one in which we are now living. The breadth, the width, the height, and the depth of our calling into Him are being unveiled to those who know the “Work of God” in their own hearts. There is a childlike faith needed to embrace His full purposes. Faith disregards our present experience as with all of whom we read about in Hebrews chapter eleven. Let us not stagger at the promises given. There are caveats to these promises: those in whom His will abides seek not deliverance’s nor do they ask for things which are “gain” to themselves (Philippians 3:7). Their will is to do and to be found in His Will.

“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”
John 15:7

To settle for a life outside of His full purposes is to fall short of the “work of God” within us. The hunger and thirst for this “rightness” can only be as we embrace the supremacy of His power and His call to us. The requisite for this life is summed up in the phrases “If ye abide in me…” and “my words abide in you”. There is no carnal striving nor works of the flesh involved in our “believing INTO HIM”.

The Work of God is to bring us to a “believing” which produces relationship and union with Christ. “Into” is the hallmark of true salvation. We are brought by the mercies of God into a place of “abiding IN HIM”. This is His Work, and it is in our submission, our obedience to the prompting and the nudging of His Spirit, that we grow “into Him in all things”.

The purpose of the New Covenant is life; not just a religious life that occupies itself with doctrines and phrases, but a life of abundance and wonder. There is a quest which cannot be held in words alone, as good, and pure as they may be. There is an unfathomable longing to know Him who is Eternal Life.

Jesus describes what it means to be “blessed”.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit…”
Matthew 5:3

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst
for righteousness”
Matthew 5:6

Those who know their own inherent poverty also feel the joy of a “hunger and thirst” for Him to be their “rightness”. Let this be our foundation and living hope for our life here and for the one to come.

“THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD…
that you believe into Him…”

To Be Continued

Brian Troxel