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What is Abiding?
Three part study
#1 Abiding in Christ—Embracing God’s Fact (John 15.1-17)
Someone said that the Christian life is not only hard to live, it is impossible to live. One of the issues we have is that we are constantly looking for formulas, principles, steps, etc. to live the Christian life. That’s because we love things in categories, we love labels, organization and structure to our lives. There is nothing wrong with these things, but they cannot help us in our growth in our daily walk with God.
The problem; we keep getting in our own way because…we think we have the power in ourselves (flesh) to live the Christian life; we do not.
The key is for us is not to try to live the Christian life, but to allow the Lord to live His life through us. We allow this as we “Abide in Christ.”
Abiding means to…. stay, remain, nearness, connected to, rest (allowing vs. struggling), to be joined to or simply walking in the spirit. (Vs. walking in flesh – will explain more at the end today)
Abiding is losing our dependency on our fleshly life to find true life in Christ. It means I exchange my life for His; it is the practice of spending time in God’s presence…all this is abiding.
As a church, we are at the beginning of our journey in the meaning and experience of “abiding in Christ.” I have yet to experience …the fullness of its meaning, so…we will grow together in this.
Understanding this truth is at the heart of our church. It is our vision, our passion and goal. That is why we named the church “Abiding Grace,” Christ living in us…
Our desire is that we as a body would be maturing into our fullness in him, that we would know Him and follow Him wherever He leads us.
That is our 5, 10, 20 year goal & plan. It is not to get into our own building and have our own programs. It is to learn to live out of our union with Christ wherever we are. The ministry will come.
Today we will focus on 3 areas of “Abiding in Christ;” We begin by dealing with God’s fact. Lord willing, next we’ll take a deeper look at our “Union with Christ,” and finally we’ll look at “bearing fruit” the fruit that Jesus promises. Pray
We have spent a lot of time looking at Genesis. We found in chapter 2 God creating the earth, the garden and Adam & Eve.
Man was made in the image of God. In the Godhead we see the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
God has made Man to have three parts too; Spirit, Soul and Body.
God first made a body. A body that was designed to experience the material world. It has needs for nourishment, reproduction & defense.
The Spirit is the innermost part of man. It is in our Spirit that we commune with God. Our Spirit is where we receive revelation from God. God communicates and He reveals Himself to us directly to our Spirit. It’s in our spirit where we hear His voice.
Then there is the soul. Genesis 2.7 says that “God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed in him the breath of life (Spirit) and he became a living soul. So God made a body and He breathed into it the “breath of life or God’s Life.” The combination of the body and God’s life created the soul.
The soul is the home of man’s personality; his mind, will and emotions.
God’s design was that He would reveal Himself to Man’s Spirit, the Soul…being in between the Spirit and the Body; would give direction to the body to carry out the will of God.
God’s desire was from the beginning to be in relationship with man. God would reveal Himself to man by showing him the depths of His love, character, nature and provision.
The fall messed it up
One component that God put in Adam’s soul was his free will to choose to obey God or not. God gave Adam two choices, to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or from the tree of life.
The “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” represents independence from God; “I can do it myself if I had the knowledge.” The “tree of life” (is a picture of Christ) that represents dependence on God; “I need God to direct my life”.
We know that Adam chooses the tree of “good and evil” because he believed the lie from the serpent that he would “be like God’
When that choice was made, chaos ensued and man’s Spirit became dead to God. He still has a Spirit (the human spirit), but it is an unregenerate Spirit, void of God’s life.
Man’s life is now dominated by his soul & body. He is enslaved to its desires and passions. The communication that he once had with God is now severed. Instead of relationship and intimacy with God, there is now separation.
The body and soul live in opposition to the will of God. This “soul life” is where man tries to get all of his needs met…independent of God; this is what the Bible calls “living in the flesh.” Ro. 8.5-8
What is the activity of the flesh/soul?
But remember in Genesis 3, God promised Adam and Eve that He would someday send a Savior who would shed His blood and give his life to repair the broken relationship between God and man.
Jesus Christ, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection won us back to the Father. Jesus restored the break in relationship with His own blood.
Yes, Jesus died for our sins, but that is just part of the story.
The other part is that we died with Him and rose with Him. It was all part of the wisdom and plan of God all along.
God’s fact begins with the truth that you (those that have Christ in their lives) “were in Christ” before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1.4)
Jesus said “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him… (John 15.5). The truth is that you have been abiding in Christ since before time.
If you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, this is true of you; God lives in you today. (Explain what means to have relationship…believe, confess Romans 10).
This is one of God’s facts. It is true because God says it is true. You are in Christ right now; He is in you right now; whether you understand it or not.
It all starts with the Father. He is the Husbandman or farmer. He cares for the branches. It is His tender love and care for us that are realized in His plan.
1 Corinthians 1.30… 2 Corinthians 1.21…Colossians 2.6-7,
It wasn’t because He had to; or needed to; but because it was His good pleasure to do so.
The Father is delighted in the Son; he loves Him and totally accepts Him. Because we are in Christ, we are totally accepted, loved and the delight of the Father.
There is nothing you can do to make yourself more loved or accepted by God because it wasn’t based on your doing anything for Him anyway; it was in the fact that we are accepted because Christ is in us.
So then our motivation for obedience cannot come from fear of rejection, punishment or even duty (“I do this because it is my Christian duty to do so”); our motivation for obedience is based on our love for Him.
Jesus said (John 14.15). “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (21) “He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me…” (23) “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word…” And (24) “He who does not love Me does not keep My words…” obedience builds faith and revelation.
Our motivation for obedience is not based on fear, but on love.
What is true about the Lord Jesus is also true about you; accepted in the beloved, blameless and beyond reproach.
You were placed into Christ by the Father. The Father has always loved you and only has the best plan for you.
Since you were in Christ from before time, you were in Him when He went to the cross.
You were crucified with Christ…Romans 6.6, Galatians 2.20, 5.24
God says you have been crucified with Christ, not that you can be crucified or you are in the process of being crucified; God’s fact is that you have been crucified with Christ.
You died (2 Corinthians 5.14, Colossians 3.3, and Romans 7.4
Then after you were crucified with Christ you died with Him and you were raised with Him. Romans 6.1-12 says…
When you died with Christ, you died to other things too:
- You died to sin (Romans 6.1-2, 6-7)
- You died to yourself as the center of attention (Galatians 2.20). Jesus Christ is now your center of attention.
Dying to sin means that you are not bound by sin anymore. Christ has freed you (through His death and yours) from the power of sin in your life. When we sin today; it is because we choose to sin.
When we died to ourselves being the center of attention; this means that we now get our identity, life (satisfaction), strength and security, union through Jesus; and no longer from the desires and passions from our soul and body.
We died to one other thing…that is the law; Romans 3.20, 7.1-12, Galatians 3.1-3, 24-25. Although the law is holy and righteous and good, it has fulfilled its function in our lives. Once a person becomes a believer, the law actually hinders the fulfillment of God’s purpose for our lives: that He might express His life in and through us.
That is because the law by its nature sets a standard which we automatically try in our own effort to live up to. And the moment we do, we are living according to the flesh.
God’s fact, you are dead to sin and alive to God. It’s already is so.
You may be thinking…I don’t feel dead to sin, I don’t look dead to sin, in fact if you knew what I was into; you wouldn’t believe I was dead either. In fact, I still enjoy sin very much thank you.
You may be thinking “you would know that my flesh is still very much alive and well and I am still the center of attention. That’s just how I am, I can’t change.
Proverbs 23.7 says “For as he thinks within himself, so he is…” even if what he thinks is a lie from the enemy.
How do you overcome the power of the flesh operating in your life?
This truth can only be known through revelation from God to our spirit. Faith comes through revelation, not our brain. The spirit releases understanding to the soul (brain).
To know means experiential understanding, and oneness with something…to be mixed with it.
You can choose to have more faith in yourself and your experiences or you can choose to have faith God and His word. Choose to agree with what God says about you.
Agree with him, see what he sees, affirm what He affirms, and tell yourself what he tells you, that your true desires are his desires. Then he will cause you to feel these things.
Reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6.11)
The holy but... What we really believe in our hearts comes after “the but.”
We normally say something like “I know that Jesus loves me, but I feel so alone…or “I trust God with my whole life, but I’m going to live my life my way. Any other examples you can think of?
By having faith in God, we can say “I am having a rough time right now, but God is my strength and my life, He will see me through…I can’t see any good coming out of this situation, but I trust God’s plan for my life.
The night before Jesus would go to the cross, He knew all of this when he said…I am the vine and you are the branches. He already knew who were really joined to Him. So He spoke to them with confidence about the present situation and the future.
While He was preparing to go to the cross He let the disciples know that He was in complete control. Nothing was going to happen that He wasn’t already aware of.
He wanted them to know that whatever the future held for them, that He would always be with them, because he would be in them.
God’s fact, He says you are dead to sin and alive to him.
God says that sin has no more control over you.
God says Jesus is the center of your attention now.
God’s facts, the creator of all things…lives in you. Accept this truth by faith. And you will experience the abundant life that Jesus promises….through abiding in Him.
Some of the most powerful words you can speak with your mouth daily: “Lord, I do abide in you”
#2 Abiding in Christ—Union with Christ / Identity
In just a few hours from the giving on this teaching, Jesus would be arrested. He would be tried unfairly, beaten, crucified on a cross; and He knew what all would happen to Him.
Yet His main concern at this time was not his own welfare, but for the disciples that He loved.
Jesus tells them that He is the true vine; He is the ultimate reality of what a vine is. The vine is to give strength, purpose, nourishment & life to the branches; and the result is bearing fruit. He is the source of life and strength to them. He is the one that develops the fruit….
He is the real gold, bread, door, the way, water and the true life; these things are pictures of who He is.
God’s fact is that we abide in Christ. But it can be much more than just head knowledge, it can be our experience.
review
What is abiding in Christ? Abiding means to…. stay, remain, nearness, connected to, to be joined to or resting (allowing vs. struggling) in Him. Jesus “come unto me…I will give you rest.”
Abiding means I exchange my life for His; you can’t refine the flesh of fix it. Our soul life (flesh) needs to die in order that Christ life may shine through us. Abiding is the practice of spending time in God’s presence.
It is abiding in Christ that is “abiding grace’s” ministry plan. As we as a body live out of our union with Christ, He will give us opportunities to minister to those in our community and beyond.
The ministry will come because Christ in us is not lazy or content with being comfortable, selfish or unconcerned about people; but He is ever reaching out to those in need of Him (salvation), with His love & care.
As we abide in Him, the ministry opportunities will come; He will reveal to us our purpose and plan. (Outreach)
We learned that what is true of Christ is true of us. We were in Christ before the earth was created; we were crucified with Christ on the cross. We die with Him and were buried with Him; we were raised with Him to newness of life.
As we said earlier, it all starts with the Father, John 15 “my father is the vinedresser.
It is by His doing, He established us in Christ. Jesus said that “My Father is the vinedresser” (farmer). He is that farmer that has lovingly grafted us into Christ. And not only grafted us into Christ, but He watches over us moment by moment (Isaiah 27.2-3).
Try to picture our God carefully grafting us (the branches) into Christ (the vine). Then see Him carefully watching, watering, and even pruning us in love so that we would bear more fruit.
But how does that work out in human terms; what does abiding look like to us practically?
If we want to know what Abiding really looks like, we only have to look at the life of Jesus.
How did Jesus abide in the Father? He lived out of His union with His Father. His life is our example.
He was totally submitted & immersed in the will of His Father…He humbled Himself…even unto death (Philippians 2.1-9). He lived for God (Romans 6.10).
He did nothing of his own initiative (undertaking)…everything He did was from the inspiration of the Father (John 5.30, 8.28,42, 12.49).
He was often in communion with His Father (often going off alone to pray), fellowshipping with Him.
Jesus purposed in His heart to stay connected to the Father. Out of this union between the Father & Son came an intimacy that is unparalleled. A union so intertwined that every word Jesus spoke would be the same words as if the Father was speaking. The Fathers life flowed out of the son; impacting the lives of those that He came into contact with (our example).
Jesus came to save the lost, to heal the sick, bring good news to the discouraged….to do good works (our example our ministry).
All of this is displayed in scripture for us to see. We see Him seeking people out to demonstrate His love (in action) and power for their good; destroying the works of the devil in their lives, telling them the good news that God is not mad at them; but is calling many to a relationship with Him.
Because Jesus was abiding in the Father, because He was living to fulfill the Fathers will, because He was completely immersed in the will of His Father; He was full of the Father’s joy. (“My food is to do the will of my Father”-John 4.34)
….that is the kind of intimacy that the Lord wants with you.
Not to the same intensity, but in the likeness of that intimacy.
We can have this kind of intimacy; as we submit our lives to Him, as we fellowship with Him, put His desires before ours; as we trust and obey Him (follow wherever He leads), He will fill us with His life to overflowing (John 7.37, 38).
As we abide in Him, we will experience an intimacy and joy that only comes from walking with God.
Do you want this kind of relationship with the Lord? Believe that you can, because God desires such a walk with you.
By the way, out of this union with Him, God will produce the good fruit in you for others. (What is that fruit? The fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, etc – talk more about it in part 3).
We can’t live the Christian life, but Jesus lives His life through us.
I am personally seeing growth in my own walk with the Lord. Some things that I have noticed when I choose to live out of this union are that: I am more aware of His presence. He speaks more clearly to me; speaking truth to me.
I’m experiencing a freedom like never before. Whenever there is a change in my plans or something unexpected happens, I’m looking for God’s hand in it. “Lord, you must have something different in mind for me.” He gives me peace that passes all understanding...
I am also more in touch with what is going on inside my heart.
He speaks to the issues in my life.
For example the Lord is always reminding me of people that I need to forgive. The truth of the matter is that I don’t always want to forgive, but Jesus wants to forgive through me.
I am more aware of any anger, bitterness, selfishness that is going on in my heart; because the Spirit is bringing this stuff up in me. He will not let me ignore my sin.
The Lord wants to deal with the things in my life that keeps me from experiencing the intimacy & joy of the Lord; things that also limit me from bearing much fruit for His glory.
When there is sin in our lives, it produces separation (He seems so far away. When there is cleansing, there is intimacy & joy.
(Pick-up truck story)
When the junk in my heart is dealt with, the results are my prayers are more personal, fruitful & engaging. My time in the word is also more fruitful, personal, engaging and brings revelation. And I desire that time with Him. In other words, prayer & time in the word has real purpose for me, not just an exercise in religion.
The Lord is able to reveal more of Himself and His truth to me than ever before. And I really believe that I am only beginning to experience the fullness of “abiding in Him.” He is causing me to grow…and knowing this…I can rest in Him.
I grow by fixing my mind on the facts of God’s word… I live by what God says about the things in my own life; situations, and people. I accepted what God says over what I think or feel.
Yielding ourselves to his will…taking time to listen…meditate on His word and pray…things we find hard to take time to do.
We believe the enemies lie that we are too busy to spend time with God.
The truth is we make time for what is most important to us.
(I made time for Te Anna).
Too often, our working & playing hard is more valuable in our eyes that spending time with Him.
We expend a lot of energy on the “cares of this life,” and when it comes to spending time with God, we don’t have any energy left for Him.
Yet He is waiting, longing to spend time with you. Not just to hear your prayers and concerns, but to speak life to you.
Ask God for wisdom how to make time for Him.
Realize that it takes time to grow into Jesus the vine; do not expect the experience of abiding in him unless you give Him that time.
We can feed on him daily (John 6.53-58, 63).
If you want to learn to experience abiding in Christ; take time each day before you read, while you read, to put yourself in living contact with the Lord Jesus.
The reality is that what is ultimate to you will determine how you live; the realm of the natural life or the realm of the spiritual life.
It can’t come from a duty (checklist) mentality, but a genuine seeking of His face.
(James 4.8) sums it up like this “draw close to God and He will draw close to you.” He will take hold of you and draw you close to Him; revealing Himself to you more clearly.
Remember, out of our union with God, He will produce the good fruit in you for others. That is what the fruit of the spirit is for, so that someone else can benefit;
I’m talking about “bearing much fruit.” After the break we will conclude with that subject.
Practice spending time in God’s presence…develop that union that you already have with Christ…and that closeness to Him that we all crave will come.
Tell Him everyday…Lord, I do abide in you.
Pray
#3 Abiding in Christ—No Death, No Fruit
The Father placed us in Christ before the foundation of the earth.
We know now that since we were in Christ, we were in Him when he was crucified, we died with Him and were buried with Him; and we were in Him when He rose from the dead. Amen!
Again “abiding in Christ” means to stay, remain, nearness or joined to Christ. It is exchanging His life for ours.
The Lord Jesus let’s us know that to abide in Him means we get our nourishment, strength, purpose and life from Him. The Father then maintains the connection between us and Christ.
On the days that we fail to remember that we abide in Christ, it doesn’t mean the relationship is severed, but the fellowship is hurt.
The results of walking in the flesh are the consequences of that decision made.
But when we live out of our union with Him, we bear much fruit.
God’s fact is God’s truth. *****
(John 15.2) “Every branch that doesn’t bear fruit…he takes away”
These are the ones that refuse to walk in the Lords way; they are more concerned about religion (Law trying to become life) than relationship. They can talk the talk; use the Christian words and phrases “Praise the Lord.” The Lord knows that their behavior does not match their words “with their lips they do praise me but their hearts are far from me.”
They will only go so far with the Lord’s leading. When it comes to committing to walking in faith, they pull back (Indy spirit).
They claim Christ, but they really don’t know Him.
Jesus announcement about them; “If anyone doesn’t bear fruit; He takes away…if he doesn’t abide in me; he will be thrown away.
The second part of verse 2 has always concerned me (John 15.3). “Every branch that bears fruit will be pruned.” Let me give you an example.
When I was a kid growing up in California, we had an Almond Ranch. Now on almond trees (like any other tree), there are limbs that almonds grow on, and then there were these limbs called “sucker limbs” that grow from the branches. These “sucker limbs” were long, thick and they resembled whips. These limbs grew in larger numbers on each tree.
These limbs did not produce blossoms for almonds; all they did was take away valuable water and nutrients from the almond producing limbs. If left alone, these extra useless limbs would draw enough water to cause the fruit to be smaller.
So every year we would have to go and cut off these “sucker limbs” so that the water & sap would go to the almond producing limbs; so they could produce more and bigger fruit.
We have the same kind of “sucker limbs” that rob us of our intimacy with the Lord and the ability to produce more and better fruit in our lives.
Sometimes these “limbs that take away life” from us are people; sometimes they are bad habits, bad thinking, our selfish ways, wrong values and other things. These things become teaching lessons in the Lord’s hands for us (not to depend on them, but on Him for strength).
Sometimes the Lord’s pruning is to take away those things that slow us down. Still other times, God chooses to leave a bad situation in our lives to achieve the same results. The purpose is to prune us of what is useless in our lives.
Let me give you an another example. Some of you have high control needs, and God deliberately will not give you what you want (control) so that you will not depend on “what is right in your eyes,” but learn to depend on Christ.
For you, God has a purpose for allowing aggravations and testing in your lives.
The purpose of aggravations and testing in our lives is to loosen our dependency on those things…so we might depend on Christ as our sufficiency.
The pruning that the Lord does allow brings brokenness into our lives. Brokenness is a process that removes from us what keeps us from becoming what we already are in Christ; which is the will of God.
Brokenness is getting rid of our fleshly protections (Jacob and his cleverness). The Lord will sometimes allow difficult people and situations in our lives – to show us ourselves (the very ones that we try to avoid). He will use these same people and situations as some of the main instruments to bring change into our lives.
So to those with issues of control – you know those people & things that aggravate you; God will keep sending aggravating people & things into your life.
If you are mean hearted person… He will send meaner people your way, etc. I’m still talking about God’s pruning process.
God uses circumstances to achieve His end in our lives and at the same time breaking our dependencies on our own strengths.
The evidence of our brokenness can look like this:
We surrender our rights (our rights are those things that we feel we deserve) to defend ourselves & from arguing our side… we are willing to lose…be rejected…willing to share our weaknesses & failures, and our sense of total inadequacy in self-strength…trusting God whatever…accepts change more easily…resting even in external turmoil
We obey God out of a love motive; because we want to; not because we have to… recognizing the power in weakness…willing to be weak…willingly let others receive the credit…willing to be humbled and not defensive…valuing those people that have no value to you (people that can’t give back to you)… readiness to affirm others…being teachable…willing to relinquish control…willing to be misunderstood for Christ sake… to be of no reputation.
This was the life of our Lord Jesus. In order to accomplish the will of His Father, He chose to surrender His rights (Philippians 2.1-11).
Jesus had every right to do whatever it took to keep from going to the cross; He could have defended himself, rationalized, debated & argued His case of innocence or at least given in and become compliant to those that wanted Him dead (maybe that would save His life.
He could have talked His way out of being crucified, but He did none of these things. He accepted the will of His Father “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
How do we bear fruit? (John 12.24-26)
God’s way to bearing fruit comes through death. The Lord gives us a picture of what he means. The grain represents the soul life (remember, living out of the strength of soul and body).
Just as a grain is unable to bear fruit unless it dies, so there can be no spiritual fruit until the soul-centered life has been broken through death.
I’m sorry; I wish I could tell you the steps, formulas and principles to bearing fruit are easier. But God’s only method to producing real fruit is to die to the flesh.
No Death, No Fruit.
The Lord will not ask us to physically go hang on a cross, which is what He came to do for us. But He does ask us to take up our cross daily and follow Him (1 Corinthians 15.31).
Taking up the cross daily means to die to our flesh; to surrender our rights, to yield to the spirit’s leading…to die to our way and obey God’s way, to say “not my will Lord, but yours be done.”
The gaining of spiritual life is conditional on suffering loss. We cannot measure our lives in terms of “gain;” it must be measured in terms of loss…willing to lose. The Apostle Paul says about his life of service to others “I am poured out like a drinking offering… (Philippians 2.14-18)”
Jesus said “every branch that bears fruit will be pruned”
The results of His pruning us…we will be changed into His image.
But here is the amazing truth, we don’t have to try to change…He will do the changing for us! AMEN! Remember when I said that “Abiding” is exchanging His life for ours. He only asks you to yield to His leading in your lives; to surrender your rights; and He will do the changing. Don’t resist His leading in your life; just rest in Him by allowing His will to be done in you.
Why is the Lord so concerned that we bear much fruit? So that we can bring glory to the Father.
“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples (15.8).” The glory means to bring positive attention to Him in every circumstance in our lives. What glorifies him is all that really matters in life.
Again, when we die daily, we become freed from our fleshly dependencies, and we are able to live out of this union with the Lord. Our focus is not on dying, but on the Holy Spirit and doing His will.
When we are not self-centered, and become Christ-centered; we’ll experience the fullness of His joy inside (11). When we are full of His joy, our whole person will get well.
For example, if you suffer from things like depression or mood swings, (unforgiveness, bitterness & discontentment); issues that plague & burden our souls; His joy will swallow up these burdens and heal us of their devastating effects. He takes your focus off of your and places it on Him; your source of strength.
When we have been broken from our fleshly dependencies, those things that rob us of the vitality of Christ life flowing through us, when we are living from Christ’ life and strength, the natural effect will be love over-flowing into the lives of others.
The will of the Lord for us (John 15.12-14); is that we’d “love one another”
Jesus said; “this is my commandment that you love one another, just as I have loved you (12).”
Jesus’ love is not passive, lazy or self-centered. He intentionally went out of His way to show His love through kindness, bringing healing hurting, speaking the truth, and giving of Himself to others. He was devoted to helping others; in this, He bore much fruit in His life. This is the kind of love we are growing into.
The highest demonstration of His love; verse 13 “greater love has no one than this; that one lay down his life for his friends.”
No death, No Fruit.
So, how do we at abiding grace love one another?
God will call for us to get to know each other…spend time together…we have “family nights” for this purpose…a chance to really get to know each other.
Our LTG’S (Life Transformation Groups) gives you a chance to get to know each other on a deeper level.
Then just hang out with each other; at your homes, out shopping, pray together – (connect to different people….)
I’m not talking about forming cliques, but really reaching out to the whole body (people that you don’t know yet) at “Abiding Grace” getting to know each other by name so we can be real with each other. Can’t love like that if we don’t spend time together.
Do you know what will happen? We will get to know each other well, learn about each others lives, histories and have a chance to enjoy each other in the way God made us.
The Lord will also allow us to see each others faults. But the question is; what will you do with what you see? Run out and tell others about them; exposing the weaknesses of others? Let it not be named among us.
The answer is to be the priesthood of God on their behalf.
Pray for them rather than talk about them. Go to them, rather than going to others about them (maturity). “Speak the truth in love”
Jesus said that the demonstration of abiding is love for one another. We are called to be close to each other (John 13.34,
35). “I don’t need them, have my own friends & family”but God is calling us to relationship.
I want to read from 1 Corinthians 13.4-8 about the body of Christ.
This is God’s family, and healthy families spend time together.
The process of maturing us through pruning is God’s only strategy for our growth. The only way to produce much fruit is to die to your will be done and by allow God’s will be done instead.
I said at the beginning of this series…we have yet to experience the fullness of what it means to “abide in Christ”
But for now, my prayer is “Lord I want to know this reality of You in me….reveal this in me and make it real.”
Say in prayer to the Lord, right now, I do abide in You!
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