GlobalChristians

Eternity 26 - If We Abide In Jesus

(John 15:7-8 NASB) "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. {8} "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

This extraordinary promise sounds too good to be true, it is so wide, so all-encompassing that we "stagger in unbelief" at Jesus' statement "ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." Jesus wants fruitful disciples and will answer every prayer that proceeds from relationship with Christ and is based on the word of God.

This verse is not a blank cheque to crass materialism but it is a blank cheque to successful ministry - and one that countless thousands have drawn on.

The two conditions are obvious - abide in Christ and let His Words abide in you. Abiding in Christ proceeds from a living faith relationship with God and involves believing His Words and obeying His commandments. It is living the Jesus lifestyle at home, at work and at church. It is remaining consistently within the Christian, gospel, Kingdom parameters of living.

When you abide in Christ you do not have the right to suddenly decide to "not abide" and become a loose cannon. Abiding in Christ involves peaceful, steady obedience to the words of Christ. To abide in Christ is to live your life within Christ and His boundaries, to abide within the Kingdom and to not stray outside it, to live within the holy and the good, and to live in love.

This God-saturated life will be a blessed and fruitful life. A life that is resonant with God will be a life of answered prayer.

So how do we go from here to there? How do we live that life of steady quiet obedience in godliness, truth and love? The clue is in the second condition "If... My words abide in you". The word of Christ needs to sink deeply into us and dwell there as a main force in our life. The word of Christ abiding in us means we absorb it deeply, meditate on it, believe it and act in accordance with it.

We are not to stand over the Word criticizing it, choosing what we will and won't believe. Rather we approach it as students, disciples, learners, and take it as the Word of the Master, to be believed as truth. In martial arts films the student takes the Master's words and discipline with utter seriousness as the required training for mastery. Christian disciples should regard the word of Jesus with even greater awe and reverence.

The quiet disciplined spiritually trained life is a life of answered prayer. When your life is disciplined into the ways of the Kingdom then your every prayer will be answered because you are a fit vessel for bearing fruit and for the Master's service. You will know the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, you will see people saved and healed and made whole, you will see breakthroughs in ministry and blessing in life.

But the cost of this is your independence, you cannot be a spiritual maverick. Your spirit must be subdued to God's Spirit, quiet and at rest in Him, abiding in Christ and letting His Word make its home in you.

(Colossians 3:16-17 NASB) Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. {17} And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Blessings,

John Edmiston