“The work you can do for God starts with believing..." John 6:29 (TPT)

Doing work for God is always a matter of motivation, not our individual drive or effort just getting the job done, but rather what is our motive for engaging in this type of work, and what is our attitude?  Jesus said that “the work you can do for God starts with believing…” no matter what good intentions which may motivate us, unless we have a believing heart in Jesus the work we do is without His blessing or reward.

Believing is an interesting word, in the Greek it is the word “pisteuō” which is a verb.  It means to “trust in, rely on, place confidence in, to credit, to entrust in one’s fidelity.” Believing is much more than just a word, it is an action on our part.  When we encounter Jesus we put our complete confidence, conviction, and trust in Him, to which we are impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative than just obedience, we are motivated by the Spirit of God in our very souls. 

The work that God calls us to do no longer becomes a preference by it being a good idea or a nice thing to do by choice, but a conviction which touches our deepest self as something that God requires us to do.  In our society, we are so taken with the social model of choice and preference which is a human attribute which is the opposite to belief in Jesus Christ and trusting the Word of God.  

Conviction seems to be lost on our society as something that is either Old Fashion or out of step with the liberal culture.  Conviction carries with it the label of intolerance because it leaves one without options for compromise.  There is nothing about believing in Jesus Christ that ends with just a choice, the matter of His life and work was settled on the cross, it was declared finished, a closed argument.  One is either for Him or against Him.

We can say that Jesus had a choice to walk away from His life script in the garden of Gethsemane when He cried out to the Father for this cup of suffering to be taken away from Him, and He sweated blood from His great anguish of soul.  (Luke 22:42-44)  But Jesus knew that the reason He came to this world wasn’t to walk away from His life script but to fulfill it.  It was a moment of weakness, He didn’t have a choice or a preference, but a conviction which drove Him forward.

 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup of agony away from me. But no matter what, your will must be mine.” Luke 22:42 (TPT)

“The key to knowing the difference between a conviction and a preference is based on the reasoning that led to the choice. If the reasoning is based on the influence of the Holy Spirit (and) based on the truth of God’s Word it is a conviction. If it is based on a personal choice (that can change) without the truth of God’s Word, it is a preference. Confusing the two can have severe consequences.”  Read More   (italics mine)

We have been taught that we can make a “choice” for Jesus, but the choice has already been made, Jesus chose us and died for us.  Our response should be to realize that we are lost without Jesus, and the reasoning for that understanding is by the influence of the Holy Spirit and is based on the Word of God and its truth, this is not a preference we can walk away from, because we would be forever lost without Him.  When the conviction is formed that we will believe (trust in, rely on) in Jesus, that conviction is built on the fact that God requires it of us to hold an unchanging, unwavering trust in the person of Jesus who is immovable, He will not only save us from sin but bestow upon us the right to become heirs of the Kingdom.  His cross covered everything past and present for us to become right with God.  (Click on "Immovable" on the right sidebar for more on this topic)

We have been adopted into a glorious inheritance as sons and daughters of the King.  We have a home and a position with Him, never to be orphaned again.  We have been made right with God through the sacrifice of Jesus in an unending Kingdom. That will never change.  Hallelujah!

Doing work for God has much more to do with understanding who Jesus is and putting our complete confidence in His finished work for us.  We can then have trust and reliance in Jesus to become everything we need to live a life of Godliness and peace.

Everything we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness.  2 Peter 1:3 (TPT)

Jesus is our life, He does call us by name and invites us to come with Him through His goodness, that we can fully believe!

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett