Abiding in Christ

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by Michelle Miller

Posted on 14/03/09.
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Unless we abide in Christ, we will have no strength to bear fruit for God, and we will grow weary in serving Him. But as we abide in Him, we have all the grace and strength we need to glorify His awesome name!

As our last session for this camp, we want to equip people to really dwell in the refreshing presence of the Lord, to continue to do what we talked about in the first two sessions and abide in Christ. Let’s take what we’ve learnt and live in it every day!

Read through John 15:1-8

What does it mean to abide? The Greek word translated “to abide” means to indeed remain. An English definition of the word (from Webster’s Dictionary) is to stay in a given place, state (or condition), relation or expectancy. So it is a purposeful dwelling in a place, state, relation or expectancy. We are called to purposely stay, remain and dwell in Jesus.

If we walk in our own strength, striving to please God, we will find we are ineffective and fail to bear fruit for the Lord. This will lead to frustration and weariness because we are getting nowhere. But, Jesus says that if we will learn to abide in Him, then we will bear fruit for Him, and we will remain in that place of constant refreshing.

Know the Word

Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 1 John 2:24

The first key to abiding in Jesus is to let His Word abide in our hearts. If we will meditate on His Word day and night, we will experience continual refreshing and no matter what comes against us, we will not grow weary.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Psalm 1:2-3

A life lived daily in the Word of God will cause us to bring forth fruit to the glory of God, and will cause us not to grow weary.

Obey the Word

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:10

He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 1 John 2:6

It is very little good to us if we read the Word but do not do what it says. We must learn to let the Word correct our thinking and our actions and to then make that correction. When we ignore correction from the Lord, we lose sensitivity to further correction; however, when we do make those changes, we will become more sensitive to His correction and be able to dwell in His constant refreshing presence.

Draw on His Strength
Jesus said that apart from Him we can do nothing. Through prayer we need to cultivate a life that relies fully on His Spirit and on His grace.

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