Fast forward to this Sunday morning in class. One of the first questions that was asked was what does it mean to abide in Christ. I thought ok well that is weird but we will roll with it. I spoke up with a few comments on the word and class went on. Our text in class was John 15. If you have not read John 15 you should. One guess on the most frequently used word.........
I get home yesterday afternoon and I open to Week 5 of Open Your Bible and the topic is ABIDE in Truth. And the first text referenced was none other than John 15 which is what we talked about all through class.
If ever there was a message from God that I needed to listen up it would certainly be now. There is no coincidence that I had this word on my heart for a week straight. It just isn't and you will not convince me otherwise. I think that God has plans for this word in my life and I happen to think maybe it is a word for someone else out there tonight too. Maybe you don't even know it but here it is. With that out of the way we will dive in. This is a subject that God has entrusted to me and made apparent that it is super important so we will break this one week of study into 4 weeks and look at 4 ways to abide and let each one sink in individually. This week is introduction.
Week 5- Abide in Truth
When we abide in Jesus there is a deep and intimate knowledge. We have an actual relationship with HIM. We learn to lean in and trust him, walk with him daily and lean on his ways and wisdom and not our own. In the middle of trusting, leaning and walking we are transformed. There is this connection that you can feel deep down. One of my favorite lines straight from the study book is this..."When we abide in Jesus, we become more like him." Talk about goals....that is one I would like to aim for.
Tonight we are just talking about abiding in general and there is no better place to start than John. So open your bible to John 15:1-8 and read the verses. Make notes and make some observations. Some observations they asked you to look at in the study guide are below:
What two verbs does Jesus use repeatedly? Compare the two words in multiple translations?
Read verse 4 and copy down the exact command.
Read verse 5 and write down the promise Jesus spoke if we obey his command?
I know you may be thinking that if you are a long time Christian especially that you have heard this lesson over and over. Let me tell you that I have NEVER read it and let it soak in the way these ladies presented it. I beg you to take another look at it and travel this road with us because there are some words in store for us all.
If the verbs you picked above (or some version of them) were producing and abiding then you would be correct. Which comes first? Good question except that we know the answer.....have you ever tried to reverse the process? Has it ever been more important to you to produce fruit than to abide in the vine? The answer to me for these few questions is a resounding YES. I have tried to reverse the process and sometimes I do want to just have something produced without the time and effort that is required to put into the process. I get so wrapped up in the have to have it now mentality that we are all surrounded by all day every day. I forget that sometimes the very best things are ones that I have to wait for. I want so badly to slow down and trust God enough to let him handle all my circumstances and not just the ones I see fit to turn over to him.
What does it mean to you to abide and what does it look like? The words that came to the minds of the authors of this study were rest, remain, renew and return.
Abiding means Rest- means we need to actually be still long enough in this crazy jam packed schedule filled world we have created to just let everything fall silent and know that God knows best for us and we do not. Maybe if we quiet our agenda and put it on hold long enough for God to get a foothold we wouldn't feel so fretful over schedules and plans because we know we paused long enough to feel like God had a say or a hand in what direction we are headed.
Abiding means Remaining-the best way to have a relationship with Jesus is to stay close. No matter what we are going through whether it be a good time or a bad time. We need to remain close to the heart of Jesus in all seasons of our lives.
Abiding means Renewing-every time we come back we are refreshed. His word is made new within us each and every time we allow time for it in our lives.
Abiding means Returning-Sometimes we have experiences or seasons that we don't think make us very flattering or a good candidate for what God has to offer. Guess what? It makes us even more desirable when we choose to return time and time again and lay our good and our bad at the feet of Jesus and thank him for it all because it is shaping us into the person he wants us to be.
This week the goal is to just pray about this word. Pray that God will show you what he wants it to look like in your life and pray that a desire is sparked to walk through these next 4 weeks learning to abide in HIM.
I took a page in my study guide and a page in my prayer journal this week and wrote in big letters what is below. I look at it a few times a day and am just spending the week meditating on that. I hope you will get a spot set aside and do the same.
Abide
Rest
Remain
Renew
Return
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