God Speaks I Listen

(Hey ya’ll…it took me a long time to write this blog. It was for my own understanding of abiding and hopefully yours. I pray it brings you to a deeper understanding, joy and knowledge of how much Jesus has done for us so that we can abide in Him)

John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (KJV)

Abiding is made possible in a person’s life post salvation only!

The meaning of abide: to remain, continue and stay with. To lodge, sojourn, and dwell with. To await, live and stand with.

Him in me and me in Him!    Him in me and me in Him!

Our abiding union with Jesus Christ is a very deep and profound relationship. There is nothing like it in the whole world. Who else’s god can actually live inside of them and can have such a unique relationship as to be so intertwined together?

Tanya Nemley’s interpretation of abiding: Accepting Jesus gift of salvation and attaching yourself to Jesus mentally and emotionally, never letting go of Him every day for the rest of your earthly life.

There are some people who say they have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior but they didn’t remain on the vine and were lost. They said the words with their mouth but in their heart they didn’t really hook up with their connection to Jesus. They had an empty conversion. Some people never connect to Jesus the vine. Those who have truly accepted Jesus Christ stay on the vine and they are abiding and are able to produce fruit.

Abiding is an ongoing process in order to stay on spiritual course!

This is done through your daily relationship with Jesus and your constant studying and obeying God’s word. Stay in the pocket with God. Don’t run ahead of God and don’t run behind. Stick very close which is abiding with Jesus. Don’t meet Him at church…be His church, be His mouth piece and be His kingdom builder. Allow the Holy Spirit to pour into your life which will help with the abiding. Imitate Jesus and be just like Him in all that you do and say.

Abiding in Jesus starts by:

1. Accepting the true vine “Jesus Christ”.
2. Staying on the true vine “Jesus Christ”.

“Abiding in Christ is the essence of our whole Christ life.” Abiding is being so attached to the vine (Jesus) that we become a representation of who Jesus is to others and so proving to be true Christians.

There was a term from a movie that caught on around 2009 called “He’s just not that into you”. That means if you dated a man that he may not like you to much. If Jesus made a movie like that it would be called…”He’s so into you!” John 3:16 proves that. Isn’t it so cool that someone is so into you? But the ultimate abiding is that we are so into Him!

Abiding in Jesus is truly a symbiotic (a very close intermingling relationship) with God because of 3 things:

1. Jesus making this relationship possible.
2. The word of God being made real and alive in us.
3. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit living in us.

The benefits and results of abiding in Christ.

John 15:5-9 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

The benefits of abiding in Jesus Christ are enormous!

1. You will have eternal life!!!
2. You will be in God’s will.
3. You will produce a lot of fruit and be spiritually productive.
4. Your life will be blessed and you’ll have great Joy.
5. You will be spiritually strong.
6. Your life will glorify God.
7. You will be loved and be able to love others.
8. You will prove to Jesus that you are indeed His disciple.
9. You will have unspeakable joy!
10. You will be sustained and nourished by your attachment to the vine.
11. You will be obedient to the word of God and be able to keep God’s commandments
12. You will have a life that is complete in all that God has planned for you!
13. You can be connected to everyone else who is attached to the vine.
14. You will have someone who is sympathetic to our suffering because of His suffering.
15. You will be put right with God and have an instant connection with him.
16. You will have the Holy Spirit in you for your entire earthly life.
17. You will have a close friend and will never be alone.
18. You will always have hope and can face anything in your life.
19. You will have power because of His name.
20. You will have a Shepherd and protector.
21. You will be clean and Jesus can present you to God on day.                                          22. You will have peace of mind and a calmness in your spirit.

You will have peace and calmness

Jesus went to the cross so that He would have the ability to abide in me and that I also will have the ability to abide in Him. I have accepted His gift. So now that Jesus has set everything up for my spiritual success…I need to stay as close as I can with Him to be successful in Him. I said this before but it needs repeating… “Abiding in Christ is the essence of our whole Christ life.”

How do you abide in Christ?

1. I need to be in God’s presence on and off all day long. I personally do this through prayer, singing, bible study, praying, praising God, listening to sermons or teachings throughout my day, talking to family and friends about Jesus, blogging about God and thinking about God constantly.

2. Pray continually means to talk to God all the time. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 To pray continually.

3. Keep studying, applying and obeying to what’s written in the bible.

4. Loving other people.

I do abide in the Lord but I have to be honest and admit that there are times that I have kicked God to the curb or I have pulled away from the vine. As I have gotten older and more mature in my faith I don’t do this as much anymore. Kicking God to the curb is a harsh statement to make… but it’s what happens in our lives when we let obstacles and distractions interfere with our ongoing relationship with God. Some distractions are, busyness, illness, jobs, even ministry, and a host of other things can get our minds off of God. We can sometimes put God on the back burner too. This disconnect from God can weaken our walk with God. When we start to again abide steadily with Jesus we can get ourselves back on track.

If we don’t abide in Christ the bible says we really have nothing. This means if we are not connected to the vine and have not accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we as unsaved humans are dried up, shriveled up and will be gathered up and put into the fire and burned. YIKES!!! Not abiding in Jesus is dangerous and spiritually and eternally life threatening.

My dad grows a garden every year. This year he tried to grow corn. He planted a lot of it and it looked like it was doing well. The stalks were green and tall but when it came time to produce corn the cobs were very small and inedible. He also had some tomatoes that fell of the vines and just rotted and were also inedible. This is a fact….anything that doesn’t cling, stay or remain on the vine will not be sustained enough to produce a crop. It will be useless and eventually destroyed. As Christian can be affected by not staying close enough to the vine. We can become weak in our faith. We will not lose our salvation because the bible promises us in His word that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. (Romans 8:31-39)

The bottom line here is that if you’re not saved and you are not attached to the vine which is Jesus you are eternally lost. You will not get into heaven. If you are saved then you need to stay and remain close to God for your spiritual growth. Every soul born is NOT attached to the vine. Every person will have an opportunity to make the choice to be able to abide with Jesus. He did so much to make this possible. I hope this blog has opened your eyes to keeping your connection to Jesus closer now that you understand that He is truly the strength of your life. May Jesus bless you and keep you in His loving care…amen.