abide
What does it mean to abide in God? This is a question I asked recently. I was reading through John 15 and I kept seeing the word “abide”. It was jumping off the page at me. So I begin to dig into what it means to abide in God. John 15:10 says “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
To abide literally means to accept or act in accordance with. So if we are abiding in God, we act according to His word. To abide in His love is to remain in His love. There are points in our lives where our heart postures need to be changed. Are you following God because you feel that you have to? Or are you following God because you love him, so it is in your heart's desire to follow him? Our heart’s desires must align with God’s desires, and to do that we have to abide in Him.
John 15 is where Jesus explains that he is the true vine. John 15:1 Jesus literally says “I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser.” Okay, I get it. Some of you might be like “Weird, he’s calling himself a vine”. But there is great significance in that statement. Jesus is evidence of the Father (God). A tree is unable to produce fruit without a vine. I wrote a blog back in June about being all leaves, and no fruit (Go back and read it!!). Anyways, not abiding in God, will result in being all leaves and no fruit.
Abiding in God means spending time in the word. If you are going to act in accordance with His word, you have to know what it says. You have to spend time in his presence. Talk to him, sit in silence expectant of Him, worship him. Make the effort to be in His presence.
There is no greater example of abiding in God, than the example Jesus gave us. Father and son. Every part of His life was to glorify God and His word. To obey his father. It’s important to note that Jesus is the only perfect human to walk the earth. You and I aren’t perfect. We have made mistakes and will continue to do so. However, we have the ability to abide in God’s word daily. It quite literally is a daily choice, sometimes even an hourly choice. But our heart posture determines our desire to make that choice.
There are days when I don’t spend time in His word. I’m so obsessed with everything else that I have to do that I don’t take the time to spend time with the one who made me. On those days, I find that I am more frustrated, stressed, angry, whatever it may be.
Not making the space for God, gives the devil just enough room to weasel his way in. We have to armor up and protect ourselves from the twisted ways of the devil. It has never been more important than it is today to abide in God. He has prepared a room for us (John 14:2). He’s made the space for us to come to him. But have we made the space for Him?
