The way to ascend into the supernatural faith of God (Part 3)
“What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:28-29 NRSV).
By John David Hicks
The question has been on the lips of men and women for generations: “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Every sincere follower of Jesus Christ wants to know what it takes to accomplish God’s will and to minister like Jesus did in miracles, healing, and deliverance.
Jesus’ answer, then and now, leaves many confused and troubled. “This is the work of God,” He said, “that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:29).
That seems so simple and too little: that the work of God is to be in Christ…that the work of God is to live in Christ! That you must abide in Christ to bear fruit: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me…for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5 NKJV). “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (1 John 2:28 NKJV).
The Greek word for “abide” is spoken as a command with an ongoing emphasis of abiding; it is not fulfilled in a single act. Andrew Murray said, “The essential idea of fruit is that it is the silent natural restful produce of our inner life.” By abiding in Christ, you accept His lordship over your life and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. You live in fellowship and have spiritual union with Him. You desire Christ-likeness in word, deed, and character. And, Jesus promises, the “fruit will remain.”
Faith comes from a personal relationship with God that is built on trust. This relationship in turn grows our confidence in the Word of God. This confidence gives us assurance that our faith can be put into action. Our faith, then, is based on this relationship, His presence, and the Word of God.
Jesus modeled faith for us. As you read the Gospels, you see that faith is like climbing a stepladder. When you get to the top, you can take the leap of faith and soar into the supernatural faith of God.
There are five steps on the ladder:
1. You must be convinced that you are in Christ, who is your source of supply.
Jesus said the foundational requirement of faith is “that you believe in Him whom God has sent.” God and Jesus are one. You see the Father in Jesus’ attitudes, actions, words, deeds, and commands. In everything He said and did and was, Jesus expressed the will of God. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). This is the foundation, the rock of faith. “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).
The kingdom of God starts with “Christ in you,” and the Christ in you and the Christ in me will have fellowship.
“When I became excited about this question of the kingdom of God, it did two things for my faith,” says E. Stanley Jones in his book Running Toward the Unshakeable Kingdom. “First of all, it made my faith very personal. I was not following a system, nor a movement, an impersonality—I was following a Person. A divine Person. And so I had a personal relationship with a Person. It made my religion personal—but it also made my religion social. For I saw that embodied in this Person was an order. God’s order. It had relationships with everything that concerned man, nature, life, and destiny.”
Jesus promised His disciples that after the Holy Spirit comes, “you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). That is how you “perform the works of God.”
“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:12-14).
Let me illustrate this faith that Jesus is talking about. I was talking to a youth group about faith. The group was quite athletic, and I told them I would give anyone here a thousand dollars to jump over this church. They could even start by standing on a stepladder. I might have to borrow the thousand dollars, but I’d give it to anyone who would jump over the church.
There were no volunteers! “Why?” I asked them.
“Because your promise is meaningless! You’re asking us to do something that no one can do. No human being can jump over this church in his own strength. You would have to be Superman. Your promise is worthless.”
Even though my offer was sincere, it was of no value to them because they humanly could not do it.
In the same way, when you think that it all depends on you, on your strength and ability, the promises of God are meaningless and worthless. Faith is a gift and a promise from God. If it came by your performance, it would render the promise worthless.
But if I am in Christ, as the Bible says, I could do what Christ could do because He is my source of supply.
Just as a glove is made in the image and form of a hand, so we were made in the image and form of God to contain Him. As the purpose of the glove is to contain the hand, the purpose of man is to contain the divine image (2 Peter 1:3). You must believe that God can do the impossible and that God is in you.
Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23 NKJV). God’s possibilities are yours! God is only limited by your faith.
This is the foundational first step of faith. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV). “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Paul gives us the secret: “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory…. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Colossians 1:26-29).
Abraham, the man of faith, was “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:21). God’s Word makes it clear that He is the supply source (Deuteronomy 8:18; Isaiah 48:17). He may use other sources, such as your job or other people, but they are simply His instruments; He is still the source. “Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17)
It is easy to trust God with the things that are completely out of our hands, like our eternal destiny. But it is much harder to trust God with things that we have deceived ourselves into believing we have control over: our children, our careers, our money, our health, and our relationships. But with God as our source, “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103:19).
God is sovereign; His dominion is over all in the heavens—the spiritual, over angels and demons. On earth He rules over nature, all governments and authority, and you. Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar, “Your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules” (Daniel 4:26). God rules over all! Because He rules, He will keep His Word and nothing can stop the completion of His Word (Romans 11:36).
Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-19). God had commissioned Jesus and gave Him authority; now Jesus is commissioning you and giving you His authority (John 17:18).
Jesus again confirms this: “I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are—I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me” (John 17:22-23 NLT).
The “glory” is a promise to believers. By completing His mission Jesus revealed the Father (John 17:4-6). He revealed and modeled the splendor and the character of God—God’s glory. Now God’s glory can become personally known and we can pass on what we have received to others—the glory of who God is, the great “I AM.” He establishes the relationship; we can be in Christ.
First, be convinced that you are in Christ, who is your source of supply. This moves you up the ladder to the next step that starts with desire.
2. Be convinced that your desires are of the Lord. “Keep your heart (your affections) with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23 NRSV).
Your deepest desires come from your affections. Your affections are the longing of your heart, the first thing your heart seeks. Your affections control your desires.
A pure heart means your affections are right, and thus your desires are pure. “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). All that God has in Christ is yours when your desires are pure.
Desire must always precede faith. Even Jesus had to have desire to do the will of God. “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work” (John 4:34 NLT). Desire will always precede faith.
Why did God give the mantle to Elisha and not to the 500 prophets? Because of Elisha’s desire. Why did only Peter walk on the water? Because of his desire. Without desire you will do very little.
It was not wishful thinking that gave the disciples what they wanted; it was desire. Jesus explained, “For I say unto you, whatever you desire, when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).
Desire is not a hope or wish; it is a craving, an intense longing for its fulfillment. In the spiritual realm it is absolutely essential to Bible-faith. Desire precedes Bible-faith and goes before the end result. Desire is a longing for something you do not possess or for a need to be met. This desire must be expressed and will not be silent. You know that God has promised the answer, but it can only be secured with the desire of faith. Faith requires that our desires be sold out to the will of God. Without desire, prayer is a meaningless belief with no action. It is dead.
In the parable of the friend at midnight, Jesus taught us the correlation between answered prayer and fervent desire: “I need three loaves,” the red-faced man shouted, pounding his fists on the door. “You said you would give them. I need them now.” The man demonstrated sheer desire and refusal to be denied.
Recently a man asked me, “Will God speak to me?” I quoted him Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” I asked him if he had a burning desire for God to speak to him? He said, “Yes.”
I told him that for Jesus to be the “word of God,” He must speak. Jesus said, “The words that I speak are spirit and they are life.” You will hear in your spirit. “My sheep hear my voice.” You are His sheep. The Bible commands, “He that has ears, let him hear what the spirit says.”
“Go and wait before God,” I said. “God will speak to you.” And God did, answering the deep questions of his heart.
This desire can only turn into faith when you believe it is true for you. When a leper came to Jesus, he knew that Jesus could heal him but questioned if he would. Jesus said, “I am willing” (Matthew 8:3). If you don’t believe that it’s God’s will, you can’t receive anything from Him. You must realize that God is willing to do for you what He has promised to do. Faith begins where God’s will is known.
The second step: be convinced that your desires are of the Lord. But having a desire and knowing that God is able and willing is not Bible-faith. You must take the third step up and believe that God will give it to you!
3. Be convinced of the integrity of Scripture. God’s Word is truth (John 17:14). The Bible is the will and voice of God to you. The only basis for faith is to trust in the absolute integrity of God’s Word.
Jesus affirmed the absolute truth of the Scripture and its unchanging authority when He said to the religious leaders, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). When you believe that the Bible is the will of God and that God can do anything, Jesus says, you will no longer be in error.
Jesus taught that even the “smallest letter and the least stroke of a pen” of the words of Scripture could not become corrupted (Matthew 5:18). He declared, “The Scriptures must be fulfilled” (Mark 14:49). The Scripture is the final court of appeal on matters of faith and practice. This is our Protestant heritage, that Scripture is our final authority.
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17 NKJV). Those who receive and understand what the Word says develop faith. Faith is always connected to the Word of God. Faith is not believing something that you wish or desire. Faith believes that God means what He said in His Word—He will do what He has promised!
This is how you minister to others—like Jesus! You know that Jesus is the will of God and He demonstrated the will of God, for He said, “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him” (John 8:28-29). You then have confidence of faith that “whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15). The Christian who is in Christ does not have to wonder “What would Jesus do?” He knows! Jesus Christ has revealed it to him by His attitudes, actions, words, deeds, and commands to help others. “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27 NRSV).
The popular delusion is that God sometimes says “Yes” and sometimes says “No” or “Wait.” Rather, you must be convinced with Paul, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ”
(2 Corinthians 1:20).
John the apostle gives insight: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15). When you are convinced by Scripture and when you pray according to God’s will, God will hear you and you will have what you ask for. If you are not sure of God’s will, you will not ask in confidence—thus you will not have Bible-faith.
How do you ask in confidence?
1) Find out God’s will.
2) Come in confidence.
3) Know God hears you when you ask.
4) God gives you the Bible-faith and the answer.
5) You have the request you asked of Him!
The Scripture gives to the heart the confidence of faith that declares, “I know that I have it.” You can know that you have it before you feel it or see it. That is what Bible-faith is all about. God’s kingdom rests upon the Word of God. The throne, His character and authority rest upon the integrity of His Word. If His Word failed, the universe would fall apart (Hebrews 1:3) and chaos would reign. Mountain-moving faith knows that “No word from God will ever be broken or fail.”
The third step up: be convinced of the integrity of Scripture. In confidence you can take the next step up that God will not turn you down.
4. Bold confidence in the Holy Spirit that you have it now! “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). The Holy Spirit must quicken them to your spirit. In His humanity, Jesus was taught by God (John 8:26, 38). To know Jesus rightly, you too must be God-taught by the Holy Sprit (John 6:45). Jesus made it clear that the miracles He performed came from the Father (John 5:17), and the judgment He made came from God as well (John 5:30).
With the witness of the Holy Spirit you are confident that you have something you cannot see right now. In confidence, faith calls “things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). Abraham did not wait until he saw the evidence; he believed God. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed” (v. 18) and became the example of faith. “In hope believed” is faith in the present and hope for the future. Faith may not have any rational reasons but declares what God says is true even though it is not manifested to the senses. Yet, the biggest obstacle to faith is not intellectual but pride. Pride will not humble itself to receive.
This faith is God given. The kingdom of God is about the grace of God, not your struggles and trying. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Even your faith is a gift from God.
The New Testament transforms the idea of working to achieve and earn anything from God. Faith is not based on works, but works are the result of faith. Not understanding this will make you think and feel an urgency that it all depends on you, that you have to perform to affect your salvation, your healing, your deliverance, and your ministry when it all comes from Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30). The writer of Hebrews understood this when he proclaimed, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” As you focus on Jesus, He will author and perfect your faith.
Faith will have works, but the works come from obedience to the promises of God’s Word. By believing in Him, the kingdom of God will be yours. “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32 NRSV). “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (1 Corinthians 4:20). Faith receives what God has given.
In an interview with Christianity & Renewal Magazine, Dallas Willard said: “When you look at the Bible you see that the kingdom of God is God acting…. The only thing that transforms us spiritually is the action of following Christ. You seek to follow, you fail and you learn. But in order to engage in following, you have to have a clear understanding of life in the kingdom of God; that you are accepted by the grace of God in Jesus and that lays the foundation for as much true doctrine as you can manage and as much manifestation of the Spirit as you can stand.”
“Doing the stuff,” as John Wimber put it, meant manifestations of the kingdom, but it also means obeying Jesus. Wimber’s contribution to Christianity is that you must work with God as you minister, and receive from God the words, the discernment, and the power in the process.
This God-given faith is a conviction, a sense of knowing from the Holy Spirit that God has spoken. In Acts 16:10, the Macedonian call first came through an inward conviction and vision, then “concluding that God had called us.” Remember, the Holy Spirit twice stopped them from going into Asia by a sense of restraint. It was the witness of the Holy Spirit in their hearts that gave them the assurance and confirmation that God was able and willing.
It’s like having the title deed to your car. The title deed is the assurance from the Word of God and the Holy Spirit verifying that you “have the petitions” that you’ve asked of Him. You own it and have the proof. This assurance of faith takes you to the top where you put your Bible-faith into action in word or deed. But the Word has no life or power until you act on it (James 1:22). As you believe it and put it into action, you will receive it (Mark 11:24). This is the leap of faith. It will always have some risk to it.
The fourth step: be confident in the Holy Spirit that you have the requests you asked of Him now! These four steps have given you confidence and moved you up to the top of the ladder so you can put your faith into action.
5. With confidence you are at the top of the ladder, take the leap of faith by putting your Bible-faith into action. You are convinced and willing to act on that belief.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). This verse could also be translated: “Now faith is the foundation, or confidence, of things hoped for, a sure persuasion or conviction of things not seen.”
Bible-faith must have two wings before it can fly. The first wing is a belief, conviction, or persuasion in God and His Word. The second wing is a corresponding action, a demonstration that produces reality. Both wings are required to fly and to soar into the supernatural.
The number one thing that will keep you from faith is fear. Fear is a common emotion. Fear becomes sin only when it is spoken and does not take God into account. Satan gives us this kind of fear. A total of 388 times Scripture commands “fear not.” God gives us faith.
Both fear and faith do not know the future. If faith can see every step of the way, it is not faith. But faith has substance—a confidence in God that it possesses now. Faith takes God into account, expressing itself with words and deeds. Fear is attached to the realm of mind and the emotions. Faith is attached to the realm of the Spirit and heart. “I would have lost heart,” David said, “unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13 NKJV). He believed first and then saw because he took God into account.
In the Greek, the word “believe” when associated with the heart is a verb. “To believe” is followed by the preposition “into,” to express change
or motion. “You believe in (literally, into) God, believe also in (literally, into) Me” (John 14:1). When Paul says, “With the heart one believes (into) righteousness”—not merely “unto righteousness,” but “into righteousness”—then confession is made with your mouth (Romans 10:10; Matthew 12:34; 2 Corinthians 4:13).
You are moved by a heartfelt faith out of yourself into Christ that is experienced here and now, with a hope for your future. Thus, 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” If you are cut off from the source of all power, strength, comfort, and love, you will live in a very scary world, full of fear, punishment, and little hope. But God’s love drives out fear.
God wants you to be secure in His love. That’s why we must abide in Christ, be in Christ, and live in Christ. Out of the relationship faith is convinced that God will keep His Word. Faith will demonstrate this belief in word or deed by a corresponding action.
A good example of this is Joshua 6. The Israelites were overwhelmed by the city of Jericho on their quest for the Promised Land. But God allowed Joshua to see in the spiritual dimension what his human eyes could not see. “See, I have delivered Jericho unto your hands” (Joshua 6:2). God won a mighty victory as God’s people responded in obedience to what they could not see.
Even though God allowed Joshua to see in the spiritual dimension what his human eyes could not see, it would have been pointless if Joshua and the people of Israel would not have marched around the city of Jericho blasting their trumpets. James reminds us that belief is not Bible-faith without a tangible expression of action in word or deed. “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds…? Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:14, 17).
Matthew received salvation when he left all and followed Jesus. Zacchaeus also demonstrated his faith by the restitution he made. Bible-faith must be followed by action.
For most of us, the most tangible expression of our faith is our checkbook. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). If Jesus can’t be Lord over your treasures, then He probably isn’t Lord of any part of you. If you can’t trust God with your money, you won’t trust Him with your life.
After the leap of faith, the wings of belief and action lift you into the supernatural. But a plane is more than its wings; it must have a tail for direction and balance. Without the tail you will crash. The tail is made up ofpatience-persistence and praise.
Patience-persistence gives you balance. Why is patience-persistence so important? Impatience will hinder your faith. The saints “through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (Hebrews 6:12). Patience-persistence caused them “to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (Hebrews 10:36). Patience and “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4).
Jesus talks about this kind of prayer in Luke 11:9-13. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Literally, ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.) “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
The Lord is saying: Ask and it will be given—this is faith for something only God can provide. If you are seeking something that is lost, or there are circumstances that are beyond your control, God will help you find it or take hold of it. I assure you if you boldly knock on a closed door, you will obtain admittance. I promise you that everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened to your request. You can ask for what you don’t possess; you can seek for what is not apparent; you can knock so that the obstacles can be removed. This is the essence of persistent prayer.
Jesus illustrates this by saying that a father naturally gives good gifts to his children. Your Father God is available and eager to respond with earthly and heavenly gifts to His children. The greatest gift is the Holy Spirit, the gift of God Himself. You are to pray with confidence.
“Importunity” in the Greek means shamelessness and boldness. It’s refusing to go away and boldly refusing to be denied. Importunity in prayer will overcome apathy. Persistence changes the hearts and minds of those who are praying and examines the sincerity of your request.
To help us understand the principle of persistence in prayer, Jesus gives two parables: the friend at midnight and the persistent widow. When friendship will not get a friend up at midnight, persistence will. Persistence gets the widow justice from the unjust judge. “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7-8).
With a delayed answer Jesus encourages us to continue to cry out. He then ends this teaching with a question of sadness. “When there is a delay, when you have to wait, will you lose your faith in the power of God to help you?” The “wait” or “holding on” in faith gives God the time that is needed to change you and to build your faith.
The temptation for those who do not see an answer to prayer right away is to question God’s faithfulness to them. With the delay, many lose faith in the power of God to help them. The answer I believe is in patience-persistence in prayer. Miracles and healings will take place with patience-persistence. Our problem, like Abraham’s, is waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. Yet it was the process that made Abraham the “man of faith” and the “friend of God.”
I know of a 38-year-old man who got the news he had cancer and had three months to live. He had a wife and five children. He believed that God wanted him to raise his kids. He called for “the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14). The doctor said he still had cancer.
The next week he asked the elders to pray again. They declared that they had already prayed. But he insisted that they pray again. They did. Again, he would see the doctor and then insist that the church pray again. He did this for eight weeks. On the eighth Sunday he knew that God had healed him and that his healing was complete. Doctors confirmed it. That was several years ago and the cancer has not come back.
Without patience-persistence resulting in persistent prayer, this miracle and healing wouldn’t have taken place. At times we do not make the effort or pray long enough. The question is not, “Will I receive, or find, or have the door open?” The answer has already been determined. The real issue is, “Will I keep on asking, seeking, knocking in prayer until I witness it?”
Praise is the second part of the tail. Praise gives you direction. In my last pastorate there was an old preacher, V. W. Anglin, who was about a hundred years old. He taught the senior adult Sunday school class. One day just before the morning worship service he said to me, “Brother Hicks, how do you know when you have prayed through?”
I knew he had something important to say, so I said, “How do you know?”
He replied, “When your prayer turns to praise like in Philippians 4, but especially verse 4, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!’”
When your prayer turns to praise, you have released it to God. You have gone beyond seeing what human eyes cannot see and expressing your confidence in God’s faithfulness in tangible ways, to resting in the assurance and joy that God indeed is on the throne.
This is what the old saints in the church used to mean when they spoke of “praying through.” For me, praying through has always been a conviction in my heart followed by the peace of God, much like the conviction that Paul wrote of in Romans 9:1, “My conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit.”
The fifth step of faith is the leap of faith, putting your faith into action.
Hudson Taylor gave a testimony that summarizes this faith. The great missionary struggled for a more intimate relationship with Christ. He said, “I prayed, agonized, fasted, strove, made resolutions, read the Word more diligently, sought more time for retirement and meditation—but all was without effect,” he said. “I knew that if I would abide in Christ all would be well, but I could not.”
The turning point in his life that set his faith free came when he received a letter from a co-worker. “Friendship with God comes not from striving after faith but from resting in the faithful one.”
Those words were life-changing for Hudson Taylor. He was able to cease striving and embrace Christ’s abiding presence. He saw that the work of God was too live in Christ.
When you abide in Christ, you will bear the fruit of Christ. Jesus says this is the foundational issue: be in Him and have faith in Him.