1 Samuel 22:23 “Abide thou with me,
fear not: for he that seeks my life seeks your life: but with me thou
shalt be in safeguard.”
John 15:4-7,10-11 “(4) Abide in Me,
and I and in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except
it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me. (5) I
am The Vine, you are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in
him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without Me you can do
nothing. (6) If a man abide not in Me, he is cast fort as a branch,
and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire,
and they are burned. (7) If you abide in Me, and My words abide in
you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto
you....(10) If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love;
even as I have kept My Father's commandments, abide in His love. (11)
These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be full.”
1 John 2:28 “And now, little
children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have
confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”
Abide: dwell, remain, settle, marry,
continue to dwell in, inhabit in, bring again to place, remain,
return; to stay in a given place, state, relation or expectancy,
endure, be present, remain, dwell, be present, stand, tarry for.
(The first definitions are for the word
'abide' in The Old Testament and the second for The New Testament,
regarding the three verses given)
Do you realize as we have studied this
together that all three Persons in the Trinity are referred to here?
And that born again Christians are they who remain in the branch
referred to in John 15? Living for Jesus and living in Jesus are the
same. Just being a nice person or glorifying yourself with 'acts of
kindness' are not growing you in Jesus. Once you become a born again
Christian, it is up to you to open your Bible and read God's Word
every day. Do you know that sometimes I get caught up in reading and
studying I lose track of time? My husband's day begins at 5 am and
ends at 9 pm. He leaves here at 5:30 am and gets back home around 4
pm. One day when I was deep study, he came home and I said, “What
are you doing home so early?” and he just gave me a funny look, so
I looked at the clock on my computer. Yup. It was 4 pm. His normal
return home time. Eight hours of pure bliss had passed through the
clock, but to me it was as if I had barely started. Those days are
rare and deeply coveted.
Abiding in Christ is a glorious way to
go through life. No one's life is perfect. No one can obtain pure
delight in their alone time unless they are alone with Jesus. Being
alone by yourself without Jesus, in the chaos of your thoughts, can
bring you down. But being alone with Jesus, chaos flees, for it
doesn't stand a chance where the Light shines; chaos is darkness and
death; Jesus is light and life.
My life is not perfect, but my Savior
is. It is His perfection that lives in me by faith, by believing on
Him for my Lord and Savior. Every thing that Jesus Christ is, lives
in me by faith in Him. I may not always let His light shine through,
but every time I repent of this, I get stronger. I do not want to be
cut off from The Branch, nor thrown into the fire. I read God's Word,
and keep God's Word in my heart, and am actively applying God's Word
to my life, including my family and my children in this, for they are
in my life, too.
Yes, you can memorize Scripture,
either passages or individual verses; you can know all The Books of
The Bible in order and still not know Jesus Christ. You can go to
church, hear the preacher's sermon, and walk right out that door
living the same old life you always lived. You have not changed
because you have not listened, nor applied the message of salvation
that was preached. Our actions determine our outcomes when we hear
God's Word spoken or preached.
If we feel a prick in our thoughts, or
our heart, when we hear the message given, and do nothing, our hearts
become harder and our ears deafer; we have only strengthened our
resolve not to give in to weakness. For that is how some people view
born again Christians, people too weak to stand on their own that
they must need God to stand for them. Oh you fools! It is the weak
God uses to bring down the fool. It is the weak God uses to reach the
prideful, the annoyed, the depressed, the confused, the rich, the
poor, the sanctimonious, the politician, the lobbyist, the doctor,
the lawyer, the lost, the found. It is the weak in themselves who are
strong in Christ. It is the weak who admit they are weak who come to
the altar and kneel before God to repent of their wicked ways, their
sins, and receive forgiveness from God and acceptance into His
family. At that moment the weak become strong. For Jesus is now
living in their hearts through their faith in and on Him. His blood
has washed away the sins repented of and now the weak which you decry
are made strong in Him who was crucified and rose from the grave.
Abide in Him and Him only, as I and my
family abide in Him and Him only. For each person who comes to God
and believes on The Name of His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ for
salvation must work out their own after they believe. Which means you
and I and every other believer must learn to live in Jesus. He
already knows how to live in us, but we are learning to live in Him.
This is why no two Christians are alike: each is responsible for
their own growth, for seeking to grow in the things of God, for
seeking to grow in The Word of God: searching His Word, in prayer and
love, on how to be more like Jesus.
Do you know God's perfect will for
your life? Me, either. But I do know that God's first will for any
one's life is be saved. 1 Timothy 2:4 “Who will have all men to be
saved; and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” So, what is
truth? John 14:6 “And Jesus said unto them, “I am the way, the
truth and the life: no man comes unto The Father but by Me.” Jesus
is Truth. So, 'to come unto the knowledge of the truth', is to come
to know Jesus, to believe Jesus, to learn to live in Jesus as He
lives in us, when we believe.
If you want to know God's will for
your life after you are saved, then I expect you will study His Word.
If you are not able to access a Bible where you live, while there are
many Bible sites, I would recommend
Bible Hub Library
. This is the one my husband and I use to study with; it has more
tools than I have on my bookshelf. And it's free to use by any one.
As I walk through The Word in my study times, I will continue to
share what I receive.
