The Lord has recently showed me that abiding in Jesus- in His love and in His word- is trusting that He really loves me at every moment and that everything He has revealed about himself and His work for me and my future with Him is true. I am not idle in the battle to abide in Jesus. But in the end the battle is assured because it does not depend finally on me. Jesus wins. No one can snatch me out of His hand. He and His father are greater then all. Therefore, His demand that I abide in Him is that I keep trusting the one who keeps me trusting.
“John 15:4-5- Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
1. Abiding means trusting in Jesus’ love:
“John 15:9- As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
“Not to abide in Jesus’ love would mean that we stop believing that we are loved by Jesus. We look at our circumstances and we conclude that we are not loved by Jesus any more. That’s the opposite of abiding in the love of Jesus. So abiding in his love means continuing to believe, moment by moment, that we are loved.”
-John Piper
2. Abiding means trusting in Jesus’ word:
“John 8:31-32- If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
“This cannot mean merely, “Keep my commandments.” Rather it means, “Keep trusting my word. Keep trusting what I have revealed to you about myself and my Father and my work.”
-John Piper
The context of John 18:31-32 confirms this: “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free’”
-Candace-
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3 comments:
Abide is such a great word....to endure, continue and remain in the Lord. How often do I let my circumstances or my feelings dictate what I believe about God. To abide-to believe his truths DESPITE my circumstances and feelings and to praise Him through it all...that is what we are called to do.
Thank you for sharing what you've learned lately. It was greatly encouraging to my soul :-)
Thanks for sharing such great words of truth and wisdom, Candace! This morning I was reading about the history behind the old hymn "Abide With Me". How timely is the Lord in bringing other words to match up with that! He is so faithful!
"So abiding in his love means continuing to believe, moment by moment, that we are loved."
While this has rarely been true of me lately, I can definitely testify to what you say in the first paragraph! It is Christ who is ultimately keeping me connected to the true vine. He is faithful to help me to do what he demands of me. Though I don't have certain FEELINGS, he is faithful.
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