Abiding In Christ

To Abide Is To Surrender {John 15}

3:55 PM





Monday, John 15

As disciples of Christ, don’t we all want to glorify God with our words and actions? To do as the Lord commands and bare fruit? And not just a little fruit, but much fruit? Jesus tells us that without Him this is impossible saying, “for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (vs. 5) For Jesus is the vine and we His followers the branches. And unless we abide in Him, our branch will be fruitless. 

“Bearing fruit in the Christian life is not about doing works or attempting righteousness in our own strength. Rather, it is about intentionally growing in our walk with Christ, inviting the Holy Spirit's work of transformation in us, and actively obeying God in all He calls us to do. As we seek Him and lay down our own fleshly desires for His better ways, we will bear lasting fruit and serve as salt and light to a world in need of Jesus.”...CompellingTruth.org

“Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” (vs. 4) Just as the vine provides the life source for the branches, Christ is the life source for each of us. To abide in Him means living in Jesus and Jesus living in and through us. Any hope we have of producing fruitful lives that glorify God can come only through abiding in the Lord. And abiding happens through surrendering.

Surrender Control-“I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.” (Jer. 10:23) Abiding in God means coming before the Lord with a humble heart, dependent upon Him for all things at all times. It is acknowledging that as Ruler and Creator of everything, God knows best, and it is for Him alone to establish our path.

Surrender Time-“He shall write for himself a copy of this law, it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life.” (Deut. 17:17,18) Abiding in God means setting aside time each day to read His Word. Intentionally studying the Bible opens our hearts to the Lord, and keeps us firmly planted in His truth;  giving us the discernment needed to fight off attacks from the Enemy.

Surrender Disobedience-“The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (1 John 3:24) Abiding in God means obeying all He commands. Obedience not only  brings us closer to Him, it's proof of our devotion and faithfulness. It deepens and strengthens our relationship with the Lord through love, trust, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 

Surrender Striving-“Be still and know I am God.” (Ps. 46:10) Abiding in God means to stop fighting. When trouble comes and the storm rages, the best action we can take is to stand still. By remembering who God is and trusting Him to do what He says He will, His calming presence and peace will  fill and ease our distressed hearts.

Some people think that surrender is a form of weakness, but nothing could be further from the truth. Stepping out in faith and laying everything at the feet of Jesus takes great personal strength. But when we do, we’ll find the more we give up of ourselves, the fuller we become of God. So abide in the love of Jesus. Surrender all to the One who gave all for you. Let His love and peace reign in your heart and fill it to overflowing with joy!




1:2-3

Abiding in Him-Life Line {John 15:1-27}

1:00 PM


Friday September 13th
Abiding in Him-Life Line
John 15:1-27

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Commit-to give in trust, to put into the hands or power of another, to entrust.
Commitment-confidence in something present or future, entrusting, confidence.
Jesus is the true vine and the Father is the vine dresser and we are the branches. 
When we come to salvation in Jesus we are connected to Him, just as a branch is connected to the vine, feeding us and we drawing our nourishment from it.

As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him.
Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7 [Amp.] (I pray this often in my life.)

So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples.
And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.   John 8:31-32 [Amp]

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He is our source, apart from Him we can do nothing.  We cannot bear fruit of ourselves, we need to abide in Him.  He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it to bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.  He is always at work in our lives, perfecting us.
 
Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.
Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.
But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. James 1:2-3

But if we are not bearing fruit then we are cut off and thrown away and dry up and then cast into the fire to be burned. 
When we are abiding in Him and bearing much fruit it glorifies the Father and proves that we are His disciples. 
If we keep His commandments  we will abide in His love; just as He has kept His Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 
These things He has spoken to us that His joy may be in us and that our joy may be made full.

In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.  
Psalm 16:11
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There is so much in this chapter but I wanted to focus on abiding in Him.   It truly is a commitment to abide in Him.  He promises us that if we abide in Him, we will bear much fruit and His joy in us will be full.
I want to share this story from Corrie Ten Boom,

Corrie was in solitary confinement in Ravensbruck ,  a work camp…she says for the first time ever, she was really alone, and she knew her life was completely in the hands of the enemy.  They could kill her, or torture her of just forget about her all together.  She could hear the cries of those being tortured, as she says it was a little bit of hell.  
When she lost courage, she tried singing, but the guards pounded on her door and demanded silence.  They threatened to take her to the dark cell where you had to stand in water.  Time became for her a very thick thing that she struggled to wade through.  It lasted 4 months.  
She cried out to the Lord, “Lord I’m not strong enough to endure this.  I don’t have the faith!”

Suddenly, she noticed an ant which she had watched roaming the floor of the cell for days.  She had just mopped the floor with a wet rag and the moment the ant felt the water on the stones, he ran straight to his tiny hole in the wall.  Then it was as if the Lord said to me, What about that ant?  He didn’t stop to look at the wet rag or his weak feet-he went straight to his hiding place.  Corrie, don’t look at your faith; it is weak, like the tiny feet of that ant.

Don’t dwell on the treatment you might receive from these cruel people.  I am your hiding place, and you can come running to Me just like that ant disappeared into that hole in the wall.  That brought real peace into her heart.  

She says,” I was 53 years old, and I had always known about Jesus, but there in solitary confinement I began to really understand and experience for myself that His light is stronger than the deepest darkness.”

Come to Me, all you who have heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Matt. 11:28.  
When you can believe that, you will know Someone is still interested in you.  
Someone still cares about you-not as a number, but as a person.  
Taken from the book He sets the captive free my Corrie Ten Boom.

I share this story because Corrie was a major person in my walk with the Lord when I first became a Christian.  I could not imagine being in a prison with no way out and how she found her strength in the Lord alone.
 
Our God is real and alive,  just as Corrie did, find your strength in Him and in Him alone.   He truly is committed to you and you can be committed to Him. 


1 John 2

A Vital Priority: to Abide in Christ ( 1 John 2)

3:18 AM



1 John 2

Perhaps you have heard the motto “ to know Him and make Him known”. That is a good summation of what should be a high priority in the life of a Christian. John begins this chapter reminding us that Christ is “the propitiation for our sins.” Propitiation means He is the One who covers our sins and restores us to a right standing with God.  The whole purpose of having our sins atoned for is so that we can have a relationship with God. Accepting Christ as our Savior is the basis for that relationship but God wants us to know Him in an intimate way. How do we know Him? 
“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” (V3) 
He sent Jesus to this Earth to teach us, to be an example to us of His love and to guide us in how to live out the Christian life in the here and now. We are told numerous times in God’s Word to “ abide in “ Christ.  What does that mean?  
“whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (V6)  

Christ modeled to us what it means to express love, genuine concern, and devoted involvement in the life of others. Our relationship with Christ should impact our relationship with others. This is a dark world because of the impact of evil but Christ brings into this world the light of genuine love and truth. We are to shine that light into the lives of others by treating them as Christ would.  
We can’t “abide in Christ” if we do not love each other. “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.” (V9-10) 

 I just attended the funeral of a loved one. After the service I was at his home where all of his “stuff” still filled the rooms and the yard. It reminded me that we truly do not take anything from this world with us. All that really matters when we draw our last breath is our standing with God, our relationship with Christ. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (V15-17) 
There are many things that compete for our attention in this life. Our priority as Christians, however, should be on Christ and abiding in Him. “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” (V 28-29) 

 We came into this world enveloped in sin and selfishness, separated from God. We desperately needed a Savior which God provided to us through Jesus Christ. He freely offers us all that we need in Christ and He tells us that it is vital for us to abide in Christ. God wants to transform us through His Spirit at work in our lives to make us more and more Christlike. By making our relationship with Him a priority, we can be used to impact the world around us.  

Bill Keynes, C.S. Lewis Institute 
“Abiding in Christ is the essence of the promise of the New Covenant—the God who commands us from the outside in the Old Covenant now comes to live within us in the New. Christianity is not a self- help religion, but a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that brings new life by the Spirit. In our union with Christ we are forgiven and in that union we are regenerated. We now participate in Christ—he is in us by the Spirit, and, in Martin Luther’s words, Christ himself is “the basis, the cause, the source of all our own actual righteousness.”  As we entrust ourselves to Christ and depend upon him, we are like branches that draw on the vitality of the vine to produce good fruit.””